Day 5 – Abu Dhabi
It was already our 5th day in Dubai. There was still so much to see and do. At first, I thought one week might be quite a long time. But there is so much to do and to see. It took me quite a while to convince my mum to go to Abu Dhabi. But I really wanted to see it while we are in Dubai. Furthermore, the windy weather that day was not appropriate for a beach day. And at the end, it was definitely a day I do not want to miss.
We hired a driver for the day to Abu Dhabi and back. That was actually the only way to reach Abu Dhabi without having to do a guided group tour. It took us around an hour until we reached Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi is mainly well known due to the huge white mosque, called Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. My mum was sceptical. Would it be worth it to drive one hour each way and pay a good amount of money for the driver just to see a mosque? But at the moment we saw the huge white building the first time, we immediately knew that it was worth it.
But before actually entering the mosque we had to wait in a queue, get a free ticket and change clothes. Especially women’s dress code in a mosque is really strict. It is important to cover your head and hair, as well as the entire body. Therefore, we got some amazingly pretty looking garments. But everyone looked ridiculous, which made us feel a little better. And then we actually came to the mosque. WOW! It looked so beautiful! The entire mosque, completely white, was something I have never seen in real life. Really beautiful. And even though there were so many people, we could enjoy the beauty!
We also had the chance to have a look inside. Apparently, we saw the world’s largest hand-woven carpet. Absolutely amazing. So many details and colours in the entire room. Very noble and just magnificent.
Afterwards we headed back to our driver, who waited already too long for us. Sorry but not sorry! He drove us straight away to the Emirates Palace, the most famous luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi. We have never really heard about it before. But when we entered the hotel, we knew why it’s called the Emirates Palace. Everything seemed to be golden and beige. The ceilings, the pillars, the furniture, the floor, just everything. We wondered around, made some pictures and headed already back to the car.
From there we made one last stop to see the “skyline” of Abu Dhabi. I guess the word “skyline” is a bit of an exaggeration. It was just a view of the city. When the driver told us, that it is raining right now in Dubai, we knew that we decided perfectly to visit Abu Dhabi. The weather here was absolutely alright. A little bit windy, but alright!
And that was it. We headed back to Dubai and ate some dinner at a Thai restaurant again. It was so so stormy and fresh outside that we didn’t want to search and walk long to a restaurant. The Thai place was right nearby, and the food was absolutely tasty. Tomorrow was already our last full day in Dubai. But stay tuned for what we experienced then.