Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
We arrived back in Abu Dhabi this morning and disembarked the ship. We headed back to Le Royal Meridien, the boys were sad to leave. They both met a few other boys their age onboard and had fun with them. After 10 days of comfort and being taken care of onboard, it’s hard to go back to normal life! After the brash, glamorous and cosmopolitan Dubai, it was nice to get back to the more traditional, conservative and gentler pace of life in Abu Dhabi. Not to say it’s without its own modern developments like the sumptuous Emirates Palace Hotel and Sheik Zayed Mosque. So we spent the day exploring these gems that we didn’t see in Abu Dhabi at the beginning of the trip. Emirates Palace was over the top and one of the most spectacular sights in Abu Dhabi. It lives up to every one of our Western cliches about the oil fueled opulent life in the Gulf! It’s possibly the most expensive hotel ever built at the cost of around $3 billion. It’s total Arabian excess and opulence. The sheer size is breathtaking, over a half mile long with 1000 Swarovski crystal chandeliers, 150,000 cubic yards of imported marble, 114 domes, and 102 elevators! We spent so much time walking around and exploring. The Emirate Palace Cappuccino is topped with gold flakes at the cost of about $20, but you have to do it! Next stop was the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque. Is gargantuan and holds up to 40,000 worshippers! It has 57 domes and four huge minarets, and cost around $500 million and was completed in 2007 after 12 years of construction. I also has the worlds largest carpet. It’s 60,000 square feet and weighs 47 tons. There is also the worlds largest chandelier that is 33ft in diameter and 50ft high with a million Swarovski crystals. I had to cover up in one of their Abayas before I could enter the grounds. As you walk in they have a ladies entrance then a men’s entrance. But only the women had the required “uniforms”. I felt like a Jawa from Star Wars! We spent so much time exploring and taking pictures, around every corner was an amazing view. After we left, we went across the river to a Hotel and Souk to see the Mosque from a distance as the sun set, it was spectacular! We also passed by the Capital Building, also known as the Leaning Tower of Abu Dhabi. It is known as the worlds most tilted tower with an 18° slant, more than four times that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But this was built this way. It is also home to the Hyatt hotel. Dubai boasts some of the best Indian food due to the sheer number of them here. We ate at a highly recommended place called India Palace. It was amazing and we thoroughly enjoyed it. When we got back to the hotel, he went up to the top. They have a great cocktail lounge called Stratos because it’s a 360 degree area that slowly spins in about 1.5 hours. The boys loved watching it move while Jeff and I had cocktails and enjoyed the views from so high above.
