We have been home over a week now and finally over jet lag after a 16 hour flight. I finished organizing my pictures and wanted to get this last post done before I forget where I was!
Our last stop was Dubai so we took a long day trip to Abu Dubai which is about an hour or so away, but of course with all the traffic it took longer to get out of the city.
Abu Dubai is the capital city of the UAE. It is also the largest and wealthiest of the seven emirates and still has massive oil reserves, unlike Dubai. It has also been ranked the safest city in the world for many years.
Our first impressive of the city is that it is not as frantic as Dubai and the traffic was certainly not as heavy. There were lots of sky scrapers but more open spaces….
We went up to one of the observation towers to have a look…most of the city is located on an island and there are many more islands around…
Abu Dubai is also considered more of a cultural city than Dubai so most of our tour centered around the grand buildings there.
We didn’t have time to go inside so we explored the grounds, this unique building was just next door…
There was an outdoor exhibit of local art and design which we enjoyed…
Our next stop was the Presidental Palace which is a municipal building housing the offices of the President, Vice President and top government officials. It is called Qasr El Watan and was open to the public in 2019. On first sight it looks stunning with its’ white granite, limestone and gleaming surfaces…
This place is huge…
Just look at size of the doors!
Some of the details…
Looking down the wings…
The colors are very neutral all beige, brown and blue.
Then there are the official meeting rooms and dining rooms for visiting delegations…
This palace is rated as the top attraction in the Middle East and in the top few of the world and we could see why!
Our final stop was at a building equally as impressive and that was the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque which was opened in 2007. The interesting thing about this mosque is that we had to enter through an underground shopping centre and food court including a fancy Tim Hortons…
Then there were long moving escalators and moving sidewalks before we even got up to enter the mosque…
The vision of the late founding father of the UAE, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is a place of worship that welcomes people from all walks of life and serves as a global centre for Islamic culture and tolerance. One of the largest mosques in the world, with space for up to 50,000 worshippers, it is an architectural masterpiece both in scale and detail. Constructed from dazzling white marble, the mosque is adorned with 86 white marble domes and features four gilded minarets, one at each corner. Its interior is characterised by more than 1,000 precious gem-embedded columns, a series of reflective pools, and marble mosaic decorated courtyard. The colossal prayer halls are lit by huge Swarovski crystal chandeliers with the main hall floor home to the world’s largest hand-woven carpet.
We went near sunset so the colors of the mosque were even more brilliant….
We had to dress accordingly, though Don didn’t have to cover up this time.
Here are the beautiful reflective pools…
Beautiful courtyards…
The beautiful carpets and chandeliers…
Stained glass and filigree everywhere as well…
Getting to be the end of a long but very interesting day…
Our guide and Don on the way back to the bus.
Beautiful pictures!! Glad you are back home safe and sound.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful! We enjoyed this part of the world as well. Different culture for sure but that’s what makes the world and travel so interesting!!
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