What to see in the Emirate today?
Abu Dhabi is the largest emirate, its area is four times larger than the rest of the emirates combined. 95% of the total production of the oil industry (and hence the income from it) is concentrated here. What new things it can offer tourists, what kind of entertainment travelers from all over the world come here for today — in the Profi photo report.Travel.
The capital of the emirate and the country of Abu Dhabi is a city of fountains (there are about a hundred of them here) of various shapes and designs, date palms (there are about 40 million of them) and the most bizarre, fantastic buildings. For example, Abu Dhabi is home to the most expensive hotel in the world ever built (about 2 tons of gold were used for its construction) — Emirates Palace. The walls and ceiling inside the building are decorated with gold leaf with a total weight of 80 kg. And there is also a 160-meter-high Capital Gate skyscraper in the city, with an angle of inclination of 18 degrees (for comparison: the angle of inclination of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is only 4 degrees).
|An interesting fact about Abu Dhabi: the crime rate in this city tends to zero. This makes it an ideal place for a family vacation. This year Abu Dhabi is recognized as the safest city in the world according to Numbeo. Abu Dhabi has been ranked first in the ranking for the eighth year in a row, starting in 2017.
Every agent working with the direction of the Arab Emirates in general and Abu Dhabi in particular knows that one of the business cards of the emirate is the Sheikh Zayed Mosque (one of the six largest mosques in the world). The mosque is named after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder and first president of the United Arab Emirates. The mosque was opened in 2007.
This is a grandiose building (the mosque can accommodate up to 40 thousand people), the height of the main dome of which (there are 82 in the mosque) reaches 85 meters, and at the same time it is a light and elegant architectural structure. The columns of the mosque (and there are 1096 of them here) are inlaid with amethysts and jasper, the courtyard is decorated with filigree mosaics, and a huge chandelier shines with Swarovski crystals.
To get to the mosque, you need to go through an underground corridor leading from a shopping center located near the mosque. Visiting the mosque is free for everyone, but you need to fill out a special online form.
On the way to the mosque, in this shopping center, you can buy an abaya — a long dress up to the heels. Although traditionally the abaya is black, the choice of colors and styles is very large, you can choose an outfit to your taste, photos in the mosque in it will be especially colorful.
| The mosque has the largest carpet in the world — almost 6 thousand square meters. meters
Another business card of the emirate is the Louvre Abu Dhabi, an art museum – the world’s only branch of the Louvre in Paris. Its opening took place in 2017, and the construction took 10 years. Moreover, the idea of the project originated back in 2002, it took 5 years to get the approval of the world museum community.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi, located on Saadiat Island, is a complex of 55 buildings, 23 of which are galleries where famous exhibits from the Louvre in Paris and other French and Arab museums are displayed. The themed halls feature antiquities from a wide variety of countries — China, India, Japan and many others.
There is also a Children’s Museum here: an educational and entertaining art space where you can play interactive games, draw, sit in a black wigwam, learn how to create various ornaments, assemble a geometric composition on a huge magnetic board.
Almost the entire area of the museum is covered with a lattice silver dome 36 meters high. The dome consists of eight layers superimposed on each other: four external stainless steel and four internal, separated by a steel structure five meters high.
|Raindrops cannot pass through the dome, but they gather on metal structures, and the rain seems to be reassembled by the whole structure, becomes slow, | mathematically correct, as if artificial.
If Saadiat Island, which means “island of Happiness”, is not only snow—white beaches, but also the mecca of museums and cultural centers of the city, then Yas Island is an island of entertainment and active recreation.
Of course, everyone who comes to Abu Dhabi, even if they do not live in hotels on the island Yas, be sure to visit one or more of its theme parks. The youngest of them, Sea World Yas Island, was opened in February 2023.
The park is a combination of themed areas, an entertainment center, an environmental institute, and a research center. This is a huge entertainment and educational space (the park area is 183 thousand square meters, aquariums and aqua zones of the park hold 58 million liters of water, where more than one and a half hundred species of marine animals are represented).
Sea World Yas Island Park offers a wide variety of activities: here you can feed and even touch stingrays, “walk” along the bottom in a bathyscaphe surrounded by various fish, ride a dizzying attraction and observe the work of the microbiological laboratory, operating rooms and X-ray rooms for animals.
The mission of the park is to introduce visitors to the inhabitants of the aquatic world, its unique eco-systems, explore the oceans, as well as provide assistance to marine life.
Olga Tsiplyakova, a representative of Miral Group, shared recent statistics: despite the fact that Sea World Park is the youngest of the island’s 4 parks Yas, in terms of attendance, it is approaching the oldest and most popular Ferrari park.
In the capital Abu Dhabi, you can spend a week or two exploring museums and parks, enjoying a vacation on the beach, visiting restaurants and shopping centers. By the way, there is a completely unique restaurant in Abu Dhabi, Fresh Basil, where you can enjoy gastronomic delights from the chef in absolute darkness. It is located in the multi-storey Bab Al Qasr Hotel, which is very popular in the markets of Russia and the CIS. The restaurant’s menu changes almost every day, and visitors are given the opportunity to indicate their preferences when booking a table. After they taste “blindly” all the dishes of the dinner, the chef comes to meet them, who will ask you to guess what ingredients were in each of the dishes, as well as their names. Then he will definitely show you what the dishes looked like. The program causes surprise and delight among the restaurant’s guests every time.
If your tourists have been to the capital more than once, then they can travel around the emirate for new experiences and discoveries.
El Ain
Two hours on deserted roads and you will find yourself in the fourth largest city in the UAE. There is an oasis city on the border with Oman. Unlike all other major cities in the country, it is located at a distance from the sea.
People come here to see historical forts and palaces of rulers, archaeological parks with ancient artifacts, camel markets, go on safari, as well as visit a lively bazaar with spices, carpets and incense.
It was in Al Ain that the first president of the country and ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, was born and lived until the age of 40.
The Al-Muwaiji Palace, which belongs to the ruling family of the UAE, is located here. In the 1940s and 50s, Sheikh Zayed worked in it, and the government of the Emirates also met here. The historical building of the palace is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
You can just walk around the adobe fortress palace, surrounded by a fence with corner towers and large gates. The impressive height of the towers made the palace visible from Al Ain and to those who approached it from Abu Dhabi. It was a warning to potential invaders.
In the palace, you can take a guided tour to learn about the history of four generations of the ruling family. The building has reconstructed interiors from the early and mid-20th century, but most of the complex is occupied by galleries with demonstration screens and interactive exhibits.
El Ain is a very green city, with 13 oases on its territory, the largest of which covers an area of 1200 hectares. Being in the shadow of giant dates, it is impossible to believe that you are in the desert. Dates have been grown in the Emirates for a long time, this unpretentious crop feels great in the hot climate of the country. By the way, when leaving the UAE, do not forget to buy dates (in supermarkets all over the country and in small shops you can find a variety of their types, including with different fillings).
| Translated from Arabic, El Ain means “spring”.
Plan more time to visit this Al Ain oasis to enjoy the coolness in the shade of date palms, visit the interactive museum and take amazing photos.
To refresh yourself and immerse yourself even more in the local culture and flavor, you should go to the restaurant of traditional local cuisine. There are many eateries and restaurants in Al Ain. You can have a quick and delicious snack, for example, in the cafe-restaurant Al Fanar. Here you will immerse yourself in the cozy atmosphere of the 1960s. Here you can order biriyani, a dish of rice (usually basmati varieties) with the addition of meat, fish, eggs or vegetables. Be sure to try pudding and ice cream, and of course Arabic coffee.
After lunch, it’s time to go on an adventure to the safari zoo. More than 4,000 animals of 200 different species live on an area of 400 hectares.
The Al Ain Zoo was founded by the late Sheikh Zayed in 1968. In 2006, reconstruction was carried out here. Now it is the largest zoo of its type in the Middle East.
The territory of the zoo is divided into zones. The largest of them are mammals. It is home to representatives of the feline family, monkeys, artiodactyls, hippos, rhinoceroses — all of them are native to Africa and Asia. Crocodiles, snakes, turtles, and lizards live in the reptile zone. There is a bird area. Large representatives of birds — flamingos and ostriches — live in open enclosures, small and medium—sized birds – in a separate bird house. Penguins live separately. The nocturnal inhabitants of the desert are owls, rodents and other animals. Special conditions have been created in their enclosures: dimmed light, special temperature.
Zoo guests can observe animals in their natural habitat during a special tour that lasts about an hour, as well as gain a wide variety of knowledge about the park’s inhabitants at the Sheikh Zayed Training Center located on the territory.
|In the near future, the park will have: elephant safari, gorilla reserve and rescue center | for the care of illegally purchased exotic animals.
The editorial office of Profi.Travel thanks the team of the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism for the opportunity to explore the modern capital emirate.
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