After driving around UAE, we returned to Dubai...
...to check out what is all the fuss about.
Just upon arrival into our room, we were delighted to be "greeted" by the breathtaking sight of
Dubai fountains from the window of our room:
Without wasting too much time, we got down to the lake in front of the Burj Khalifa...
...to get a closer look at the fountains:
even though Dubai fountains is just a bigger copy of the fountains of Bellagio, WET Designs still have the skills to create a fountain amazingly beautiful from where it is just impossible to leave until the last show finishes late at night.
The next morning we headed out to explore the
Downtown Dubai area
where
Burj Khalifa, the (currently) highest building in the world is located:
As the heat started to become unbearable, we did what all locals, Emirati and expats alike...
do when the temps go high: rush into an air conditioned mall, or in our case to the
Souk al Bahar:
The rest of the day we relaxed at the pool and later in the afternoon we headed for a night in the desert
(see previous post).
The following day after returning from the desert we headed off to discover the "old Dubai", at least what is left from it, starting at the
Gold Souk:
After we had enough from all the gold around, we took a turn towards the
Herbs Market, located just around the corner:
walking down to Dubai creek, we finally found the very little that still remained from old Dubai:
As the sun was about to set, we took a dinner cruise on the Dubai creek:
Day three was dedicated to visiting just another of those "impressive nonsense", the
Palm Jumeirah.
While it is difficult for me to understand the need to build an artificial island, when quite a lot of Dubai's coastline is still empty, the Palm does what it is designed for: it impresses:
- Driving on the "trunk" of the Palm, it is unbelievable that this 2x3 lanes of highway + 2x2lanes of streets besides + monorail lined with high-rise apartment buildings is all on a man-made island built by Pakistani and Indian workers in a matter of a few years:
...build for the rich who can afford these and the even richer who can afford these...
As the heat became unbearable (again) we decided to plunge into a pool at the
Aquaventure Water Park at Atlantis:
I mean into a shark-filled pool of course:
After we had enough of water slides and sharks, we checked out the "rest of" the
Atlantis the Palm hotel located on the tip of the palm, which just like a lot of things in Dubai, is bigger copy (of the one in the Bahamas in this case):
Nonetheless, this further nonsense of Dubai is also impressive (that's why it was build after all)
Going by the motto of "save the best for last", we saved the world famous (and probably one of the few projects of Dubai which is unique and not a copy) Burj al Arab for the last day.
One of the best far-away views of Burj al Arab are from Jumeirah beach just outside Dubai:
For a closer and palm-shaded cooler view of the Burj al Arab,we headed to Medinat Jumeirah souk, a newly built, but very authentic-looking souk with lots of greenery, water and great views:
After going through the elaborate process of making a reservation to the skyview-bar in the Burj (mere visitors are not allowed), we were finally ready to visit the unquestionably iconic landmark of Dubai, the
Burj al Arab:
Just as the exterior, its interior did not disappoint either
adhering to the motto "what looks gold, is gold" the atrium, the worlds tallest as of 2007 (wikipedia) is jaw-dropping, both from below...
and from above...
After having a great dinner including some traditional transylvanian eggplant salad (Vinetta-saláta) in the skyview bar,
it was time to give back the rental car, get some sleep and board the plane towards paradise on earth in the Indian ocean ( Hold on for the next post)...
All our photos from Dubai
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