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| 8 DAYS IN DECEMBER, 2021 |
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| ABOVE: SHEIK ZAYED GRAND MOSQUE IN ABU DHABI |
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| It's
been 2 years since our last trip, 25 months of Corona! And,
unfortunately, it's not over. However, we were able to visit Dubai in
between waves of Covid. In fact, when we arrived in Dubai, it was
considered safe by our home country, Israel, but when we headed home,
(only 8 days later), it had been declared a red country, and we had to
self-isolate for 7 days upon arrival and be tested twice for covid. We
did 6 covid tests during a 2 week period in order to travel and come
back. All tests were fortunately negative. |
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| Despite
all the inconvenience of covid, we do not regret making this trip, and
we enjoyed it, and we learned a lot.
I should stress that 2 years ago, we couldn't have made this trip, as
there were no official relations between israel and the United Arab
Emirates (UAE). That was changed with the signing of the "Abraham
Accords", which normalized relations between Israel and the UAE.
The UAE has now become a very popular destination for Israeli tourists,
particularly in winter, when the weather there isn't too hot. |
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| We spent
8 days in total in Dubai, including 2 visits to EXPO Dubai, and one day
trip to Abu Dhabi. We were surprised by many things, and what we found
was not what we expected. Below are some of our observations. |
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| Despite all of the above, there's plenty to do and see. Below is what we did (and didn't) do. |
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 check out our home page |
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| While
in Dubai, we stayed in 2 different hotels, one in the business
district, and the other in the Marina area. We did this in order to
taste both these areas which are quite different one from the other.
The city of Dubai is quite large, and if you are there for more than a
few days (we did 8), you will spend a lot of time driving from one area
to the other, primarilly, from north to south and vice versa. |
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COMPREHENSIVE 30 MINUTE VIDEO OF A TOUR OF DUBAI CITY |
The "downtown" area (the northern part of the city) includes the the convention center, the business district, Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa, and is close to the old parts of town, like Al Fahidi, and Deira, where all the popular markets are located. Many of the hotels in this area are located along the red Metro line which bisects the city north to south. There is nowhere to walk here - just take the metro or a taxi to your destination. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The
other popular area is the Marina area, which is like another world. It
is really a beautiful area, and is close to several very popular
tourist attractions, among them the Palm Jumeirah Island, Madinat
Jumeirah, as well as the marina area itself. An advantage of the marina
area is that it is significantly closer to Abu Dhabi and the EXPO than
the downtown area. |
 PART OF THE 8 KILOMETER MARINA WALK |
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 THE TOWERS METRO STATION DIRECTLY ACROSS FROM THE HOTEL |
In the downtown area, we stayed at the Millennium Plaza Hotel. The name of the hotel was changed on January 1. It is now known as the "Tower Plaza Hotel". This is a 5 star hotel located on the main north-south roadway of Dubai, the Sheikh Zayed Road. It is located directly opposite the Emirates Towers Metro station, which is very convenient. However, even though the entrance to the station is only steps from the hotel's rear entrance, it is still an 8-10 minute walk to get to a metro train. The bridge over the 14 lane Sheik Zayed road is very looooong. | all about the dubai marina walk |
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| The
hotel is a weak 5 stars. It's popular with groups, and the breakfast
area is quite full between 8:30 and 9:30. Our room was huge, but poorly
designed with very little storage area, and in the closet, the clothes
bar was extremely high, so high that Alisa couldn't even reach it. The
other problem was the size of the shower. It was simply too big. If you
stood under the shower head, which was in the exact center of the
shower, you had no contact with any of the four walls. There was also nothing to hold on to. |
 THE VIEW FROM OUR ROOM AT THE TOWER PLAZA |
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 OUR ROOM AT THE CROWN PLAZA |
The
other hotel we stayed at was the Crowne Plaza Dubai Marina located at
the Marina, of course. This hotel was one of the best big hotels we
have ever stayed it. It's beautiful, fairly new, great service, well
designed room, and the breakfast was a rich buffet, and was never
crowded. Also the view of the marina was outstanding! |
 MARINA VIEW FROM OUR HOTEL ROOM |
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 THE DUBAI FRAME |
THE FRAME:
It's billed as the biggest picture frame in the world, and that's
exactly what it is. It's the kind of thing that could be built only in
Dubai. It's situated in a nice green park called Zabeel Park (probably
the only park in Dubai), and it has some historic displays on the
ground floor. The main event is ascending in one leg of the frame,
checking out the view through the windows and glass floor, and
descending down the other leg. It's only 50 stories high, which
doesn't compare with the Burj Khalifa, but it's a whole lot cheaper
and more accessible. |
 OBSERVATION LEVEL OF THE FRAME |
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BURJ KHALIFA: This is the tallest building in the world. We saw it from many angles, but we did not go up to the observation floors. Ascending to the top floors during peak hours costs up to 533 AED (Emirati Dirham), which is about $145! We went to the Frame instead, which cost about $14. |
 PARK OF THE FRAME |
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 THE DUBAI FOUNTAINS |
THE DUBAI FOUNTAINS:
There is a lake at the foot of the Burj Khalifa, which is surrounded by
the Burj, the Dubai Mall, and the Souk al Bahar.
In the middle of the lake are the Burj Fountains, which provide nightly
entertainment with loud music and dancing waters. The fountains are a
big attraction, as they are about the only thing in Dubai which is
free. They can be viewed from all sides, and there are quite a few
restaurants to dine at and watch the fountain show several times during
your meal. The fountains are very impressive, and advertised as the
largest in the world, but we think that they are not as impressive as
the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas. |
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE DUBAI FOUNTAINS TIPS FOR VISITING THE DUBAI FOUNTAINS |
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 THE DUBAI MALL WATERFALL |
DUBAI MALL: The Dubai Mall is one of the biggest malls in the world. It is by far the biggest we have ever been in. It has a giant aquarium, a waterfall, an Olympic sized ice skating rink, multiple entrances, many restaurants, a pseudo market called the "souk", and they even offer a cell phone application, which includes a navigation function, in order to help you not get lost. And, of course there are lots and lots of stores, some high end, most not. I guess this is the place to mention that Dubai is not cheap, and if you are coming for the shopping, don't bother. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SOUK AL BAHAR:
Souk al Bahar is the poor cousin on the shores of Burj Lake. It is a
small kitchy mall, which wants to seem like a traditional Arabian
shopping oasis. It has stores selling antiques (probably phony),
Persian rugs (probably made in China), traditional clothing (one
of the stores advertises Arabic designed haute couture), and quite a
few restaurants. The restaurants are the best part, as several are very
good, and have a great view of the fountains. We ate at 2 of them (more
on that later). |
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MIRACLE
GARDEN: The Miracle garden is an incredible botanical garden located
about 20 KM outside of the city. It was by far Alisa's favorite place
which we visited during this trip to Dubai. We took a taxi there
and back and spent about 2 hours. There's not much to explain
here - just enjoy the pictures... And here is a 20 second video I made at the Miracle garden. |
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MIRACLE GARDEN |
PALM ISLAND: (Palm Jumeirah) is the grandest of the grand projects in Dubai. It's
the largest man made island in the world, and it can be seen from outer
space. It took 6 years and 12 billion US dollars to build. It has a
monorail running up its spine which ends at the impressive Atlantis Hotel. And, it's not the only man made island in Dubai. There are several others in various stages of construction. |
MIRACLE GARDEN |
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| dubai's man-made islands THE LIFE OF DUBAI'S RICHEST FAMILY |
Other notable landmarks which are part of the project are the Nakheel Mall, The View at the Palm (240 meter high viewpoint of the entire island), and The Pointe.
The Pointe is supposed to be a shopping and entertainment center, but
it's a giant disappointment. There's not much there except for a few
stores and restaurants, and a modest little beach. I think the main
reason for this is that the Metro
stop there hasn't yet opened. There is an impressive fountain display
here in the evenings, but during daytime, there's no point in visiting
the Pointe.
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 THE ATLANTIS HOTEL |
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 THE MARINA |
THE MARINA:
Alisa's favorite place in Dubai was the Miracle garden, but mine was
the Marina area.
I found the marina to be beautiful, with lots of things to do,
beautiful buildings, lots of restaurants, and a modest (by Dubai
standards) shopping mall. It even has a 7 story building, called Pier 7, which houses
only restaurants, with a different style restaurant on each floor. Here
you can walk the 8 kilometer Marina walk, or take a cruise on one of
the many boats offering various packages. |
 THE MARINA |
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 MARINA DINNER CRUISE BOAT |
As for the
cruises, I really wanted to take one, but they are not designed for a
lone couple who are not interested in a dinner cruise. There is a wide
variety of cruises of 1 to several hours, which includes either
breakfast, a lunch barbeque or a dinner cruise. We prefer to pick our
own restaurants for our meals. The ideal way to cruise is to come with a
group or at least 8 or 10 people, and then you can book the tour of
your choice on the boat of your choice. There are many companies to choose from. One of the leading companies I found is called Xclusive Yachts. |
A GOOD 6 MINUTE VIDEO OF THE DUBAI MARINA |
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 ALISA AND SHUBAN |
TOURS WITH RAYNA:
In order to utilize our time optimally, we decided to book 2 guided
tours, one in Dubai, and one in Abu Dhabi. I got offers from several
companies and settled on Rayna tours. Rayna tours, as are all of the
tour companies I spoke to are run by Indian expats. In fact, the person
I dealt with at Rayna sat in an office in India. His advice wasn't too
good, but the tours were fine. The vehicles were fine, and the drivers
and guide were great. We enjoyed both tours. The tour in Dubai
included both a driver and guide, while the tour to Abu Dhabi had a
driver, who was also the guide, and he was excellent. And, the car was
brand new! To the left is a picture of Alisa, with our Dubai guide, Shuban. Below are the highlights of the Dubai tour. |
 AL FAHIDI ALLEYWAY |
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 DATES AND COFFEE IN AL FAHIDI |
AL FAHIDI HISTORICAL NEIGHBORHOOD:
Al Fahidi is a restored historical neighborhood depicting the life in
Dubai before its modern wealth and development. Admission is a
modest 3 Dirham, and there are several interesting attractions to
visit. One of them is the Dubai Museum, which has been closed (unfortunately) for the
last 2 years due to corona. We walked through the narrow winding
alleyways surrounded by ochre-coloured buildings made of palm wood, coral,
mud or gypsum. There are even wind towers on top of the houses, the
era's desert air conditioning systems. We had coffee and dates at The Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding. Picture to the left. |
 AL FAHIDI |
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 DEIRA GOLD MARKET |
DEIRA: Deira
is the oldest commercial district in Dubai. It includes the very
popular Grand Souk Deira, known in Arabic as "Al Souk Al-Kabeer" - a
labyrinth of covered alleyways with stalls selling all kinds of things.
There is a spice market, houseware market, and perhaps the most famous,
the gold market. They sell both saffron and gold here by the kilo. To
the right is a spice display, and to the left Alisa and I are standing
in front of an incredible display of gold garments. And, here is a
nice, short video stroll through the market. |
 DEIRA SPICE MARKET |
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| ABRA BOAT RIDE: An Abra is a traditional small ferry-like boat used to ferry people across the Dubai Creek in Dubai. They travel between the water station at Shindagha/Al Ghubaiba on the Bur Dubai side, and the water station at Al Sabkha on the Deira side. The ride takes about 5 minutes. The abras depart every few minutes. The fare is 1 dirham (27 US cents), which is paid directly to the ferry driver. You can also rent an agra for a longer "cruise" up the creek. The Dubai creek seperates Deira (the old city center), from Bur Dubai, the newer city center. Here is an excellent video describing the experience, and to the right a picture of a selection of Abras. |  ABRA BOATS |
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 MADINAT JUMEIRAH |
During the tour, we stopped at various places for a look and a photo. These included the Frame, the Jumeirah Mosque, Jumeirah Beach, Burj Al Arab, Madinat Jumeirah (more below), the Atlantis Hotel on Palm Island, the Mall of the Emirates (the mall with the ski slope), and City Walk, an open street mall which is definitely an exception in Dubai. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MADINAT JUMEIRAH:
This sprawling mall is sonewhat similar to Souk al Bahar, but it's much
bigger, and has several luxury hotels attached, or very near it, the
most significant of them being the 7 star "Burj al Arab". This is the only hotel I have heard of which offers a paid tour of the premises. A 90 minute sunset tour will set you back about $70 per person. The tour info includes the following line: Burj Al Arab is the original home of luxury - Dress to impress! Smart/casual attire. Madinat Jumeirah also has several excellent restaurants, and we ate at 2 of them. |
 BURJ AL ARAB HOTEL FROM MADINAT JUMEIRAH |
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we never had a problem finding a taxi. |
There are several modes of transportation to get around in Dubai. There's plenty of traffic on the roads, and renting a car is an option, but be warned, the fines are stiff for traffic violations. For tourists, the 2 main options are the Metro and taxis. The Metro is new, clean, efficient and cheap. To ride on it, you need a "NOL" card, which comes in 3 varieties - red, silver and gold. It can be crowded during rush hour, especially between the Marina area and the business district. We used the Metro to get to the Expo both days we visited, as the last station of the red line is right at the Expo. It was convenient and comfortable. | ALL ABOUT NOL CARDS dubai metro & tram system official dubai transport site |
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we never had a problem finding a taxi.  ABOVE: LOTS OF DUBAI-TAXIS WAITING IN FRONT OF MADINAT JUMEIRAH |
As
for the taxis, they are also pretty cheap, as long as you select the
right taxi. There are several companies, the biggest of which is "Dubai Taxi".
Their taxis are clean, in good condition, and always use the meter.
They are always painted cream and red. Most of the drivers are Pakistanis, although we rode once with a woman
driver from Senegal! Do not get into a black taxi. We did once, and
found that the price was twice the price of Dubai Taxis. There are also
2 private driver services. Uber exists and there is a local service
called Careem. We did not use them so I can not report anything about them. There is also a "Hop-on hop-off" tourist bus service, but again, we didn't use it, so I can't report on it. |
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 ENTRANCE TO EXPO DUBAI 2021 |
Together,
for Alisa and me, this was our second Expo, our first being in Milan in
2015. I personally was at a third - (when it was called the World's
Fair) in New York City in 1964. The Dubai Expo was originally scheduled
for 2021, but like so many events, was delayed for a year by corona.
Dubai invested over 7 billion dollars as part of its program to turn
the country into a world cultural and tourism center. |
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 AT THE EXPO: ALISA CAN MAKE FRiENDS ANYWHERE |
In
comparison to the Milan Expo, this Expo is bigger, better designed, and
better organized. The
Expo site has a well defined center (The El Wasl Plaza), where events
take place all day and into the night. The El Wasl plaza features
entertainment during the day and evenings. I took 2 short videos (20
seconds each) of the the El Wasl sound & light show. Here is the one at dusk, and here is the second one taken later when it was nice and dark. The site is immense, and there are several options for riding from one place to another. There are visitor centers with a variety of available services scattered throughout the site. At each visitor center is a first aid station, and they were very efficient bandaging my knee after I scraped it at one of the pavillions. |
 EL WASL PLAZA EXPO CENTER |
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 AT THE EXPO MOBILITY PAVILLION |
Unfortunately,
we were not overwhelmed by any of the national pavillions. Most were
impressive technologically, but the messages they were espousing were,
in most cases not too clear. There are 3 themes of this Expo -
sustainability, mobility, and opportunity, and most of the national
pavillions are supposed to reflect one of these themes. It wasn't too clear to us.
The most memorable pavillions for us were the non-national pavillions,
namely the mobility pavillion and the sustainability pavillions. |
 THE STRIKING RUSSIAN PAVILLION |
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 STREET ENTERTAINMENT AT EXPO |
I enjoyed the South Korean pavillion,
despite injuring my knee there. They did some interesting things,
including what they called "Vertical Cinema". Picture to the right.
Again, the technology was fantastic, but the connection to the theme
(in this case - mobility), is not all that clear. This Expo will run until the end of March, 2022. By the time you read this page, it will probably be long over. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to visit the next one, in Osaka Japan in 2025. |
 VERTICAL CINEMA AT THESOUTH KOREAN PAVILLION |
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TOP 10 THINGS TO DO IN ABU DHABI (YOUTUBE VIDEO) |
As
noted above, we took a day trip to Abu Dhabi with Rayna tours. We had a
driver guide named Ali. He comes from Pakistan and his English was
excellent. He is educated and intelligent with a college degree, and
before he became a taxi driver (and guide), he was a web site designer.
He was a very good driver and excellent guide. He even had an "abaya"
for Alisa in the car so that she could visit the Sheikh Zayed Mosque.
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| ABU DHABI is
the capital of the UAE. It is the biggest of the Emirates and also
the richest due to its significant oil and gas reserves. It is
different from Dubai in several aspects. There are far fewer tourist
attractions, but far more trees and green areas. Its skyline is much
more modest than Dubai's, and it seems far less addicted to tourists.
One thing it does have for the tourists is several theme parks. The
most famous and popular of these is probably "Ferrari World". Ferrari
World has become a stop on many tours, even if it's just to take
pictures of it from the outside. It's quite an iconic shape. Here's a
picture to the right, which obviously is not one that I took. We did not visit any theme parks during our visit to Dubai or Abu Dhabi.
Below is what we did visit in Abu Dhabi. |
 FERRARI WORLD THEME PARK |
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| THE DATE MARKET: The traditional date market was on the program, so we visited. I don't even like dates, and our expectations were low.
However, we enjoyed the visit and even bought some dates, and some
traditional middle eastern sweets (baklava and similar things) which
were mostly imported from neighboring countries. The dates (from Saudi Arabia) were delicious. |
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 ETIHAD TOWERS IN ABU DHABI |
EMIRATES PALACE HOTEL: It's an iconic hotel located on the beachfront of Abu Dhabi. It's big and beautiful. We took a picture and moved on. |
 EMIRATES PALACE HOTEL IN ABU DHABI |
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| THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE:
It's called Qasr Al Watan, and is open for visitors (for a modest fee
of course). An adult ticket costs 60 Dirham. To the left is a picture
of the iconic Etihad Towers, one of the symbols of Abu Dhabi. The
Emirates Hotel, the Presidential Palace and the Etihad Towers are all pretty close together. |
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| THE CORNICHE: The
Corniche is the 8 KM long beachfront of Abu Dhabi. It includes the
usual beachfront things like walking, biking, children's playgrounds,
sandy beaches, and of course restaurants. |
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| HERITAGE VILLAGE:
Heritage Village is a recreated traditional village, oasis, and market
located right on the water's edge. This was not on our bucket list, but
the driver suggested we visit as we had a few minutes to spare. It's a
family friendly place, good for a short visit. We came, we saw, we took a picture or 2, and went on our way. |
 HERITAGE VILLAGE IN ABU DHABI |
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THE LOUVRE: The Abu Dhabi Louvre is an art museum located on Saadiyat Island. It runs under an agreement between the UAE and France, signed in 2007, that allows it to use the Louvre's name until 2037, and has been described by the Louvre as "France’s largest cultural project abroad". The museum's stated aim is to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western art. I am not sure if the exhibition we saw is the permanent one, but its theme was the development of civilization. It's a beautiful building worth a visit. If you buy tickets in advance, they will be for a particular time slot. We did buy in advance on the internet, but there was no problem coming at a different time, as the museum was not too busy. |  AT THE LOUVRE |
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 SHEIK ZAHED GRAND MOSQUE |
SHEIK ZAYED GRAND MOSQUE:
This mosque was by far the highlight of our visit to Abu Dhabi. It is huge, impressive, and beautiful. It is one of the world's
largest mosques, and can contain up
to 55,000 worshippers. It is open for free visits by people of any
faith, according to the times and conditions described on its own web site. Clothing restrictions apply, and women must wear what's called an "abaya" ( a full length cloak), and a head scarf both of which the mosque will supply
if you don't have your own. There are also guided tours in English at certain
hours. One of the recommendations for visiting here is to wear sunglasses, as
the combination of sun and white marble are truly blinding. |
 A TOUR GROUP AT THE SHEIK ZAHED GRAND MOSQUE |
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| The
most amazing thing about the Sheik Zayed Mosque is that it has a
shopping center inside the visitor's complex. There are quite a few
stores even including a supermarket. In
the picture above of Alisa and Ali you can see 2 of the stores - a
Costa coffee shop and a Mothercare store. We were quite surprised. |
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| DAMPA SEAFOOD On
every trip, there is one unforgettable restaurant, sometimes for all
the wrong reasons. Dampa was the one on this trip. There are a couple
of branches in Dubai, and we ate at the one in the
Expo. At the Expo, there are several buildings called "Eat Expo", where
3 or 4 restaurants are situated. On our first visit to the Expo, we ate
at one of these, and sat down at the most accessible of the
restaurants. It was Dampa.
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 CAJUN SHELLFISH BEFORE EATING |
As soon as we sat down, we knew it would be an experience. There was a
box of sanitary disposable gloves on every table, and it was clear from the menu,
that we were supposed to eat with the gloves on. We thought it was
becasue of corona, but it wasn't. The food was mostly sauce covered shellfish (in the
shell) and the only reasonable way to eat it was by hand, so we put on
our gloves and dug in. We ordered the cajun shrimp, and the cajun mussels. We lived in Louisiana for a while and we know what "cajun" means. The shrimp and mussels were covered with a red spicy sauce, which was tasty, but hardly cajun. They came with rice, which was dumped in a pile on the paper table covering. After eating, our table (and every other table in the restaurant) was covered with heaps of soiled napkins and sauce covered red shells. It was quite an experience. |
 CAJUN SHELLFISH AFTER EATING |
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 KALE SALAD AT BARON |
BARON This
is the other restaurant we
ate at in the Expo. It's another restaurant with branches in Dubai. It
had a weird menu, and the kale salad Alisa ate, was, in her words, "the
weirdest salad she's ever eaten". It had kale, pomegranate, puffed
rice, mint, pickled raisins, and a few other items. I had gnudi, which was okay, but a little chewy.
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 GNUDI AT BARON |
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 SEAFOOD PROVENCAL AT SAMMACH |
SAMMACH Samach was a surprising restaurant in Souk al Bahar, where we ate on the shores of Lake Burj, with a front row seat to watch the fountains. We sat down to eat and watch the fountains, with zero expectations, and were pleasantly surprised. The food was great! We had a delicious fish soup, a cabbage salad, and seafood provencale. |
 FRESH FISH DISPLAY AT SAMMACH |
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BICE MARE Bice Mare is an Italian restaurant, also located in the Souk al Bahar, and also with a nice view of the Burj fountains. We
were seated on the terrace for the view of the fountains, but moved
inside to get away from the noise of the fountains. We had already seen
the show at least a half dozen times, and it gets stale fast. We really
enjoyed this restaurant. The food was great and the service was
excellent. We had fried calamari, roast chicken with veggies, and
seabream. They also had a nice selection of grappa.
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 BREADS AND SPREADS AT BICE MARE |
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 THE VIEW AT FILIA |
FI'LIA Fi'lia is an elegant Italian restaurant on the 70th floor of the luxury SLS hotel in the Business Bay area of Dubai. The
restaurant is beautiful, with great service, and an incredible view.
The food was good but not overwhelming, but the pizza must have been
really good because that's pretty much what every other table but ours
ordered. We had the seabass carpaccio, and seabream with asparagus.
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 SEABREAM AT FILIA |
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 PUBLIQUE |
PUBLIQUE This restaurant is located in
the Madinat Jumeirah and we had lunch here on the day of our guided tour
of Dubai. It seemed to us to have a schizophrenic atmosphere. It had
different menus, and it was advertised as a French bistro, but inside
it was adorned with decorations for a Swiss chalet. It was empty while
we were there, so we had personalized service and the food was quite
good. We had a nice salad, and a beautifully roasted octopus.
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 OUR LUNCH AT PUBLIQUE |
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 THE VIEW AT THE SCENE |
THE SCENE The
Scene is one of the 7 restaurants in the building called Pier 7 at the
Dubai marina.
It's advertised as a British gastropub, which we wouldn't normally go
for, but we liked what we saw on the menu, there was a lovely view of
the marina, and we had an enjoyable lunch here. The view was nice, the
beer was cold, and the salad was fresh! Can't ask for anything more
than that!
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 GREAT CEASER SALAD AT THE SCENE |
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 ONION SOUP AT BISTRO DES ARTS |
BISTRO DES ARTS
On the web page it says: "A slice of Paris in Dubai". We agree. We
liked this restaurant enough that we went back for a second dinner.
It's open all day, every day, and the food was delightful. The service
was simple and friendly, and the food was really French. As I said, we
had 2 dinners there, so we were able to sample almost half the menu. We had
foie gras, tartare tuna, real French onion soup, sauteed shrimp,
turbot, duck breast, and even dessert - a Tarte Tatin with pear rather
than apple.
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 TARTE TATIN AT BISTRO DES ARTS |
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 DO IT YOURSELF SALAD AT AL ASALAH |
AL ASALAH We had lunch at this restaurant
during our tour of Abu Dhabi. It was actually the only Arab restaurant
we ate at during the entire trip.
We had soup, which came with a do it yourself salad, and then a red
snapper. The red snapper was smothered in paprika and looked more like
a pizza than any fish we've ever seen.
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 STRANGE RED FISH AT AL ASALAH |
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| TASHAS Tashas was a light fare restaurant in the Marina Mall. We had a pleasant and light lunch here. We had a smoked salmon salad and a reuben sandwich. Nothing special, but good for a light lunch. There are 5 branches in various Dubai malls. |
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 LE PAIN QUOTIDIEN |
LE PAIN QUOTIDIEN Le
Pain is a French style
bistro/bakery/patisserie with 5 branches in Dubai. We had a late night
snack at the branch in the Marina Mall. They serve breakfast, baked
goods, salads, quiches, soups and other light dishes. We had a pleasant
meal here.
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 TARTINE AT LE PAIN QUOTIDIEN |
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 FRESH FISH AND OPEN KITCHEN AT ROCKFISH |
ROCKFISH Rockfish was by far the most
complete restaurant we ate at. In short it had everything: elegant
setting, beautiful restaurant, impeccable service, great food, great
view (of the nearby Burj al Arab hotel), and even live music. Rockfish is
located in the Jumeirah Al Naseem Hotel, which is part of the Madinat Jumeirah complex.
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 3 DELICIOUS APPETIZERS AT ROCKFISH |
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 SEABASS AT ROCKFISH |
The restaurant is on the grounds of the hotel, but far enough from the lobby, that a "guide" from the hotel staff is required so that you don't get lost on the way. On the way back, we were driven on an electric buggy back to the lobby. We had a wonderful meal including several appetizers (which were good sized), and a main course for me of sea bass. |  LIVE ROCKFISH ENTERTAINMENT |
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| We
are pleased that we visited Dubai and Abu Dhabi. However, I don't think
we will ever visit again. It's not Italy or France, where we have been
many times. We were lucky regarding corona, as we got there and back
just before the omicron variant hit the entire world. Many people have
asked us about drinking and dressing in Dubai. There are hotels and
restaurants which are alcohol free, but most hotels and most
restaurants serve alcohol freely, and except for our visit to the
mosque in Abu Dhabi, we saw no dressing restrictions. We have read that
both drinking and overt displays of affection in public are frowned
upon, and may be illegal. |
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| For
families intesting in visiting, there are quite a few family oriented
theme parks. There's a Legoland, a Bollywood park, Motiongate (a
Hollywood themed park), and several water parks. That's not a
comprehensive list. There are also several desert safaris which you can
choose from, if you are interested in riding dune buggies in the
desert, and having refreshments in a Beduin tent. |
DESERT SAFARI |
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DUBAI'S UNDERGROUND DINING SCENE |
For foodies, there are some great restaurants, but I wouldn't come here expecting a high end culinary experience. The best restaurants are ones that have been opened by (at least according to the publicity blurbs) world famous Michelin star chefs. Some of these are truly high-end, but there aren't that many. | 24 ESSENTIAL DUBAI RESTAURANTS (BY EATER) |
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| DUBAI'S BEST FINE DINING SPOTS |
I
was looking forward to visiting one of the most extravagently
promoted attractions in Dubai, but unfortunately, this was not to
be. I am talking about the "Museum of the Future".
The building itself has been hailed as one of the most revolutionary
and beautiful buildings in the world, but the museum itself is more
than 2 years behind schedule, and there is still no opening date. The
building, even if it hasn't opened to the public, has become an iconic
symbol of Dubai. Picture below. |
GOOD SITE ABOUT THE MUSEUM DESIGN THE BUILDING DESIGNED BY AN ALGORITHm |
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| THE OFFICIAL UAE GOVERNMENT PORTAL |
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| SOME UNUSUAL FACTS ABOUT DUBAI |
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| DIGITAL DUBAI |
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| NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DUBAI TRAVEL GUIDE |
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| A GUIDE TO DRINKING ALCOHOL IN DUBAI |
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| A GUIDE TO WHICH AREA TO STAY IN DUBAI |
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| VISIT DUBAI |
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| 20 TOP THINGS TO DO IN DUBAI |
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| DUBAI TRAVEL PLANNER |
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| UAE HAPPINESS PROGRAM |
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Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum
 |
This is a page from our site "Travels with Steve & Alisa". It describes one of the many trips we have made together. We've built these pages not just to describe our trips, but to help other travelers if we can. Please use the information we've provided freely, and let us know if you have any questions we might be able to answer about your own planned trip, or just let us know if we have helped you. Or perhaps you have some information we could add to the site. Visit our home page using the link to the right.
Enjoy
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~Steve & Alisa~
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