May 6 - Sharjah

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This morning our guide Ute, a German expatriate who has lived in the UAE for 25 years, picked us up and off we drove to Sharjah, the emirate next door to Dubai. Sarjah is the third largest city in the UAE and the capital of the emirate of the same name.  The ruling Sheikh has been very interested in preserving the culture of the region and has ordered the establishment of a number of museums and institutes to further that goal.  As a result in 1998 Sharjah was awarded the title Cultural Capital of the Arab World by UNESCO. One of the things the Sheikh has undertaken is the Heart of Sharjah, a cultural heritage project to preserve and restore the old town of Sharjah as it was before the discovery of oil.

Our first stop was a very large roundabout with massive and impressive government buildings on all sides and a large sculpture of the Quran in the middle.  This ruling sheikh is very into Islamic heritage.  In his emirate there is no alcohol consumption allowed so not as many foreign tourists come here.

All around the roundabout there were buildings like this

After leaving the roundabout we drove to the Sharjah Creek.  As in Dubai the government dredged and widened a creek leading inland from the Persian Gulf.  Here once again we saw dhows, most of them being loaded with cars and vans and almost all of then headed to Iran.  We know now where the UAE’s used vehicles go because most of the cars we’ve seen here look new. Along the creek we stopped for a photo of a Shia mosque, recognizable because of the blue tile work which decorates it.  Most Emiratis are Sunni Muslims unlike the Iranians across the Gulf who are Shia.

A dhow loaded with vans bound for Iran

Shia Mosque distinguished by its blue tiles

Our next stop was the fish, meat and produce market also next to the creek.  This was probably one of the cleanest, brightest markets I’ve ever seen. It’s completely enclosed and air-conditioned. The food looked spectacularly fresh. There were prawns bigger than my hands and crabs that looked a whole lot like Chesapeake Bay blue crabs. In the fish hall after paying for your fresh catch you can take it to an area where it will be cleaned for you and after that another part will grill it for you.  In the meat section there was camel meat which Ute told us is not really available anywhere but in a market like this one.  What I was most surprised at in the produce hall was the variety of dates. Evidently there are more than 150 kinds.  I love markets so this was one of the highlights of the day.

Fishing dhow which probably brought in some of what we saw inside

Megaprawns!

 

Don't these look a lot like our crabs?

Dates, dates and more dates!

I mentioned in my early morning post that today is the first day of Ramadan.  I asked Ute about the impact of the fasting on the market.  She told me that this month is the time when lots of food preparation goes on.  She said that many women spend all day cooking in anticipation of breaking the fast after sunset.  Evidently a lot of entertaining goes on in the evenings.

From the food market we drove to the Blue Souk.  Once again this was an enclosed and air-conditioned building which housed a gold wing and a silver wing downstairs and upstairs textiles and carpets.  The variety of jewelry was breathtaking.  We missed the gold souk in Dubai yesterday but I got to see my share of jewelry today!

After just a little shopping we were off to the Heart of Sharjah, the original pearling and fishing village and the home of the Sharjah Heritage Museum.  The area has traditional buildings constructed of coral which has then been stuccoed.  There are high rise buildings around which are being vacated and will eventually be torn down so that further reconstruction of the traditional village can be done.  I asked Ute where the residents were relocating to and she said that they have been moved to the new apartment towers we had passed on our way into the city. The museum was small but gave lots of information about the pearl trade and the traditional way of life that existed here.

Building made of coral stone. They are stuccoed after because the coral is so soft

Our final stop was the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization.  This is a lovely building with galleries highlighting the religion and its practices and technology and science developed by Islamic people.  In the religious gallery there were several magnificent tapestries  which are hung on the outside of the Kaaba, the cube-shaped building in the center of the mosque in Mecca during the Hajj.  Each year a new set of these tapestries is prepared.  They are what looks like black velvet embroidered with intricate designs in gold thread.  The ones in the museum were from some previous year given to the Sheikh of Sarjah.  In the science and technology hall there were representations of inventions by Arabic scholars and scientists.  There were many including lots of navigational equipment, medical devices and scientific instruments.

Kaaba Tapestry

 

Interior of Islamic Civilization Museum

And so we ended our tour and returned back to Dubai.  Tomorrow Ute will take us to Abu Dhabi, our third emirate, for the day.  Back in the hotel we found that in order to get a coke we had to go into the enclosed lounge area.  No food and no drinking in public until after sunset!