Dubai - Friday 9th August

Today was the first day of our weekend so we planned to go down to Dubai Marina.  We thought we would go on to Metro as you get a good view of Dubai as it is suspended on a rail above the road so you get a good view.

View of the Burj Al Arab from the Metro

At the marina 

We got off at the Marina stop but soon found out that the Metro station isn't actually next to the Marina so we jumped on a bus that was marked Dubai Marina - of course, we weren't sure where to get off, and where we did was still not the Marina (apparently it was the yacht club!) and we had to walk along the Promenade to get there - of course, in most places having a wander round is not a problem, but it is in Dubai in August!  I asked for directions and it wasn't to far a walk (about 10 mins) but by the time we got there we were dripping with sweat!

 

Panorama view of the Marina

Our plan was to take a boat around the Palm, and then to have a look around the Marina Mall.  The boat trip, which was an hour long, went along side the Palm, which is made up of a group of artificial islands which consist of a trunk and a crown of 16 branches, and up to the Atlantis Hotel at the top of the Palm. We enjoyed the trip but I think I was outside on the deck to long taking photos and felt quite sick when I went back in the air conditioned seating area but at least I got my photos!

View from the boat looking at the skyscrapers at the Marina

The Atlantis Hotel on the Palm

 After the boat trip we went to the Madinat Jumeirah hotel resort which is supposed to be an authentic recreation of ancient Arabia, with waterways and landscaped gardens. We went there for 2 reasons - the first reason was that it had an indoor souk and it was the closest we were going to get to a proper souk with the weather being so hot so we thought we would go and have a look - it was OK but a bit on the pricey side and we didn't buy anything.

The indoor Souk

One of the waterways at the Madinat Jumeriah Resort

The second reason was the great views of the Burj Al Arab Hotel! We went in to an area which was only for residents of the hotel to get a good photo and had a security guard shouting at us but I suddenly went deaf and just carried on snapping away - ha ha!

Views of the Burj Al Arab

In the evening we travelling down to the Creek in the Old Dubai to watch the fireworks celebrations - even in the evening it was very humid and by the time we had walked from the Metro to the creek (about 10 min walk), watched the fireworks and then walked back to the Metro we were very happy to be back in the air-conditioning - it was worth it though! Click the link below to see the fireworks display.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_OfhDQy3Jg

One of the boats on the creek