Dubai is the capital of the Emirate of Dubai and is the most populated emirate of the country’s seven. It is located in the eastern Arabian Peninsula on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Initially a small fishing village in the 19th century, it has grown into a regional and international trading centre focusing on tourism and luxury. Dubai has the second-most five-star hotels and the only seven-star hotel in the world, boasts the tallest building in the world, has two man-made Palm islands, the Museum of the Future, many amusement parks and lots of huge shopping centres with hundreds of stores in each as well as many other attractions like indoor ski hills, ice skating rinks, waterfalls and aquariums. Dubai is a very active city with lots of architecture, lights at night and beautiful pedestrian walkways. Hard to believe it’s a desert!

We stayed in Dubai for 6 days and experienced only a few of the things it has to offer.

Our first day, waiting to check-in to our Airbnb, we toured around the Marina area. We strolled along the Marina Walk, down the Beach Walk and then along the very busy Marina and JBR beach shoreline. One of the highlights was the camels walking the beach. As it turns out we visited the Marine Walk most evenings as well to find our supper as it was so close to our home away from home.

Up next was a visit to Palm Jumeriah. Stretching 5 km into the Arabian Gulf and shaped like a date palm, Palm Jumeirah is a man-made island that is one of the most audacious engineering projects ever undertaken.  Today, the 17 palm fronds are home to Dubai residents, major attractions, world-class hotels and spectacular beaches. After getting our public transportation cards we took the tram to the Palm Monorail – the only way we could get onto the Palm. The monorail runs up the 5 km trunk of the Palm and has three stops, Al Ittihad Park, Nakheel Mall and Atlantis Aquaventure. We got off at Al Ittihad Park and walked the beautiful rubber running track, flanked by flowers, palm trees, dry water beds and small parks, to the mall where we boarded the tram again towards Atlantis. After walking through the areas we were permitted to without being a guest we strolled along the promenade and then watched the sunset from the monorail station. On our way back we got off at the park and had a fantastic asian meal. Did I mention there are a lot of cats in the UAE!

Day three started with a trip to the medical clinic to see if we could get some antibiotics for the respiratory infection we caught on the ship. Antibiotics in hand, we started our trek to old Dubai, Deira, to visit the old Souks. To get to Deira we had to cross the Dubai Canal. Instead of taking the metro line we opted for an Abra (which means “to cross” in Arabic), a traditional wooden boat, to traverse the canal. We started at the Spice Souk or the Old Souk as it is known. This is a traditional market which is comprised of several narrow lanes lined with open and closed-roof stores selling a variety of fragrances and spices from frankincense and shisha to the many herbs used in Arabic and South Asian food as well as several artifacts, textiles, tea, rugs and incense.  The next market we visited was the Gold Souk. This souk consists of over 380 retailers, most of whom are jewelry traders. Some of the shops are four decades old, while others are new. The major items found in this souk are gold, platinum, diamonds and silver. From the Gold Souk we moved on to the Textile Souk where you could see fabrics of all colours and patterns. We chose the Abra again to cross back. It was amazing to see so many abras maneuvering with each other to cross back and forth across the canal.

Our next adventure the following day was the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Opera House and the Dubai Mall. The Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building with a total height of 829.8 m and more than 160 stories. Construction started in 2004 and completed in 2009. There are three observation areas – floor 124, 125 and 148. We choose to visit floor 124 and 125. The elevator ride to floor 124 took 60 seconds. Stepping outside to the first observation area was dizzying and it felt like the building was slightly swaying. What amazing 360 views of Dubai. After leaving the Burj we set off to find the Dubai Opera house and stroll through the surrounding parks, stopping to relax in the Burj Khalifa Park and then continuing past the Dandelion Light Statue as well as the Three Finger statue, down a main street and back to the mall to explore it a little and to find a place to eat where we could watch the Fountain Show.

Day 5 and 6 were beach and biking days. There are so many beautiful biking tracks and beaches in Dubai that we spent the whole day exploring and enjoying the Persian Gulf and the warm sunshine. On our way home we got stopped by the police in a bike check and were told that we were supposed to be wearing helmets but since we were visitors he let us off with a warning and told us that if we were going to take bikes out the next day that we needed helmets while he ticketed the local beside us – wow that was a close one :). We also went to a great Lebanese restaurant recommended by my friend Monique. The chef has received Michelin awards the past two years. The food was excellent and we left way too full so we walked around the man-made lakes a little before catching the metro home.