Abu Dhabi – transit capital

Abu Dhabi is the perfect transit city for entertainment and well know for Sheikh Zayed Mosque, the the largest mosque from United Arab Emirates.

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First impression

In our long way coming back home, one of transit point was Abu Dhabi. Here, we discover a different world because we get used to south-east Asia where chaos and beauty is their definition.

When we landed we were impressed seeing the desert with no vegetation outside the city. Well was the first time we saw a real desert. We landed around noon and our first idea was to go to Dubai because is pretty close, something like one hour drive by car.

Adsense

Well, our plan was not that simple as we thought. We tried to find the lockers at the airport and we walk in circle for a while just to discover the locker is more expensive than booking a room at the hotel. Because of that, we forgot about Dubai because we didn’t have enough time to go there and our next flight was in a few hours.

Grand Mosque

In our way to the hotel, we saw from the bus the Grand Mosque – Sheikh Zayed Mosque. We don’t know how to explain our first impression. Looks like a palace from 1001 nights, we don’t know, we think the architect was inspired by those stories. After some research we find that mosque was constructed between 1996 and 2007, so is not old that all. The design has been inspired by Persian, Mughal, and the Alexandrian Mosque of Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque in Egypt, also the Indo-Islamic mosque architecture, particularly the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan being direct influences.

But we confess, is so beautiful as we couldn’t imagine. All white and brilliant, marble maybe has this effect that keeps your sight occupied.
We left our hotel room around sunset and when arrived the sun was already gone. Seeing by dark, illuminated with good taste looks so magical. Outside mosque everything looks wilderness but we are happy with that because we like take pictures with no people around.

After we check the security we discover a lot of people, more than we imagine and everybody enjoys been there. Most of the visitors weren’t Muslim and you can spend a lot of time there because there is a library serves the community with classic books and publications addressing a range of Islamic subjects: sciences, civilization, calligraphy, the arts, and coins, including some rare publications dating back more than 200 years.

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Others

This mosque is the only one we visit here but if you have more time to spend here you can visit also amusement parks as‎ Ferrari World Abu Dhabi or Yas Island. Abu Dhabi has plenty of entertainment places and shopping but in our opinion, nothing could compare with Grand Mosque.

Our Thanks

Our small stop in Abu Dhabi was possible with a little help from kiwi.com which show us the best prices and we flew save and comfortable from Kochi, India with Etihad Airways. We adore flown with them because of their courtesy and their entertainment which doesn’t stop during take-off and landing. It was perfect for one of us because didn’t feel very comfortable during then. We continue our journey with Turkish Airlines in the same way with no event.