Although I had been at Dubai International Airport before during flight transfers, I had never visited this city. But when I had a stopover on the return from my trip to Sri Lanka, I booked 3 nights in Dubai to see what all the fuzz that I saw on Emirates commercials was all about.
Since the city of Dubai stretches along the coast I booked myself a room in central Downtown Dubai. This area is famous for having the tallest building (Burj Khalifa) and the largest mall (Dubai Mall) in the world. From the hotel rooftop on 47th floor I had an amazing view on the skyline of Downtown Dubai. And the first day of my stay was spend strolling the Dubai Mall (with an indoor sea aquarium and ice skating rink) and watching the water fountains in front of the Burj Khalifa. On my second day I took the metro to the Mall of Emirates (with an indoor skiing piste), the Dubai Marina and the JBR Beach. The beach was packed with mainly Russian tourists. And on The Walk (beach-promenade) a lot of locals were showing their expensive cars (Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Bentley etc.). Even the police showed up in a McLaren car! My last day in Dubai I took the metro to the old part of Dubai. Here I wondered the Al Fahidi historical neighbourhood (houses with traditional Wind Towers) and the Dubai Museum in the Al Fahidi fort. I took an abra (watertaxi) to cross the Creek to Deira area to visit see the spices and gold being sold in the souks. All together I have to say that I wasn't that impressed by the beaches and the historical sites (especially after I just had been 3 weeks in Sri Lanka). But the skylines and malls were really worth it to visit Dubai for once!
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