Jewels in the Desert

Part B: Abu Dabhi

Travelogue 28

Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven emirates and the capital of UAE. It has a diversity of landscapes ranging from coastal islands filled with world-famous attractions and beaches to an uninterrupted desert scenery. 

Abu Dabhi skyscrapers from Emirates Palace Hotel

 

Par A of this travelogue (see here) dealt with our experiences spread over four days in Dubai, which can be called a crown jewel of the Arabian desert state, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).  In this part, which is in the nature of an appendix to the previous part, we (CS and I) deal with our experiences in UAE’s geographically largest constituent as well as the capital of the country, Abu Dabhi. Our visit to Abu Dabhi took place on Thursday, November 26, 2015, sandwiched between the first and the last parts of the week, which we spent in Dubai.

We left Dubai early in the morning and reached Abu Dabhi bus station around 10 am, with just the right kind of weather we had hoped for. We had planned to squeeze in as much of Abu Dabhi as possible in just one day, before a late evening return to Dubai, following a schedule I had drawn up in advance.

Emirates Palace Hotel

Our first visit was to Abu Dabhi’s iconic Emirates Palace Hotel, which is now known by the name Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental, Abu Dabhi, after a change in management around 2020.  Here is an aerial view of the vast hotel complex, with its own private beach and other attractions, from one of the Etihad towers located across the hotel:

 

When we asked our taxi driver to drop us at the hotel, we didn’t expect he would take us right up to the steps of the main building, though we were saying it was not necessary since we were only tourists.   As we got down in some embarrassment, more was in store for us when a liveried hotel staff member greeted us at the steps and courteously ushered us in.  When we explained to him that we were not guests of the hotel, only tourists interested in seeing the place, he said it didn’t matter at all and that we were equally welcome.  He said some of the places in the hotel complex were free for visitors and we should feel free to find our way around.  We never imagined that our day in Abu Dhabi would start in such bright note, complimenting the weather outside.

We looked around in the vast lobby in such amazement that we could have been mistaken for small children lost in a golden palace in an Arabian dream world. Below is a picture of what caught our attention first. It cannot do justice to the feeling of awe and wonder that overwhelmed us.  As I looked around absorbing the sights, with my camera capturing them in unison, I tried to recall if I had seen anything matching this opulence and grandeur, only to remain lost in thought. 

Here are two more views of the interior, the first one capturing the inside of the huge dome of the building, and the second, a view of the upper levels of the hotel.

 

As we reluctantly came out, I captured a view (see below) of the whole palace, with CS in the foreground still to get his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight falling directly on him.

The Etihad Towers, a complex of buildings with five skyscraping towers (the tallest of them at 305 m having 77 floors) are located directly across the Emirates Palace Hotel, and can be seen in the picture below:

As we walked out of the complex very leisurely, looking back repeatedly at the palace, I captured numerous views of it, one of which (see below) shows part of the array of fountains in the front courtyard.

 

Marina Mall

The Abu Dabhi Marina Mall is a large shopping complex and entertainment venue, located along the breakwater on Corniche Road, close to the Emirates Palace Hotel in one of the city’s most prominent districts.  It features a unique selection of fashion, leisure and entertainment brands arranged over four levels, in addition to a 100-meter observatory, a bowling alley, a multiplex movie complex, musical fountains and a departmental store. A prominently located internal steam fountain is adorned with some stunning handcrafted glass mosaic art.

Here is the main entrance to the mall: 

Here is the beautiful internal fountain referred to above: 

Here is the 100 m tall observatory tower pictured on the outside, with a Ferris wheel nearby, static at that time: 

When we went up the observatory tower to look around, we were stopped by a female attendant and asked to show our tickets for entry there. When we expressed surprise, she said that only visitors holding a ticket could be admitted and such ticket was part of the hop-on and hop-off city bus service, available only somewhere else.  Rather than argue with her about her unhelpful attitude and the catch-22 like situation, we decided to retreat, having already had a view from the top before being stopped. But I did miss taking a few good pictures on a bright and sunny morning.

Below is a view of part of the Abu Dabhi skyline captured from the mall below: 

After spending some time at the mall, we took a short walk to the nearby beach reserved for the public and went about wandering on it.  As I also started clicking my camera at the sights around me, one person, apparently an (expatriate) municipal employee, started vehemently objecting to my photography and pointed authoritatively to a distant signpost purportedly to that effect.  When I complied readily without challenging him, he softened his attitude several decibel levels and started explaining to me that the ban was only for professional cameras (apparently including my handheld ultrazoom camera) and not for smartphone cameras!  We parted ways very amicably, but a number of ‘objectionable’ pictures remained in my camera. Here is one such picture:  

Presidential Palace

The possible reason for the prohibition of (professional) photography is not too far to look at. It is most probably the huge and beautiful building on the right, the emirate’s Presidential Palace, not far from the Emirates Palace Hotel on the left.  I guessed there was no public access too at that time to the neighborhood of the presidential palace, called Qasr Al Watan.  

The picture above is reproduced from the Wikipedia, which also features the following interesting additional information about the palace:

“To celebrate the heritage of the country, Sheikhs Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates) and Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces) decided to open the palace to the public in 2019*. Prior to its opening, the palace was used only for official purposes, mainly hosting foreign leaders of states, and for meetings of the country's supreme council and federal cabinet. Even after being opened to the public, the palace continues to be used for these purposes.

With a façade made of white granite and limestone, the mainly white palace is intricately designed and ornately decorated. It includes a dome with a diameter of 37 m, a chandelier with 350,000 pieces of crystal, and a number of compartments. The dome is located on top of the central chamber known as "The Great Hall", which is surrounded by two wings to the east and west.”

[PS: *This was four years after our visit.  We seem to have missed a great sight in Abu Dhabi!]

The Grand Mosque

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque was constructed between 1994 and 2007 and inaugurated in December 2007. The building complex measures approximately 290 by 420 m, covering an area of more than 30 acres, excluding exterior landscaping and vehicle parking.

The project was launched by the late president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who wanted to establish a structure that would unite the cultural diversity of the Islamic world with the historical and modern values of architecture and art. In 2004, Sheikh Zayed died and was buried in the courtyard of the mosque.

We expected our visit to the grand mosque to be the highlight of our trip to Abu Dabhi, and we were not disappointed.  In fact, it was an exhilarating experience.

Here is our first view of the mosque nearly silhouetted against a blue sky, after we alighted from our taxi at some distance away, with the sun shining in our direction: 

Here is my keepsake picture, with part of the huge mosque in the background, bathed in sunshine: 

Here is another view of the huge marble building with its reflection seen partly in a pond all along its length: 

The interior was truly breathtaking.  Here is one of the first of my views inside: 

The numerous chandeliers in the interior are truly amazing works of intricate art.  Below is one of the largest among them. The eye-catching symmetry of the picture was unintentional:

Here is another breathtaking view of a row of chandeliers of different shapes and sizes along the line of sight, looking deep into the interior:

Incidentally, the grand mosque is known for its beautiful chandeliers as much as for its stunning architecture. The mosque features seven 24-carat gold-plated chandeliers imported from Germany, designed with thousands of Swarovski crystals.  The largest chandelier, weighing about 12 tons, with a diameter of 10 m and height of 15 m, is located in the main hall. 

Here is a close-up view of a chandelier similar to the one in the first picture, a magnificent work of art: 

The main hall of the mosque also houses the world’s largest carpet, a unique masterpiece of dazzling beauty and design.  The predominantly wool carpet was hand-crafted by over 1200 artisans and the whole project took two years to complete.  The resulting single piece carpet is 5,700 square meters in size.  Here is a picture in which I am seen actually standing on it, as are the other people seen in the great hall:

After a long time spent in viewing and admiring the grandeur of the grand mosque from every vantage point, we came out with a parting, view of it shown below.  The high degree of symmetry seen in the picture, barring the human figures, was quite intentional, the result of some careful planning.

 

After this highly satisfying visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, we came out and tried to look for a taxi at the exit gate, which had two very friendly men of the mosque security staff on guard.  When no taxi was in sight, and observing our decision to wait, they both gave up their chairs for us to sit in and wait, ignoring our exhortations not to do so.  They said it was their pleasure to treat us that way and went a step further by ordering a taxi for us using their wireless phones.  It took a while for the taxi to arrive and we spent the intervening time with them in small talk.  It was gratifying to leave them that way for the next place in my list for the day.

Yas Island and elsewhere

Our next destination was the Yas Island, parts of it still under development. Occupying a total land area of 25 km², it is a leisure island and one of the largest tourism projects in Abu Dhabi. Yas Island holds the Yas Marina Circuit, which has hosted the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since 2009. It is also home to Ferrari World Park, which contains Formula Rossa, the fastest rollercoaster in the world.

I had grossly underestimated both the distance and time needed to reach Yas Island from the mosque. We had already overspent the time at Abu Dabhi by about two hours.  Complicating the matter was that we had to return to Dubai at the end of the day, that too only from the bus station back at Abu Dabhi, at least another two hours of travel.  I realized all this while the taxi wound its way to the assigned destination.  After a quick discussion between us, we decided, much to our regret, to pay only a passing visit to the Yas Island sights and not get inside any of them. So, we spent the rest of the day in pointless travel, with little to document in any detail here.

On the way to Yas Island, we halted for just 2-3 minutes first at one of the architectural curiosities, Aldar’s 110 m tall Al Raha office building shown below, looking somewhat like a compressed barrel, with a circular section:

Even more curious was the Capital Gate Leaning Tower of Abu Dabhi (see below): 

Capital Gate, also known as the Leaning Tower of Abu Dhabi, is a skyscraper that is over 160 meters tall, 35 stories high, with over 16,000 square meters of usable office space.  It is one of the tallest buildings in the city and was designed to incline 18° west. The building is owned and was developed by the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company.  As to why it was built in such a crooked, though highly stable, 3D geometrical shape, I can think of no other reason than that it is Abu Dabhi’s own competition to Pisa’s famous ‘original’ (unstable) leaning tower.  Since I haven’t seen the great original edifice, I can’t make any comments!

To the list of unusual buildings of Abu Dabhi, I should add one that I observed on the way there by bus earlier that morning.  It is the Al Bahr (twin) Towers pictured below. The innovative, eco-friendly 29-storey twin Al Bahr Towers, serving as the Abu Dhabi Investment Council’s headquarters and Al Hilal Bank head offices, have an exterior composed of 2,000 honeycomb-like elements that are cooled with the world's largest computerised facade. Opening and closing in response to the sun's movement, these elements help to reduce interior heat gain by around 50 per cent, with roof solar panels used to heat water. 

In Yas Island, the long line of visitors (see below) waiting to get inside the Ferrari World discouraged us from joining them!

On our way to Yas Island, the taxi driver had driven past the Yas Marina Formula One Grand Prix circuit, and we chose not to get down.  So was the case with several other sights, including Yas Water World.

We had heard about the Louvre Abu Dabhi, ‘France’s largest cultural project abroad’, which was coming up in Saadiyat Island of Abu Dabhi, but not ready for tourism at that time.  It was opened later, in 2017, the same year I was able to revisit the original Louvre Museum in Paris.

After an unsatisfactory trip to Yas Island, we returned to the Abu Dabhi bus station, got into a bus bound for Dubai, and returned to our hotel rather late in the night.

My parting memory of Abu Dhabi was the fabulous chandeliers in the Grand Mosque.  My parting regret is that I had not planned a two-day, more leisurely visit to Abu Dabhi, for a more extensive coverage.