Pronounced Abu Zabi.
We did a tour down to Abu Dhabi, the rich city of the Emirates.
Our first stop was very surprising. Totally unexpected.
The road warrior vehicles from the Mad Max movies and been purchased and brought to the UAE. On the southern outskirts of the city was a road stop. A collection of food trucks – made of these savage vehicles from the movie.
It was pretty cool and well done.
We then went down to Abu Dhabi to the first of our main attractions. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Most expensive building and mosque.
Is the 5th largest mosque in the world. And as well as being a major tourist attraction it is a functioning mosque.
Different building materials were sourced from many countries like Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, Australia, China, India, and Pakistan. The architect was Syrian.
The mosque is readily distinguished by its solid white Macedonian marble, a color that founder Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan felt represented purity and piety.
The carpet in the main prayer hall is the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet – 5,700 square meters. It took around 8 months to design, 4 years to knot, and 2 months to transport, trim, and weave the pieces together. Approximately 1,200 workers from Khorasan province at the Iran Carpet Company created it.
The detail was of everything was exquisite. Everywhere you looked – amazing. Such fine detail. Even in the hidden recess of the ceiling. Everything that sparkled was not just a sparkle, but a cluster of jewels.
The chandeliers for example – not just one but seven. Made in Germany with the largest being 10 meters across, 15 meters tall and weighs 12 tonnes. There are two smaller versions of the same design, also located in the main prayer hall. These weigh 8 tons each. There is 40kg of 24 karat gold in them.
And no the green and red lights are not for christmas. The design of the largest chandelier resembles an upturned palm tree, with the cylindrical section representing the palm’s trunk, the bowl-shaped interlocking section making up the palm’s fronds, and the red, yellow, and green-colored crystal globes symbolizing the date fruit.
Construction took 11 years and was completed in 2007. It was to be called the Grand White Mosque of Abu Dhabi and was the vision of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the United Arab Emirates. The name was changed.
Le Louvre Museum.
Yes that right. This city is so rich that they can pay to have an annex of Le Louvre right here. Who need to visit Paris when you can pay $US525 million for a 30-year license for the naming rights and another $US747 million for exhibit loan fees.
Wow. What a building. Built out over the water on piers, with amazing dome structures above, a huge silvery dome that appears to float above, based on a distinctive feature in Arabic architecture. The light bounces through the eight layers and creates what they call a “rain of light’. Stunning. There was an area to lie down on cushions and enjoy it.
Since it is built over the water there are huge water features. And because there is water……. And tourists, they have a lifeguard on duty. Poor guy. There is no swimming, so this guy just stands there all day long, doing nothing. Maybe just hoping for a fool to jump in.
There was an Impressionists exhibition on. Works by Manet, Degas, and Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, and Cézanne.
And some wonderful other art works.
The museum is on Saadiyat Island, which is being developed as a cultural precinct. There is a Guggenheim Museum being built at the moment. Another outstanding building by the looks.
Dubai, 1st Dec
Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary is a wetland reserve within the Dubai city limits. Remember this place is built right in the desert – but weirdly has a really important wetland area. Many migratory birds pass through here, but the main attraction at this time of year is the Flamingos. These guys are Greater Flamingos, the biggest of the lot and travel to and from Iran.
We took an uber out to one of the viewing hides. It was fantastic. You are only allowed to stay for 15 minutes, and there was a ‘traffic controller’ in charge.
Their legs are ridiculously long. Huge legs. And they stand in the shallow water, swishing their heads back and forth and stamping their giant feet up and down to get the crustaceans moving. They look like a little kid having a tantrum. Their huge humped beaks allow them to scoop up the said crustaceans.
You could never mistake them for a pretty bird, but wow so amazing. Beady little yellow eyes and the misshaped beak. The legs were so bright pink as was the beak of many. Others had white beaks. The colour is created by enzymes from their livers breaking down what they eat, The colour changes with age, season etc.
What made it even more amazing was the stunning backdrop of the Dubai skyline behind them.
We then got another Uber and headed off to ‘The Frame’. An observatory, museum, and monument in Zabeel Park, Dubai. It holds the record for the largest frame in the world. The building is 150.24 meters and a width of 95.53 meters wide. So bizarre. Just the frame of a building.
The bottom is the entrance, exit, gift store and admin.
It took about 60 minutes from the time we arrived until we got into the lift to rocket up to the top. Such a smooth lift.
The top is just a huge ‘room’ with a ginormous glass floor platform and geometric windows giving filtered views of everything all around. Of course there was another gift shop up there, photos, food etc. Once you had finished looking you lined up again to get down. This line only took 30 minutes.
The outside was equally stunning. Shiny gold coloured paneling and great angels.
We were roasted by this stage. It was hot.
So off we went to the Dubai Mall (next to our hotel). The size of these malls is unbelievable. We arrived at the high fashion end, and the doors were opened for us by two men in three piece suits and white gloves.
We traipse through, past all manner of expensive shops. Armani suits for toddlers!
We went to a Lebanese restaurant and sat on the balcony eating amazing food, sipping the fantastic middle eastern lemon and mint drink and watching the Burg Khalifa fountain show – 3 times. So good.
We then headed off to walk back to the hotel. Our hotel is billed as being part of the mall, joined, etc. 55 minutes later we arrived back. It was a public holiday so everyone was heading to the mall for the evening. And I mean everyone. Huge crowds pouring in. They even put up barriers to keep people walking on the correct side.
It was then time to sleep and think about boarding the ship.
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Norwegian Jade