Showing posts with label Celebrity cruises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Celebrity cruises. Show all posts

Monday, January 28, 2019

Doin’ Dubai . . .Differently

I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder 
than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything.
                              -- Bill Bryson


Maybe that is why we ended up liking Dubai.  

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Skyline from freeway interchange - Dubai

We’d once had a four-hour layover in Dubai and saw nothing more than an airport concourse. It was interesting, but still, just another airport.  

Reviews from traveling friends were mixed: love it or hate it, but there would be no in-between. Or so it seemed, before we arrived on a bright December day aboard the Celebrity Constellation. Our itinerary called for an overnight stay in this high-rise mecca of modernity and opulence.

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A Marina Bay Sands like that in Singapore is under construction - Dubai
That’s the sum of what I knew about Dubai when the ship docked.  The city was waiting to be explored.

The one thing I knew I wouldn’t do while there would be to travel to the top of its tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, which at 828 meters (2,717 feet) and 161 floors, is the tallest building in the world. A trip to its top can be done for a price, a rather hefty price for an elevator ride at that. (It is that spire building in the photo above.) My dislike of small enclosed spaces -- like elevators -- and heights like this tallest building in the world, removed that outing from the ‘to do’ list. 

And neither of us were too excited about visiting ‘the Dubai Mall’ (its the one with the aquareum in it and and ice skating rink). It is also one of 73 malls at last count in the city.

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Hop on, Hop off tour bus - Dubai
With nothing in particular in mind to see we opted for a Big Bus, hop-on, hop-off tour of the town. The bus company wisely has started serving the cruise port here, so we could walk off the ship and board the bus.

It might have been the best cruise-tour decision we could have made as it gave us independence to stop where we wanted and provided a full-day’s overview of this rapidly expanding city.  (They offered two-day packages as well and one that included a trip to neighboring Abu Dhabi, located just down the road and across the desert.

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Traffic, traffic everywhere

Our tour guides -- real humans -- provided lots of tidbits of information:

We were cautioned not to take photos of government buildings, military establishments, airport or cruise ports (too late for the latter when you arrive on a cruise ship). 

We were told not to take photos of Emirati (those wearing traditional dress) without their permission and certainly not to take photos of policemen; unless they were near their new fleet of cars which includes Maseratis, Jaguars, and Ferraris (in which case the officer would likely agree to a photo by the car if permission was asked first).

Among the things we learned is that of more than 2.5 million people in Dubai only 15 percent are Emirati.  The remaining 85 percent are ex pat and migrant workers.  Of those folks 71% are Asian (the majority coming from India). 

While oil production is credited with putting this area, settled by the Bani Yas tribe back in 1833, ‘on the map’; today oil production makes up less than 5 percent of its gross national income.

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What a difference a decade or two makes - Dubai
The tribe settled along what is called Dubai Creek, although the ancient Greeks called it the River Zara. Back in the 30’s and 40’s the cityscape looked like the poster above and its main industry was pearl diving.

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The Old Souk, once called the Textile Souk

Old Dubai, that which was constructed in the mid-20th Century, is clustered around that creek and its old skyline has been preserved by city codes forbidding major changes in building height and design. It was this old area that we liked best.

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Textile vendors line the streets near the Old Souk
It is still home to a very active souk, once called the textile souk for good reason we learned as we explored its side streets.

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We dined
We dined at a restaurant Bayt Al Wakeel, overlooking Dubai Creek. The meze plate was delicious and the setting spectacular as the restaurant is housed in the building constructed in 1935 to serve as the headquarters of the Gray MacKenzie shipping company. The bottom of the building was the shipping company office and the manager and family lived upstairs.

From the table we sat at on the wooden porch extending over the creek we watched the marine traffic that plies the water, hauling goods and people from one point to another.

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The wooden dhow transports tourists as part of the Big Bus tour
We joined other visitors on the dhow pictured above and spent an hour traveling the creek as part of the Big Bus tour.

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Water taxis shuttled people back and forth across the creek
We also rode one of the many water taxis, a cheap way to get to locations along the waterway.

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This area of the city seemed a bit more real than the high-rise area
A kaledescope of scenes from the working ships and live aboards to those a bit more opulent:

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It would have been fun to see this one's interior 
It was also fun to see the city from the water as our dhow took us between the old and the new areas.

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Scenes along Dubai Creek
Dubai, we’ve decided, may not be a place we’d rush back to as we would to Abu Dhabi or Muscat, Oman (both were also ports of call on this cruise) but a cruise stop was an excellent way to see this Middle Eastern megalopolis.

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Cruise passengers were welcomed with long stemmed red roses - Dubai
I suppose I technically wasn't supposed to take the photo above, as you recall, no photos in the port. But when the welcome is warm and the place worth remembering, I'll risk a reprimand for taking a photo (there wasn't any, btw)

Thanks so much for the time you spent with us in this port of call. When we left Dubai we headed for the Gulf of Hormuz and then the Arabian Sea and our next ports of call on India's west coast. Hope you’ll join us as we explore those cities in future posts.
Safe travels to you and yours.

Linking with:
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday

Sunday, January 6, 2019

A Magic Carpet Ride ~ Through the Grand Mosque

It could have come from one of Scheherazade’s tales. . .dusk had turned the Mosque into a fairy tale structure. At one point we stepped out of the tide of humanity flowing through this enormous ediface, found ourselves a corner and took a moment to savor the overwhelming magic of this fanciful place.

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Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi
On a late Friday afternoon we were among thousands inside Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque; the largest mosque in the United Arab Emirates and the eighth largest such place in the world. In my mind we’d just hopped aboard a magic carpet ride into a world far removed from the one in which we live.

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Reflecting pools at sunset - Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi
It is simply that kind of mind-boggling place. And to think we almost skipped it!

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Dusk gave a most exotic feel to the experience
We’d arrived in Abu Dhabi on a Thursday evening for our cruise departing on a Saturday. We planned to see as much as we could of this young and rapidly expanding city on the single day we’d given ourselves for exploration.

Friday, though, is a Holy Day in the Muslim world. The Mosque was closed to visitors until 4 p.m.  So we spent the day exploring other parts the city and almost decided against making the effort (a sizeable taxi ride from our downtown hotel and back) to visit the place.

We’d seen mosques before, right?
Wrong. We’d not seen anything like this before.

Luckily the travel gods gave us that unexplained nudge and we decided we couldn't miss the Mosque.  The taxi dropped us off at a far gate at 5 p.m. and by then the place was crawling with people – the faithful and the tourist had blended together to experience this holy site.

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Strict dress codes and behavior codes apply when visiting
At the entry The Scout was directed to the doorway for males while I entered through a door for women only. Dress code is strict. My exposed ankles and wrists got me herded into a walk-in closet (with many other women) for a complimentary abayas issued to those of us not covering enough of our bodies.  My abaya, I think would have been quite comfortable had I not had a full set of clothes on under it. And it was far too big (one size does not fit all). To be able to walk I hiked it up so that the same amount of ankle was showing as before.  While I certainly wasn't opposed to wearing it, I have to admit as I lifted the hood, I wondered how many others had worn this garment since it had last been washed.

Shoes are not to be worn by any visitor and pairs are left on massive shoe racks at the entry to the building. I always marvel that they are still there when we return.

So properly attired, we were off.  Hop aboard our magic carpet and I’ll tell you a bit of what we learned about the Grand Mosque:

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The inlaid marble floors of the courtyard were stunning
The massive structure was built at the direction of Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the United Arab Emirates.  Construction began in 1996 and it was finished in 2007.  The construction cost was 2.5 billion UAE dirham or 700 million US dollars.
Sheik Zayed, died in 2004 at age 86, and is buried here.

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More intricate inlaid work in the walls 
More than 3,000 workers and 38 contracting firms from around the world were involved in the project. Materials were imported from Pakistan Iran, Morocco, Germany and a host of other countries.

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Chandeliers were stunning
While the Mosque can accommodate 41,000, its main hall can accommodate 7,000. The visiting hordes of which we were a part, were not allowed on the carpet in the main hall; we walked to its side. It is the largest hand-knotted carpet in the world. It took 1,300 crafts persons two years to complete the work and then it took two months to transport it from Iran.

I should have taken photos of that magnificent carpet but it was the seven chandeliers which caught my eye and of which I couldn’t take enough photos.

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Chandelier Grand Mosque Abu Dhabi
And I couldn’t decide which of them I liked best.

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This may have been my favorite chandelier
But then I turned and saw the stained glass . . .click, click, click went the camera shutter.

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Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi
And again found myself trying to decide which was more magnificent.

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Window overlooking a garden area - Grand Mosque Abu Dhabi
There is nothing that compares with the call to prayer in a Muslim city. It wafts through the air in much the same manner as church bells ring out across our towns in Greece.  The echoing human voice just adds to the exotic feel. We were lucky enough to be visiting here at dusk when the call to prayer seemed to reverberate off the walls. It was a travel moment to remember!

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The Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi
It was a perfect way to end a whirlwind tour of the city and was a great introduction to other sites we'd be seeing after we set sail on the Persian Gulf. You'll have to come back next week for my next tale of Arabian adventure. It was pretty amazing to have Iran on our north and the Saudi Arabian peninsula to our south as we headed out!

See you next week and  thanks again for your time today. We look forward to hearing from you and having you with us. Safe travels to you and yours ~

Linking this week with:
Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Greece ~ Where Autumn Comes in like a Lion. . .and Lamb

"Listen!  the wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves,
We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!"
-  Humbert Wolfe

The wind which began last evening continued through the night. Its gusts have unrelentingly rattled the window shutters and pummeled our doors. The rain that threatened yesterday has made good on its promise today. I am wrapped in my flannel robe as I write on this dark, chilly October morning.  This time of year the sun doesn't make it over the mountain behind us until after 8 a.m. 



View from the Stone House on the Hill on a stormy day

I suspect we won't see it at all today. And to believe that two days ago I was wearing shorts and basking in the afternoon sun on our deck and later that day we sat outside at the local taverna sipping krasi, wine at sunset.

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Sunset sipping wine in Stoupa village
This autumn's weather in the Greek Peloponnese, The Mani specifically,  is proving to be much like last year: both a lion and a lamb.

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How are gardens grow in the autumn
Autumn is a time for gardens to flourish. Blooms are no longer punished by the intense Mediterranean summer sun. Garden stores are selling tiny truck garden plants for winter garden harvest – we only wish our time here would be long enough to plant and harvest them. Our flowers are in full bloom, these photos taken within the last week and all but the Lantana (bottom corner) are growing at The Stone House on the Hill.

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Autumn leaves begin to fall. . .
Yet, there is no doubt that autumn is preparing the area for winter’s arrival. . .

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A cloudy October day
We had two sets of guests last fall, one came in late October and we sat huddled together in The Stone House on the Hill waiting for a break in the wind and rain to go explore the countryside.

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A November morning
The second set arrived in early November and we explored the area in our shirt sleeves under sunny, warm skies.

A number of you have told us that you are planning to visit ‘someday’ and some have asked,  “When is the best time to visit, when is the weather the best?” 

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Late September Stoupa beach
We prefer -- and recommend -- the spring and fall but I checked a couple of travel sites to see what other travel writers have to say. While they are speaking of Greece in general, it pretty much echoes our thoughts:

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September view from our deck at The Stone House on the Hill.
Frommer’s Travel Guides say, “. . . that the best time to visit is Greece is spring and early summer (mid-Apr to mid-June) or autumn (Sept to mid-Oct). This way, you'll avoid the summer high season, with its inflated prices, hordes of tourists and high temperatures (heat waves of 100°F/+40C are routine)."

Another site, greek-travel.gr points out, “December to March are the coldest and least reliable months, though even then there are many crystal-clear, fine days, and the glorious lowland flowers begin to bloom very early in spring.”
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Approaching Kalamata airport - Taygetos Mountains
Airfares, like the weather, are usually better on these shoulder season months than in the height of summer tourist season.  But those of you thinking of flying directly to Kalamata should keep in mind, that flights here operate primarily during high season (late spring, summer, and into October). We just managed to catch one of the season’s last on British Air from London in September.

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British Air flies from London to Kalamata in the spring and fall
Speaking of travel, regular readers know that travel to other destinations in Europe and beyond, was one of reasons we bought a home here Well, I wrote this post at the end of last week because I knew we'd be on the road this week -- our first such close-to-home trip in Europe. We flew to Rome from Athens on Monday, (two hours and 10 minutes gate to gate)  and we set sail on the Celebrity Constellation on Wednesday.  If you want to take a look at where we are off to, just: click this link

Thanks for spending some time with us during these blustery autumn days in Greece’s Mani. It is currently gorgeous weather in Rome, but they are predicting rain showers tomorrow.  Lion and Lamb, it seems, everywhere this fall.  We’ll be back as shipboard internet allows in the next few weeks. Hello to our new followers who wrote us such nice messages about our blog last week (you know who you are)!  To all of you, wishes for safe travels~

Linking up with:

Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday – 
Photo Friday
Weekend Travel Inspiration

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