May 7 - Abu Dhabi

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Today we spent the day visiting Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirate of the same name and the largest of the seven emirates. It’s also the location of the UAE government. This emirate has close to 80% of the land mass of the UAE. The ruling sheikh also is the president of the ruling council for the country. Abu Dhabi also owns the vast majority of the oil and natural gas reserves and wealth of the UAE. As a result it has one of the highest GDPs per capita in the world.

As we drove along from Dubai to Abu Dhabi there was a distinct difference along the highway when we crossed the “border” between the two emirates. Abu Dhabi’s rulers are very much into greenery.  Therefore all along the highway some kind of very hardy trees have been planted with the thought of eventually having forests of sorts.  The city itself is more sprawled out than Dubai.  While there are still skyscrapers, there are also avenues with trees, grass and flowers.  The city is also built on several islands connected by modern bridges and much of the land was reclaimed from the sea.

Our first stop was the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, named for the last president of the UAE.  It is a truly spectacular edifice covering more than 30 acres not counting the landscaping and parking.  We parked in an underground garage and walked through a shopping and eating complex below ground before using the escalator to reach the surface.  The mosque is large enough to accommodate 40,000 worshippers.

Main entrance of Sheikh Zayed Mosque

Inner courtyard

Main prayer room

Twelve ton chandelier

One of the colonnades with columns inlaid with semi-precious stones and capitols covered in gold leaf

It is said that the Sheikh was influenced by the Taj Mahal so the building is constructed entirely of white marble and the embellishments are of semi-precious stones as in the Taj.  Unlike the latter not every service is covered.  It is a magnificent structure nonetheless.  In the main prayer hall the floor is covered with what is considered to be the largest hand-knotted carpet in the world.  It covers 60,570 sq. ft. and took about 1500 knotters to make it.  There are seven large chandeliers in the mosque incorporating millions of Swarovski crystals.  The largest one in the main prayer hall weighs 12 tons!  Sheikh Zayed died before the mosque was completed and is buried next to one of the minarets.

After leaving the mosque we next stopped at the Heritage Village, a small park designed to let people see how life was in Abu Dhabi before 1960.  This is because there is only one structure left from before that date in the city.  The buildings in the village  are essentially huts which represent the fishing village which existed here pre-1960.  In some of the buildings there are craft shops to show the traditional way of making leather, copper, glass and textiles.  Also from the village there is a lovely view across the water of the modern city skyline.

Hut made of wood and palm fronds

Abu Dhabi skyline across from the village

After our brief stop we headed to the Emirates Palace Hotel.  This hotel is one of the most expensive hotels built in the world, costing more than $3.9 billion to construct. The central core structure of the hotel is reserved for visiting dignitaries.  The other guests stay in wings spreading out on each side.  In all the building is about 1 km long.  Since it’s Ramadan, this was the place to go for something for lunch.  One of the cafes is open for we non-Muslim tourists.  We had a light lunch and a little break before heading for The Louvre, Abu Dhabi.

The Louvre here is  the result of a 30 year leasing agreement between the French government and the UAE.  It is an art and civilization museum located on one of the city’s islands devoted to cultural things and was opened in 2017.  The structure is a floating dome  with a web-like pattern allowing the sun to filter through.  The design is supposed to represent the light filtering through date palms in an oasis. The permanent collection focuses mainly on how civilizations developed in similar ways in all parts of the globe despite there not being any communications in very ancient times.  There were displays of pottery and metal craft from civilizations from China to the New World  from thousands of years ago which were surprisingly similar.

Louvre Abu Dhabi

After our brief visit to the museum it was time to head back to Dubai. Tonight is our last night here.  Tomorrow we’ll board our ship and be on our way for the next phase of our vacation.  More later.