Another Day in Abu Dhabi

Today, we spent our time mostly exploring the rest of the city of Abu Dhabi. Before we actually went into the city, we first took a tour of the brand new Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

This Muslim house of worship was the most incredible piece of architecture I have ever seen. The eighty-one domes and two one-hundred meter tall minarets stand out from miles away, and are even more impressive close-up. We were scheduled to attend the eleven o'clock tour, but were about ten minutes late. Luckily, the nice people running the tours showed us the way to catch up after my mom put on the robe she was required to wear. After our tall, Egyptian-looking tour guide showed us around the main courtyard of the mosque and its surrounding hallways, he asked us to take off our shoes to enter the prayer halls.

The moment we stepped inside, we were absolutely stunned. The floors were made of several different kinds of marble, the chandelier was absolutely massive and ornately decorated, and the interior of the dome above us was beautiful. It turned out that this was only an entrance foyer to the main prayer hall. The main hall was significantly larger, had the most amazing chandelier I have ever seen, and was home to the world's largest single piece of carpet. One interesting thing I noticed is that the back wall was decorated in Arabic script naming the god Allah and his ninety-nine other names. The inherent beauty of Arabic script allows it to blend well with the rest of the mosque's beauty. Any type of Roman script would kill the mood and beauty of the place.

By the time we were done with the tour and ushered out of the building to allow for real Muslims to pray, I felt that I had a better understanding of Muslim faith and culture. We took a walk around the beautiful outside area of the mosque before we were picked up to drive to somewhere new in the city.

The first site we visited was a famous cafe that is quite popular with the expat community in Abu Dhabi. The owner of the place converted a massive three-story villa into a very homey cafe with all sorts of art and decorations from around the world. The food selection was also very broad and contained dishes from all around the world. The menu even had a notice asking for new recipes, as the cafe is very involved with the expat community. I had an excellent falafel dish before we continued on.

Next, we went to an indoor marketplace in one of the more remote parts of town to get great deals on UAE souvenirs. Because our friend knew the shop owner's language, we were able to get really good deals. These kinds of shops offer very interesting and interactive shopping experiences since no prices are listed. You have to be willing to make deals with the shop owner, but ultimately you get much better prices than in tourist trap souvenir stores. We walked out of the store after nearly forty-five minutes of haggling with bags of souvenirs that ended up being much cheaper than souvenirs on other trips.

Today, we got a chance to go into to the Emirates Palace Hotel as I was actually wearing long pants. Unfortunately, the tours of the hotel rooms and ballrooms were limited only to the ballrooms, so a very nice receptionist offered for us to simply walk around and explore the public areas. Not only did we get to save about ninety dollars, but we got a chance to catch a glimpse of the absolute luxury that many rich travelers to Abu Dhabi get to enjoy. The craziest thing we noticed was that all of the items in the antique galleries around the hotel with items as old as 4000 years were for sale. Each item had a price of at least 3000 dirhams (~$1000).

We weren't allowed on the hotel's 1.5km private beach, but we got to see the massive Christmas tree and grand halls inside. There was also an exhibition about some of the new museums and institutions being planned for Saadiyat Island by the year 2030. The Guggenheim Museum, Louvre, and National Opera will keep Abu Dhabi an interesting place to visit for the next century. Unfortunately, the cheapest room in the hotel was over $1200 for a single night, so we won't be staying there anytime soon.

Before it was time to get dinner, we spent about an hour and a half checking out apartments in two nearby complexes, the Khalidiya Palace (pictured), and the Etihad Towers. All of the commodious and comfortable luxury apartments in these buildings provided absolutely stunning views of the Emirates Palace Hotel, the Presidential Palace, and the city of Abu Dhabi. It seems like looking for apartments in a city you're visiting is a great way to get excellent aerial views of a city and its attractions for free.

After this unique experience, my parents went out for their dinner, and myself, my friend and a couple of his friends had a small dinner at a Mexican food restaurant and spent the rest of the night eating and hanging out on the Corniche, a boardwalk type area by the beach that was unbelievably crowded for Thursday night. Because Friday is the main Muslim day of prayer, weekends in the UAE are Fridays and Saturdays, while the week starts on Sunday and ends on Thursday.

Now that I'm "home", I have a chance to relax after an incredibly tiring three days in Abu Dhabi. Tomorrow, we'll be going to Dubai to spend the next few days and New Year's Eve.