Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Day 22

As we cruised out of the Straits of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf, we began to search the coastline for Dubai. The skies were very hazy which I’m assuming is the result of wind and sand. As we entered the port of Dubai, you finally could begin to make out the outlines of buildings. It was quite a sight to have been seeing nothing to suddenly like an apparition seeing the tallest building on the planet.

We first headed by taxi to the Mall of Dubai. Wow, wow, wow. This mall is at the base of the Burj al Khalifa, the current holder of the title “world’s tallest building.” The tower was supposed to be named Burj al Dubai (Dubai Tower) but when the emirate got into financial trouble, the emirate of Abu Dhabi bailed them out. So Dubai named the tower for the head of Abu Dhabi, Sheik Khalifa. It is a beautiful building. Many people on our ship rode up to the observation platform but we decided to spend our time seeing other things. The mall was quite something. You walk around a corner and come face to face with a three story wall of fish. At another end of the mall there is a three story waterfall with statues of pearl divers taking flight. At another end is an ice-rink. At another end was what appeared to be thousands of snowflakes suspended from the ceiling but upon closer examination turned out to be little paper mache butterflies.



We then headed over to the Mall of the Emirates which I think is one of the largest malls in the world. We saw Ski Dubai located at one end of the mall. There were lots of people skiing, tobogganing and rolling down the slopes inside giant inflatable balls. It was $40 a person to just be able to walk out on to the snow, so we passed on that as we didn’t want to have to change into ski clothes. We had a bite of lunch at a restaurant overlooking the slopes before looking at the shops.




Next stop was the Burj al Arab hotel. The al Arab sits out on a point all by itself in the Persian Gulf. From the outside, it looks like a giant sail. We were going for high tea on the 27th floor at the Sky Bar. The Sky Bar and the Sky Restaurant are attached to the top of building with the entire complex suspended over the Gulf. You cannot enter the hotel without being a guest or having a restaurant reservation. The hotel is beautiful but gaudy, very Las Vegas. There is lots of red, waterfalls, gold, glass elevators, etc. We had arrived a little early for tea so we sat at the bar drinking my new favorite cocktail, a Negroni which I think has gin, Campari and vermouth. Our tea was incredible as were the views. We started with champagne and a salmon wellington. Next was a tower of sandwiches made of egg, roast beef, cucumber and lox. There were all kinds of pastries and deserts and, of course, wonderful tea! We had unbelievable views of the Palm Island and of the World Island. The day was quite hazy, so our pictures did not come out great as the camera kept focusing on the haze instead of the sights.

We then headed back to the ship, exhausted but quite full. Tomorrow we’ll head to the Gold and Spice Souks.