Energized by hot showers, good food and maybe a glass or two of wine the arrival in Abu Dhabi after leaving Dubai was approached with conflicting thoughts. Would it live up to the glamour of its more showy cousin? Would it have much to offer discerning tourists? Half an hour later and all such thoughts had been well and truly wiped from our minds.
Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates and is by far the wealthiest. This was immediately apparent in the wide flower lined streets, the immaculate golden beaches flanked by the 13 km cornich (wide pathway that lines the beach). Wealth was apparent in the architecturally creative buildings, in the way the city had been “thoughtfully designed”, in the prevailing feeling of calmness felt everywhere. It was perhaps no more apparent than in the km after km of wall enclosed opulent palaces fronting immaculate boulevards opposite affluent Emirates mansions. Talk about being gobsmacked!
And what makes this even more unbelievable and dreamlike is that all this has happened in less than 50 years!! For 4 thousand years the nomadic Bedouins of Abu Dhabi lived in tents made of goat and horse hair or palm fronds. In 1958 oil was discovered and it is in only the near 50 years since then that the city has gone from tents to skyscrapers. Its nearly incomprehensible that so much change could occur in such a short amount of time. Under the leadership of an incredibly astute man – Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan – the people of Abu Dhabi have gone from third world status to citizens who pay no taxes, electricity or water bills. Their education is free as are medical facilities. Financial assistance is also given when one marries and when one purchases a home.
The day finished with a visit to the most incredible mosque one will probably ever see – the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque – on par with St Peters Basilica Vatican City.
So now, after another stop at a UAE city – Khor al Fakkan, it will be full steam ahead for Acadia with six days at sea en-route to Jordan where Petra awaits.
