22 April 2014

Abu Dhabi Day 1

We managed a bit of a sleep-in, but the body clocks eventually roused us to a grumpy morning. Breakfast was included in our hotel package, so both of us headed down to see what was on offer. The offerings were extensive; though it is something of a standard to offer many kinds of breakfast fare. One category was the cooked breakfast - bacon, sausages, omelettes etc. This could be taken with toast, a roll, flat bread or a croissant. There was fruit juice and fruit, cheeses and dates, sliced cold meats, pickled vegetables. There were also dolmades, and hommos and other stuff like that. I tried some "foul madammes" (that's how they spelt it !; it should have been ful medames). These are Fava beans in a stew, and are something of an acquired taste for breakfast.

There was plenty of time to get ready before hopping onto the shuttle bus into Abu Dhabi proper. It's 45 kilometres from our hotel to the Corniche ( a road running along the shore), where the bus dropped us. This is a boulevard running along the water's edge, with hundreds of tall buildings on one side, and the beach on the other. More importantly, there is a pedestrian walk and cycle way between the road and the beach.

Robyn having a paddle in the Persian Gulf

We strolled along it, past the private beaches, the pay-to-use "family beaches" (10 Dirhams to go through the gate), and the free public beaches. All of these were part of one long strip of sand, but there were fences blocking access to various sections. The walk was nice though, because of the gardens and grass along the way, maintained by an army of immigrant workers. Abu Dhabi is very well maintained and clean because of all those workers. They do all the repair work on the paths, clean public facilities such as toilets, showers, fountains and paths. They were also seen installing irrigation systems for the gardens, as well as planting various things.

At times it seemed like Abu Dhabi was not quite finished. There are many buildings under construction in the centre of town, and more nearby.


The day was getting hot, so we decided to seek air conditioning in a shopping centre. I voted for the Khalidiyah Mall. After walking around in the heat for 20 minutes, we saw no sign of it. Back out on the Corniche, we caught a taxi to the most commercial shopping experience you will find here - the Abu Dhabi Mall. the place had more shops than I've had hot dinners. We ate lunch (59 Dirham for 2 from an Indian café) and got out of there.

We went across the road to the Khalifa centre, where most of the shops had shut at 1:30. They have a 3 1/2 hour break and open again at 5:00 PM. Window shopping was fun though. There were dishes and glass perfume bottles I liked, but they would not have survived the rest of the trip. Eventually we left that centre, recrossed the road and waited for the free shuttle bus to bring us back here to the hotel.

For dinner, we went downstairs (alright, downlift) to the hotel restaurant. The food was good, but the Carlsberg beer was better- I had two pints. Robyn had two wines. We slept well !!