Please check out all my blogs on our trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai on Exploring Abu Dhabi Block by block:
https://mywalkinmanhattan.com/category/exploring-abu-dhabi-block-by-block
I can’t tell you how tired we all were this morning. I just about got up thanks to the wake up calls I arranged every morning. It would be another busy day for all of us. It would be filled with a lot of new sites and smells as we would be visiting markets and then the desert.
Thank God a good breakfast every morning was a big help. I know I go on and on about the Breakfast buffet at the hotel but it really is that good! The Bistro at the Marriott Courtyard World Trade Center was wonderful every morning and the selection of food each day was slightly different and always fresh. The displays of breakfast items was always colorful and well maintained. Everything always looked so appealing that you wanted to try it all.
The Bistro at the Marriott Courtyard World Trade Center Hotel
https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/auhcy-courtyard-world-trade-center-abu-dhabi/dining
https://www.morecravings.com/en/venues/bistro
My review on TripAdvisor:
The quality of the food and the visual display of it was excellent. I liked the diversity of dishes for the entrees which included stews, spreads and rice dishes. There were even Spring Rolls at breakfast time.
I swear I never needed lunch after eating breakfast at the Bistro. Everything every morning was delicious and so well prepared. It would be hard not to find something you liked on this buffet.
We always had such nice conversations during breakfast. They were basically a wrap up of the day before and what the plans were for that morning. After breakfast was over, we boarded the bus to Nimesh’s greeting. I have no clue where he got his energy from since he ran around with us. We all fell asleep on the bus as we made our way back for the two hour trip to Dubai to meet with the Dubai Tourism office.
Visiting the Dubai Tourism office was one of the best experiences I have experienced in the three Global Field Intensity classes I have taken. Their Tourism Board is one of the most creative, forward thinking and resourceful Teams I have seen. It was so detailed down to the hotels and entertainments being planned for the city. It was so well organized and detailed.
Our visit to the Dubai Tourism Office
https://www.dubaitourism.gov.ae/en
Their ideas of how to generate excitement, know how to engage tourists and creative ideas in events has garnered a reputation all over the world. The PowerPoint presentation was so detailed and inventive I could see the reason why Dubai has an advantage over Abu Dhabi. It was in the way they saw their city and how both history and the future both play a role in welcoming visitors.
What impressed me the most was how they answered the questions about over- tourism, sustainability and pollution. How can you do all this building in the desert when you need food, water and energy to run all these things and you don’t have the local resources such as farms and water to supply them? This when money and creativity take hold.
It was a very nice experience at the tourism office, and we learned a lot about why Dubai is such a success in tourism. This is why their growth is so good year after year. The understand what their visitors are looking for and what is important to them. This is especially true for the tourists from the colder climates in Europe who flock here for the beaches and shopping.
Our group picture with members of the Dubai Tourism office.
After our visit to the tourism office, we were supposed to visit the Spice and Gold Souks and tour the Old City of Dubai. The problem was that we were all starved and asked if we could have lunch early (eating breakfast at 6:30am does have its disadvantages).
So off we went to the restaurant at noontime for an early lunch. What an amazing experience that was for a meal. We arrived at the Al Bain Al Qadeem Restaurant and Cafe Al Ras Al Ras Road by noontime and the restaurant was really quiet at that time.
It was an interesting dining experience from the beginning. We all sat down as a group on the carpet with pillows all around us and we served course by course. It was a very relaxing and casual way to eat our lunch. I liked the informality of it all.
https://www.facebook.com/alrasdeira
My review on TripAdvisor:
Lunch was really amazing feast. The dishes came out family style and we ate course by course starting with hummus with homemade warm pita bread and a salad with a light dressing. Then came out the fresh salads and more bread. Our side of the table managed to eat everything including the salads left over by the other side of the table.
We then moved onto the main meal of grilled beef, lamb and chicken with two types of rice, plain and saffron and a side of grilled vegetables.
The food was excellent and so well spiced. I really enjoyed the lunch.
After we finished our lunch, we had a long conversation with an Arabic culturalist, who talked with us on the stereotypes and cultural differences between Americans and their thoughts of people from the Middle East. He had a lot to say about what he learned about Americans when he lived in the States.
We are so trained by Hollywood and the movies about what the Middle East is like and the people that live there that we really do come in with preconceived ideas. This is why the talk was so interesting.
It was an interesting conversation.
After lunch was over, we started our tour of Old Dubai of the Al Sabkha neighborhood. We started at the original wall that surrounded the city and then walked around the historical parts of Old Dubai. This is the part of the tour that was so intriguing about the City. You got to see the heart of the City and its foundations. This was its heritage and what makes it so special.
The history of the Wall of Old Dubai
The map of the Al Fabio Historical neighborhood with the original wall of Old Dubai.
The map of the historical section of Old Dubai.
This is when the class split up for the afternoon. Some of us wanted to visit the museum and the others wanted to shop at the Souqs.
Walking through the streets of Old Dubai is a step back in time to the 1960’s and 70’s before the discovery of oil changed the city of Dubai. While the rest of the group went to visit the Souqs to go shopping, a small group of us wanted to visit the museum so we split up into two groups at the entrance of the Gold Souq. The ladies went shopping and the guys headed to the museum.
We would visit the Gold Souq when we returned from the museum. We wanted to have enough time to visit the museum, so we made our way to the next water taxi.
Getting on board the next water taxi. The trip to the other side did not take that long.
The views of the city were amazing as we crossed the river.
Video of the water taxi ride across the Dubai River:
More views of the river.
The view from the water taxi were spectacular.
The Al Shindagha Museum in Old Dubai
https://alshindagha.dubaiculture.gov.ae/en/Pages/default.aspx
My review on TripAdvisor:
We crossed the river again and got to the Al Shindagha Museum for our tour. Our guide was a little surprised to see so few people. We had to explain that there was a change in plans but these were the students. Who were interested. The water taxi ride was a lot of fun and you really got to see a lot of the City from here. You could see the contrast from old to new Dubai.
The museum was small but had interesting artifacts and art work from the Old City of Dhabi.
The diagram from the old city.
We were able to tour the museum for about a half hour, admiring the exhibitions and seeing the displays. We got to see the second half of the orientation film before. We had to leave. It was a quick tour but you do not need more than an hour to see the whole museum.
We than headed back to the river to take the water taxi back to the other side of the city where. The Souks were located. Talk about getting great views of the city on top of a wonderful breeze.
I was able to take about a five minute tour of the front of the Souk before we had to leave for our desert tour. We were now running a bit late and people were still shopping. The Souks were rather long and there was a lot to see.
I got to see some of the spice vendors and then realized that I would have to drag more stuff on the plane and I was not sure if Customs would know that these were spices. It was just easier to buy the spices at home.
I tried to see as much of the Souk as I could see in ten minutes.
The spices of the Souk in Dubai.
We did not have the time we all wanted as we had to leave to get to our next experience, the Desert Dinner Tour and Star Gazing later that evening. What a great time we had that night!
Us joining the group at sunset watching the falcon demonstration and enjoying some juices.
Me rediscovering my Arabic roots when holding the falcon at the end of the demonstration.
We got to the camp site where we would be eating dinner. The first thing we did before we sat down to eat was take a camel ride around the site. I had a camel ride when I was visiting Egypt so I was used to this. I could not wait to get back on the camel. I have to say that he was very friendly and you could tell was used to humans riding him.
My classmate Rizal on the camel
My classmate Yarneth on the camel
Our NYU class shot with all the camels. They were really cooperative.
After our Falcon demonstration and the camel rides, it was time for dinner. I was starved again and dinner would be a mixture of soups, salads and grilled meats. The one thing about these tours they feed you really well and the quality of the food is excellent. We started off with a bean soup to start the meal.
The thick bean soup was filling to start the meal
We then moved onto breads, salads and then more grilled meats. We ate a lot of kebabs on this trip which I love.
For some reason and I never knew why, we went out in the desert to look for animals instead of just relaxing and finishing our dinner. We never got to have dessert that evening as we went into the dunes in search of animals. I have to say we had an ambitious jeep. We found all sorts of deer, lizards and other things that live in the desert. It was an fascinating trip into the desert at night.
Us searching the desert for things that creeped and crawled around dunes.
We found a colorful little gecko lizard in the desert. How my classmate found him I do not know. He just glowed in the dark.
We got back from the desert ride late so we went immediately into the star gazing part of our tour. We looked up at the clear sky and the tour guide explained all the constellations to us and what was currently in the winter sky. Frankly I was so tired at this point that I started to fall asleep. Later I found out that we missed the dessert the chef prepared for us. We were bummed by that. We had really toured late in the evening and everyone was exhausted when we were taking the jeeps back to the bus. We all fell asleep on the bus back to Abu Dhabi which was about two hours long back to the hotel. We did not arrive back until about 2:00am. Then we had be back on the bus again first things in the morning.
It was another great day in Dubai and I have to say that I learned a lot about the city and about myself.
Me trying to charm that Falcon.
Places to Eat:
Bistro
Marriott Courtyard World Trade Center
Hamdan Bin Mohammad Street
Abu Dhabi 107005 United Arab Emirates
(844) 631-0595
https://www.marriott.com/reservation/rateListMenu.mi
https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/auhcy-courtyard-world-trade-center-abu-dhabi/dining
Open: Sunday-Saturday 7:00am-3:00pm
My review on TripAdvisor:
Al Bait Al Qadeem Restaurant & Cafe
Al Ras Al Ras Road
Dubia United Arab Emirates
971 50 913 3278
https://www.albaitalqadeem.com
Open: Sunday-Saturday 9:00am-9:00pm
My review on TripAdvisor:
Places to Visit:
Al Shindagha Museum
Al Fahidi Neighborhood
80033222
https://alshindagha.dubaiculture.gov.ae/en/Pages/default.aspx
Open: Sunday-Saturday 10:00am-8:00pm
Admission: Check the website for costs in AED
My review on TripAdvisor:
mywalkinmanhattan 
The whole trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai were a real eye opener for me and it was rediscovering my Arabic roots by my Sicilian Heritage.
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