Dubai UAE – Day 2 - Abu Dhabi Day Tour - March 20

I had set up a private tour with the same company as yesterday www.dubaiprivatetour.com also known as Milan Tours for a day trip to Abu Dhabi which is the capital of the UAE and the second largest Emirate, with Dubai being the largest.

We were joined today by a great group of friends that we met on the 2013 World Cruise; Janie & Rick, Julie & Jeff and Karen & Steve. Our driver was Sandish from India and our guide was Mark from the Philippines. 

We all knew the proper dress for the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and thought we all came properly prepared. It’s easier for guys, they just need long pants. Women had to wear clothing that covers wrists and ankles and to wear headscarves. It also said no see-through clothing. I wore a top that I have previously worn in mosques with no problem. Maybe it wasn’t as crinkly as it used to be as you could see a vague outline of my bra, so I had to go find a shirt to wear over it. Karen, also needed to change her choice of tops. Julie had a shirt to wear over her top so she was fine. 

Once we seemed to be respectable enough we proceeded on our hour and a half or so drive to Abu Dhabi. Our driver told us a lot on the drive about the UAE and what we would see in Abu Dhabi. He had a lot of photos of what he was talking about on his cell phone which was a great visual aide.

 sunrise from our balcony

 from the van

Sheik on a stick.....

 police cars

 wall art

 round building

Our first stop was the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. We got our extra clothes on and proceeded through security and someone is there to make sure we were dressed properly. Those of us that added more clothing at the ship were fine, but Julie got pulled aside and was told her pants were too see-through. She was told she could not enter. Janie asked if she could wrap a scarf or shirt around her waist and they said as long as it was large enough to cover most of the pants. So, the guide and Julie went back to the vehicle to see what could be used. Rick had an SPF hiking shirt and they grabbed that. She wrapped it around her waist and that worked. Wow, did we all look goofy with all our added layers over our regular clothes that already covered us. (wait til you see the photos.) Rick couldn’t stop laughing at us. It’s the strictest mosque that we have ever visited.

 well, THAT's a look......

 this outfit ought to keep the men at bay....

 the Beverly Hillbillies ready for the mosque

 Julie, Karen, Janie, Annette

It’s the largest mosque in the world, the Sheikh Zayed Grand mosque can house more than forty thousand worshippers at one time. This architectural wonder features a thousand pillars, 24 carat gold gilded chandeliers, the world’s largest hand knotted carpet and the world’s largest chandelier weighing twelve tons. Can you say “over the top?”. It was a beautiful site to see! It was worth dressing properly for.

 the mosque is so large that it's hard to get in the photo

 Jeff, Julie, Janie, Rick, Karen, Steve, Annette, Greg

 listening to our guide

 walking to the mosque entrance

 there goes my scarf....AGAIN

 ceiling

 floor

 close up of the detailed inlaid mosaic

 entry into the mosque

 first section - there are 3 identical chandeliers in each room

 the carpet

 all 3 chandeliers lined up

 all 3 chandeliers lined up

 prayer times - the clock rotates how the times are shown

 they were sweeping up behind us

 Sheikh Zayed Grand mosque as we drove away

It was so windy that my scarf kept being blown off. The guide tied it for me twice and so did Karen. All the aggravation of proper dress was well worth it. It’s also important for women not to wear tight clothing and flowy pants or skirts are best. (Just not too gauzy so they aren’t see through)

Our next stop was for The Emirates Palace Hotel, which is a 7 Star hotel. It was supposed to be just a picture stop, but the guide said we were going for a coffee so we could get past the guard to visit the inside. WOW! This is one of the most expensive and luxurious hotels in the UAE. It offers the world’s most expensive million dollar suite holiday. It has a private beach and cost more than three million pounds to build! 

We joked that we all could chip in for one cup of coffee, which I think they said it was $20. (expensive if it was in USD, but $5 or $6 if it was listed in AED.) 

There were beautiful fountains outside. Across the street were “only” 5 Star hotels.

 drive to Emirates Palace Hotel

 entry of the hotel

 door man

 lobby

 ceiling and levels of rooms

 a little music.....

 through the window of the hotel

 carpet on the walls

TV screen in the lobby so you know when the valet arrives with your car

 the back of the hotel

 Greg

 the fountains

 the 5* hotels across the street

We also saw the Al Bateen Presidential Palace which is the most prominent landmark in the UAE. All primary political events of the UAE are held at the palace. Due to security reasons, visitors and photography is prohibited at the palace, so we just drove by. We had a Breakwater picture stop and drove through the Abu Dhabi Corniche which spreads across an impressive eight kilometers with children’s play area, cycle and pedestrian pathways, a large variety if cafes and restaurants and of course the secure and lifeguarded Corniche beach.

 Al Bateen Presidential Palace

We had a visit to the Heritage Village which was an outdoor cultural museum of how life used to be in ancient Arabia. The oasis village houses rural craftsmen at work. We saw workshops that demonstrate traditional skills like pottery and metal works and Arab women weaving and spinning. There were also souks where we could shop.

 Duck porn...... (yes, she's being held underwater while he bites her neck)

I've been defiled!

 Rick & Janie

 museum of clothing

We had hoped we were headed to lunch next, but we made a quick stop at the Date Market, which is the traditional market or souk in Abu Dhabi. There was a wide variety of dates from the best date cultivators in the Middle East. We all bought way too many dates and figs. We tasted chocolate covered dates and dates filled with nuts or orange peel. The guide bought a box of cashews and he passed them around the van. We ate those and many of us started eating our dates since we were so hungry. We had asked to eat at the mall’s food court so people would have more choice and it would be faster than a sit-down restaurant, so that pushed lunch later.

 on the drive to the date market

 at the Date Market

YUM!

Finally, we were headed to Yas Island where the Marina Mall and Ferrari World Theme Park are located. The Marina Mall is Abu Dhabi’s primary shopping mall and a main venue for entertainment. We all found good food to meet everyone’s tastes and met up after lunch. We opted for Lamb Shawarma and Falafels. Very tasty! Rick & Janie ate with us and enjoyed their choices as well.

entrance to the mall

 

inside the mall

 entrance to Ferrari World

  

 After we were full we went to visit Ferrari World Theme Park, where we just visited the lavish lobby area and took pictures of the cars and checked out the shop. It is the first largest indoor Ferrari theme park. I spotted a chocolate éclair that was almost like artwork and it begged to be eaten. Greg and I split one and it truly was as good as it looked. The gold dusted chocolate decoration in the middle said Ferrari World. (yes, there are photos)

YUM!!!

We left the Mall and went to the Yas Island Formula one track. The Marina is also there and was quite impressive. There is also a theme park with the world’s fastest roller coaster and more!

It was now time for our drive back to Dubai. We were supposed to be taken back to the cruise ship, but since we got an extra day and a bonus half day the next day to tour, 6 of us asked to be taken to the Dubai Mall. I had wanted to visit WAFI Mall, since it’s the only major one we didn’t visit last time, but we decided to scrap that and just stay at the Dubai Mall. It’s the one next to the Burj Khalifa where there is a water show every half hour after dark. We wandered the mall and saw the ice skating rink and the aquarium before choosing WAFI Gourmet for dinner. We weren’t overly hungry since we ate later than usual, so we split hummus and pita and a lamb shawarma with rice. Both were very tasty.

 on the drive back to Dubai

 at the mall

 World's Tallest Building - Burj Khalifa

For fun we picked up the menu to FIVE GUYS one of our favorite fast food burger places with English on one side of the menu and Arabic on the other. I’ll take a photo of it and put in the Web Albums when I get to that port.

It was dark, so we headed out to the bridge to find a spot to watch the water show. It’s short and not all that impressive really since we have seen some pretty elaborate ones in Barcelona and Lima. (not to mention Disney does some pretty incredible ones as does Sea World, though of course they don’t have the tallest building in the world with its’ twinkling lights in the background.) It was getting late so we got in line for a cab to take us back to the port.

ice cream stop

 light fixture made of teacups

 from the taxi window

 arrival at the port

We skipped the Welcome Aboard Show and I took the opportunity to call Dad and he is recovering slowly but surely with the help of some home health care workers that come in several times a week to do everything from dishes, to physical therapy. 

The, it was time for bed as Greg and I had a 4 hour tour tomorrow, before we sail away at 1:00. 

I forgot to mention that on the ride out to the desert camp we could see lots of Flamingos in the distance in the lagoon. Yes, I said Flamingos! We had hoped to have time to visit the Lagoon, but no time on this trip.

It was a great day in Abu Dhabi and of course it was made better by the company of our tour mates!