Jordan and I decided we wanted to make the most of our last weekend before work began, so we headed out on a Dubai day trip.
On this trip we wanted to see old Dubai and the souqs (a souq is a marketplace). We drove to one of the bigger metro stations that had free parking and took the metro into the city.
Our stop was very close to the gold souqs where we wanted to start our day. We arrived to find winding alleyways filled with little booths selling jewelry. Pushy salesmen tried to sell us watches (they claimed they were Rolex) and “silk” scarves. Three or four of the salesmen called me “Shakira.” I took out my phone to look up if “Shakira” meant anything in Arabic. All I found were other people posting online asking about the same thing. When another salesmen called me “Lady Gaga,” I knew for sure they were just comparing me to celebrities to flatter me and get me to buy.
I recognize maybe 2 of these spices
After winding through the gold souqs, we made our way to the spice souqs. Each shop had barrels of spices we could not even identify. We would inquire, but we knew what a pain it would be to engage such pushy salesmen. The only items we ended up buying while we were there were a couple handkerchiefs to wipe up our sweat. Clearly we didn’t learn from our mosque visit in Abu Dhabi when we made the choice to walk outdoors in the summer.
Once we had our fill of the souqs, we took an abra (old Arab boat) across the river. A ride on the boat was 1 dirham a person (27 cents in US dollars). From the drop off point of the boat we walked to a little hole in the wall Indian restaurant for lunch. We decided that Indian food would be our equivalent of Mexican food while we live here, in that we could easily eat it every day and never get sick of it.
After lunch we walked to to Dubai Coffee Museum in a historical neighborhood of Dubai. The museum was free but bit underwhelming. It was more that someone bought an old property to put a coffee shop in, and just happened to have some antique coffee making items. The best part of that stop was the building.
The other positive about that stop on our trip, was that we discovered the Dubai Museum on our walk there. While coming back we made a stop there. By the time we got inside the museum I made a beeline for a seat in front of the air conditioner and plopped myself there for a good 10 minutes before even considering buying museum tickets. It was so hot and humid, I felt close to passing out. Once I recovered we walked through the museum.
The museum is in the oldest structure in Dubai. The building was erected in the 19th century. The UAE doesn’t have a ton of ancient structures as most are gone and also because society there was largely nomadic. The initial section of the museum was outdoors and showed what a settlement in this region looked like in the 19th century. After that, there was an indoor museum on the history of the UAE and Dubai. Improvements on the museum could be made, but considering the entry cost was only a few dirhams, it was a great value and well worth the money.
