January 18: Abu Dhabi
Today we arrived in
Abu Dhabi, a city which is the capital of the
Emirate of Abu Dhabi, one of the United Emirates. It doesn't appear to be as obviously wealthy as Dubai, but it's still pretty impressive.
We took the double-decker tourist bus into the main part of the city, along the corniche, the road which goes along the shore.
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| Along the corniche |
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| View of the central part of town from a park on the corniche |
Eventually, we arrived at Marina Island, which is at the far left of the map. The island features a Ferris wheel, a large mall, and the Fairmont Abu Dhabi Hotel, which looks strangely like the Atlantis hotels in the Bahamas and Dubai.
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| View of Marina Island |
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| Fairmont Abu Dhabi |
We stopped in the Marina Mall for lunch, at a Shake Shack, no less (not sure what all the fuss is about).
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| Glad to see she got a job |
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| All your needs met in one place! |
From the mall, we took the bus to the
Emirates Palace, which, along with the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, is one of the most luxurious hotels in the world.
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| At a bus stop outside the Emirates Palace |
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| View of the Emirates Palace from the entrance gate |
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| In front of the Emirates Palace |
To give you a feel for the size of the Emirates Palace, here's an overhead shot (from Wikipedia).
Unlike the Burj Al Arab, the public can actually visit the Emirates Palace, so we availed ourselves of the place. Here are a few shots from the lobby.
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| A camelccino will run you only about $20 |
Across from the Emirates Palace was the
Etihad Towers, a set of very impressive skyscrapers, consisting of various hotels and office buildings.
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| More Abu Dhabi Architecture |
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| Still more |
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| Even more |
We then took the bus to the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in a different part of town (lower center of the map). The mosque was completed in 2008 and is one of the largest in the world.
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| Sheikh Zayed Mosque, from about 1/2 mile away |
The mosque complex is huge, and you start your visit at a visitors center, almost a 1/2 mile walk from the mosque itself.
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| In front of the visitors center |
In the visitor's center, all female visitors have to put on a chador, a full length body covering, which they supply. You then walk through a long underground walkway to the mosque.
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| Outside the mosque |
The main hall in the mosque contains what may be the largest single carpet in the world, with over 2 billion knots.
After touring the mosque, we went back to the ship. On the way we passed (at a distance) the Abu Dhabi Louvre, but didn't go in.
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| View of the Abu Dhabi Louvre from the ship |
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| Close up view of the Louvre (from Wikipedia) |
January 18: Abu Dhabi
We were supposed to sail to Sir Bani Yas Island today, but the weather conditions prohibited us from docking there. So, instead, we spent another day in Abu Dhabi.
The forecast for Abu Dhabi literally called for "dust", so we tempered our expectations for sightseeing. We first headed for the Etihad Towers complex.
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| Etihad Towers |
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| Etihad Towers |
We then crossed the street to the Corniche Beach, which was nearly deserted, probably due to the dust.
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| View of central Abu Dhabi from the beach |
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| On the beach |
From the beach we took a taxi back to the ship, passing some other impressive buildings.
