Dubai: The Miracle

Some insights into Dubai

Expensive or cheap city? It depends on what you have in mind to do. Daily life costs less than back home: hotels in Deira, Bur Dubai and Al Barsha are generally cheap and comfortable. Those that face onto Jumeirah Beach are prohibitive. Restaurants are inexpensive, you find cuisines from all over the world and they're often enclosed within enormous shopping malls. Don't think of the classic shopping mall: at the Mall of the Emirates you can ski indoors, the Dubai Mall looks like a royal palace… You can go to the beach for free, if you really want a sunbed and umbrella go to Jumeirah Beach Park, entry 1 euro, sunbed and umbrella 4 euro. Turquoise sea but almost always rough, endless bright white beaches. You get around by taxi, the distances are enormous: a short ride of 4-5 km costs a little over 2 euro, the 30 km from the airport to Al Barsha costs about 15 euro.

The Dubai metro was recently inaugurated, futuristic, fast and cheap but the open stations are few and usually far from the attractions. The most expensive things in Dubai are the most innovative attractions: the Atlantis waterpark, Ski Dubai, the desert excursion, the climb up the Burj Khalifa, from 50 to 20 euro. Don't miss a dinner at the Burj al Arab, less prohibitive than you might think, a unique and unforgettable experience, even just to admire the hotel from the inside….INCREDIBLE!!!

Saturday, 27/03/2010

Ready, set, go. After a few months we're still here at Istanbul airport, crossroads of our latest adventures, thanks to the favourable fares offered by Turkish Airlines (Outbound flight to Dubai and return from Muscat, via Istanbul, € 410). The usual air traffic on departure from the Turkish airport and despite the punctual boarding, we arrive in Dubai half an hour late, around 3 in the morning. Checks and baggage collection are quick, within half an hour we get into the taxi (15 euro) and by 4 we're already settled in our spacious apartment in the Al Barsha area (Seven Sands Hotel Apartment, € 77 with breakfast on booking.com).

Truly a cheap and comfortable solution: the hotel is a few minutes by taxi from the main attractions: the Burj Al Arab, the palm, the brand-new Jumeirah area, Dubai Marina and The Walk, 8 minutes on foot from the Mall of The Emirates with Ski Dubai, even though the walk to get there is a bit rough among several construction sites, and 10 minutes from the new Monorail that connects the centre. The apartment is spacious and the staff extremely kind: a large living room already set up with the sofa bed for the child, kitchen, two bathrooms, double bedroom, 2 LCD TVs with stereo, DVD…etc, in short, all things we don't need!

Dubai, Sunday, 28/03/2010

There's no time to lose and after a few hours of sleep we're already up, ready to visit the oldest heart, if you can call it that, of Dubai. We reach the Mall of The Emirates where we immediately have our first encounter with the absurd reality and wealth of Dubai: through the wide windows of the mall and its restaurants, we observe this incredible indoor ski slope, with chairlift, toboggan run, two ski slopes, a temperature of -4 degrees against the 35 outside. The mall is enormous and from inside it we reach the monorail station for the centre. The trip to Buri Dubai is electrifying: the metro travels in the open air among the futuristic city skyline, passing by the Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world, which exceeds 800 metres in height, passes the bizarre shape of the Emirates Tower and goes through the middle of the Financial Center.

We start from the famous gold souk, where the elegant shops follow one another with their glittering displays, then continue to the spice souk: honestly I thought these souks would be more authentic, but they don't impress that much. We reach the Creek, the canal that crosses the city, which we cross with the Abras, a typical boat that serves as a water taxi for a few cents. Life on the river recalls a bit a slice of Dubai from a few decades ago, when skyscrapers weren't yet an integral part of the cityscape: the Creek is very busy, with Abras transporting tourists and inhabitants and boats loaded with merchandise. But the view of the modern buildings that line the river brings us back to the super-modern reality.

We visit the pleasant Dubai museum, inside an ancient fortress, with multimedia displays that trace the development of the city and we end the walk in the Bastiaka district, with the famous wind towers. We return to the hotel by taxi, stopping for a few minutes in front of the beautiful and imposing Jumeirah mosque. For dinner we reach the Mall of the Emirates again: the malls are very pleasant places to have dinner, inside there are real food courts offering cuisines from all over the world, at generally low prices, even though soon the meat, always spiced, gets a bit tiresome.

Dubai, Monday, 29/03/2010

We take a taxi to reach the brand-new Dubai Marina area, we stop in front of the Hilton Jumeirah where there's an access to the endless public beach interspersed with a few short private stretches owned by the hotels and we spend the day on this bright white and clean beach, half-deserted and washed by a blue but always rather rough sea. The water is pleasantly warm and in front of us a spectacular skyline, made up of brand-new and imposing skyscrapers with futuristic architecture. The temperature is rather high, at the end of March the thermometer settles around 35 degrees. Walking along the beach you reach an artificial pier: here the water is very calm, transparent and the view is extraordinary. Before leaving this area we stroll along The Walk, a long pedestrian avenue full of venues and restaurants, in the shade of the imposing skyscrapers that extend as far as the Marina.

In the evening, with a few minutes by taxi (2 euro) we reach the Madinat, an elegant and luxurious resort with an expensive and refined indoor souk and an immense lagoon with water taxis, with a splendid view of the Burj al Arab, which we reach with a 10-minute walk.

Burj al Arab There's no image or photograph that can do justice to the magnificence of the Burj al Arab. Someone might think...in the end it's just a luxury hotel, the fruit of the arrogance and wealth of petrodollars, a miserable slap in the face to poverty and to people who work to get by. It can't be denied: but I would add that it remains an undisputed symbol of human ability to create an architectural work capable of making you dream for its perfection, its class and sumptuousness, even if only for one night, one evening, or a few hours.

Unfortunately for most people, it remains a forbidden dream: spending 1600 euro for a night like a pasha in the only 7-star hotel in the world is unimaginable. But there's a solution, more within reach, to savour in one evening the enchantment and magic of the Burj: a dinner at one of its less exclusive restaurants, the Bab al Jam. Of course, this way you won't have the chance to roam around one of the suites that range from 170 up to 780 square metres, served 24 hours a day by a private butler, but you will still have the chance to admire the incredible lobby, the lavish salons, the outdoor gardens with breathtaking views over Dubai.

The price? Less prohibitive than you might think, try it to believe it! First thing to do is move early and book well in advance: send an email requesting price and reservation, an agent of the restaurant will reply who will inform you about everything, will ask you for the credit card as guarantee of the reservation, your preferred time and will give you some indications, such as that smart casual dress is required, to put your mobile phone on silent mode, that it's not possible to take photos in the restaurant (I took some, asking permission, but not at the buffet). They will also ask you if you have any dietary needs or intolerances and if by chance you're celebrating some special event (I replied that we were celebrating my wife's birthday).

We decide to arrive on foot and we show up in front of the access to the bridge that connects the hotel, since the Burj is built in the middle of the sea. In front of us appears a kind of armed army that controls a lot of people photographing the hotel from the railings, there are even enormous movable barriers to block cars. We present our reservation and immediately a manager welcomes us with a: Welcome dear Mr Alberto.

We cross the access and from that moment we can move freely through all the common areas of the hotel: we walk along the long suspended bridge that offers magnificent views of the sail of the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, of the Madinat and of bright white beaches, until we arrive in front of the imposing facade of the Burj, 321 metres tall: incredible, from the outside it looks like science fiction, a Star Trek spaceship: it changes colour every 10 seconds, going from yellow to purple, from blue to red. All the people we meet welcome us with a smile and extreme kindness.

We enter the hall and are left speechless: a long escalator rises to the upper floor, flanked by two gigantic aquariums: in front of us dancing fountains, maharaja-style lounges, elaborate waterfalls and the immense structure of the complex, which in height seems never to end, with a kaleidoscope of colours where blue, white and gold dominate. We ask for information and they accompany us to our restaurant and to our reserved table. Here I was expecting a more elegant, formal and spacious environment: instead we find carefully furnished decor but without excess, we're immediately put at ease by the waiters, cheerfully friendly while guaranteeing excellent service and we find a buffet that's not oversized but extremely refined in its details.

The food is presented with meticulous care and unique class, in small portions, with the chefs immediately ready to never let anything run out: impressive is the corner with seafood appetisers, immersed in ice, where you find lobsters, prawns, oysters, crabs, sushi as well as various types I'm unfamiliar with. The main dishes recall both Arab and international flavours, while at the barbecue corner you can have any kind of meat, tuna, swordfish, salmon cooked as you please. The desserts don't disappoint either, very elaborate and presented with worthy magnificence, and the fresh fruit, with strawberries as big as mandarins. I had read that every ingredient used in the kitchen arrives directly from the country of origin: so the grana padano comes from Italy, the exotic fruit from the orient and so on.

At the end of the dinner, the waiters appear in front of us with a cake with a candle, addressing my wife humming Happy Birthday Since by now we're stuffed with food, they pack up the dessert for us to take away, with a box branded Burj al Arab, the world's most luxurious hotel. Even the toothpicks are customised. At the end of the dinner we go out onto the terraces and gardens: in front of us appears all of Dubai lit up. A dream that ended after a few hours but that by now will be hard to forget.

Dubai, Tuesday, 30/03/2010

Morning again at the beach, this time we reach in about ten minutes by taxi (4 euro), the Jumeirah Beach Park (paid entry, 1 euro + optional rental of sunbeds and umbrellas). This park is extremely well-kept, everywhere there are flowerbeds in bloom in the lush gardens, while a row of tropical palms separates the endless beach, which looks "pressed" like a ski slope. You can have your umbrella planted at the spot you prefer and during the first part of the morning, the beach is practically deserted, while later it fills up slightly only in the central area. There's also a five-a-side football pitch, beach volleyball, showers, changing rooms and a snack bar.

After a picnic lunch at the tables under the palms, we return to the hotel and get ready for the afternoon desert excursion: from home I had booked the excursion with DSD Northtours (38 euro per person) who, extremely punctually, come to pick us up at the hotel. There are various agencies offering the excursion, but in the end they all meet at the same camp in the desert: the programme consists of crossing the desert dunes in an off-road vehicle, then arriving towards evening at a Bedouin camp for dinner and the dance show.

Honestly I don't know whether to recommend this excursion, it really is too touristy, even though some landscapes are remarkable; some stops are too forced and the descent over the dunes, more than fun is almost stomach-churning, but it depends on the driver you get, ours was half crazy and we had the impression of rolling over at every moment! Anyway, a stop at a first souvenir shop and to freshen up, then you enter the dunes which you tackle with terrifying descents and jolts at the limit for about twenty minutes, you reach a panoramic point over the desert that is truly enchanting, then another 15 calmer minutes to reach the Bedouin camp, which isn't on the dunes but at the edge of the desert. Here before dinner there are activities bordering on the banal, such as a short (but short…) camel ride, tourist bazaars, paid henna paintings, in short, not things to my taste.

The buffet dinner is very good, you taste some typical specialities as well as grilled meat: you sit on the typical Bedouin carpets around a stage, where we expect the traditional dances to take place, but we finish dinner and there's no sign of the show. We ask for explanations and they tell us that the show is held only 2-3 times a week….But how!??!????

Dubai, Wednesday, 31/03/2010

We spend the last day in Dubai at the innovative Atlantis waterpark: taxi to the monorail station (€ 2.5 each way), which runs along the whole famous Dubai palm, among billionaires' villas with immaculate private beach, until arriving at the enormous resort. I recommend covering at least one way with the monorail because it really offers breathtaking views (note, it opens at 10 in the morning). We buy the combined ticket (€ 50) that includes entry to the Waterpark and to the Lost Chamber, an aquarium with a reconstruction of Atlantis.

The price is steep but really worth it: the park is truly cutting-edge, with numerous slides offering breathtaking descents from the top of the reconstruction of the Ziggurat: most of the descents are done with inflatable rafts, also available as doubles so as not to leave the children behind: the most thrilling is the slide that first enters a dark tunnel and then emerges into an enormous aquarium, where you cover the last stretch observing sharks above your head, rays and tropical fish. Adrenaline-pumping is the one that plunges down from the Ziggurat while many others can be reached without climbing stairs, with a travelator that takes you back to the top. There are also very long wave rivers, enormous pools and a bright white beach. In the afternoon we go through the halls of the Lost Chamber, with enormous aquariums where the ruins of the mythical Atlantis lie.

In the late afternoon we go to the Dubai Mall, the most recent and luxurious shopping centre in Dubai that stands in front of the imposing bulk of the Burj Khalifa: more than a mall it looks like a sultan's palace: inside there's a fairy-tale gold souk, imposing waterfalls, an ice hockey rink. After dinner we leave the mall and stroll in the incredible lagoon in front of the Khalifa, where every 15 minutes you can watch a suggestive fountain show: a worthy conclusion to these days spent in crazy Dubai!

Departure for Oman

We leave Dubai and the Emirates at dawn heading for Sharjah airport, which we reach in about 40 minutes by taxi (20 euro), while the opposite carriageway is completely paralysed: a warning: avoid travelling the roads from north to south in the morning, and from south to north towards evening, because of commuter traffic.