Visiting Abu Dhabi – The Perennial Pilgrim

After the strict World Cup popup city that was Qatar, and the endearingly excessive Dubai, visiting Abu Dhabi was a bit of a relief. It definitely has some excesses, like a hotel restaurant you can order cappuccino or ice cream sprinkled with real 23 karat gold flakes, but overall, it’s a pretty calm city in comparison.

The City

It has a downtown with scores of modest office buildings and apartments, where the city’s service workers actually live as well as work. It actually has a plethora of “spirits” stores where you can buy alcohol, as you can see from my search below on Google Maps 🙂

And, lo and behold, when you actually enter one it’s an Arabian alcohol cornucopia.

The streets near my hotel downtown had small cards littered all over the sidewalks advertising “Elegant Spa” with a pretty woman’s face and a phone number; I’m assuming there’s a full range of services at these spas. You don’t see that in Qatar or Dubai.

Just outside the main city are some smaller areas where you can see Dubai-esque architecture and visit some cool tourist attractions like the Formula 1 racetrack or an offshoot of the famous Louvre Museum.

Many people have told me it’s much more relaxed and livable than Dubai. Even though its actually wealthier than Dubai you wouldn’t know it from being here. It must be due to the fact that around 40% of its GDP still comes from the petroleum industry and it doesn’t have the frantic need Dubai does to diversify its economy as its oil reserves become more and more diminished (Dubai’s percent of GDP from petroleum is well under 10%).

A slightly run down apartment building downtown.

One of the more modern areas from the window of my bus from Dubai.

In the US they are called boardwalks, in Latin America malecons, and in Arabia corniches. Abu Dhabi has a really nice corniche with beaches on one side and a park on the other.

Conrad Hotel Observation Deck

The Conrad Hotel is part of a small complex of highrises that include a couple of other hotels. What is unique about the Conrad is a really nice observation deck on the 74th floor. It’s a spetacular thing to do when visiting Abu Dhabi.

The view back to one of the channels between the islands Abu Dhabi is composed of

The view past downtown to one of the newer complexes in the background

Emerates Palace Hotel

Emirates Palace Hotel is possibly the most luxurious hotel in Abu Dhabi with a marbled center area and a gold leafed dome on top.

Looking at the Emirates Palace from the observation deck

…where you can get ice cream or coffees with 23 karat gold layering on top. I started to peel the gold off and then realized it was easier to just eat it with the ice cream. And the ice cream was really good as well 🙂

Abu Dhabi Formula One Racetrack

Abu Dhabi has a Formula 1 racetrack at its Yas Marina Circuit. When it’s not hosting the F1 race, tourists can experience car driving, drifting, dragging, karting, and more on the track. But the track is also open to cyclists, walkers and runners every Monday and Wednesday nights between 6pm and 10pm. A guy I had met surfing in Tanzania lives in Abu Dhabi and most weeks he and his girlfriend ride and run the track on Wednesdays. So I got to do two really relaxing rides around the 5.2km track the Wednesday I was there. It’s one of the coolest things to do when visiting Abu Dhabi.

One of the turns with the W Hotel in the background

Abu Dhabi Louvre Museum

There is actually a Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi that has a wide range of fascinating art, some as a permanent collection, and some on loan from the main Paris location.

The museum doesn’t look like much from the outside, but that dome is spectacular from the inside

It has a Da Vinci. It’s not the Mona Lisa, but instead is Joan of Arc.

It also has a Van Gogh. It’s not one of his self-portraits, but instead Les Roulottes (The Trailers).

The dome creates a wonderful atmosphere between the main and auxiliary galleries

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the largest mosque in the UAE. It took over 20 years to complete and can house up to 40,000 worshippers at once. It has extensive high grade marble, possibly the largest carpet in the world, and a number of chandeliers that incorporate millions of Swarovski crystals. It’s really a wonderful place to visit.

I had a hotel room downtown. The building was pretty dated, but the room was large and very comfortable. The strangest part was the wanna-be-hip-but-actually-depressing blue lighted hallways.