Dubai, Arab Emirates, December 7, 2013, Saturday
Sailing
slowly into the harbor was a grand sight, as the high, jagged skyline came into
view slowly through the noontime haze.
The cluster of towering high-rises proved to be even more bewildering
that what we had seen at close range in Muscat.
We tried to digest it all from the rear open deck where we ate lunch.
We had not
chosen how to spend the afternoon until the day before because the options for
excursions were so confusing. We had
thought about a walking tour through what the ship’s guide called the Dubai old
town. But finally when we disembarked at
about 4p.m., one of the earlier excursion times available, we joined some of
the new friends we had met on board on a bus for the excursion to a place we
had never heard of, Sharjah.
It turns out that all of the
Emirates you’ve heard so much about are essentially contiguous, a few miles
apart in flat desert terms and in any event just down the freeway from each
other. Sharjah, the third largest of the seven
Emirates, has been called the Pearl of the Gulf – remembering that this entire
area of the Arabian Peninsula was once known primarily for its pearl-diving
expertise. Sharjah has been recognized
as the Cultural Capital of the Arab World by UNESCO, and I say with little hesitation
that if that is true God help us.
Sharjah boasts that it has some of the most remarkable architecture and
the largest mosque in the UAE, the King Faisal Mosque. We won’t doubt the latter statement. I hope that if Sinan, the great Greek architect
of mosques under the Ottoman sultans is looking down from design-heaven on the
mosques recently built in the Arab world he successfully fighting off the
nausea.
The bus ride from the port area to
Sharjah traversed miles of four or six lane city roads that were a combination
of city streets and limited access freeways.
The roadways and the on-off ramps appear to be well engineered. Everything works smoothly in spite of the
voluminous traffic. We first had a photo
stop in front of the Sharjah Culture Center, which is part of a cluster of
expensive new buildings, all from white stone and all built around six or so
buildings surrounding something called the Quran Roundabout. The infield of the rotary must be at least 50
yards across. You can go to http://wikimapia.org/208367/Quran-Roundabout to get an idea of the large
scale of this site In the middle of the
infield there is a fifteen-foot high replica of a lectern in bronze, and on the
lectern there is an open book of obvious import. The roundabout then is a celebration of the
Koran itself, albeit to an outsider with considerable overkill.
We
were supposed to visit or stop at the American University and the grand
Majarrah Souq with its intricate mosaics and golden dome, and then to enjoy
a visit to the 150-year-old Al Naboodah House, now known as the Sharjah
Heritage Museum and the oldest house in the emirate. Alas
the traditional costumes and jewelry, old doors, clay and copper pots,
elaborate chests, and traditional games on display here never materialized for
us, no doubt because it was Saturday, and everything was closed. We did, however, have a long stop at the
local fish market, and we all got more than we bargained for watching various
fish, large and small stacked and hacked before our very eyes. The most enjoyment came from watching the
fishermen at their tasks at close range.
We were directed to the vegetable market few yards away, but by this
time most of the folks had been surfeited with going from vendor to vendor, as
one stall of fresh and colorful vegetables was just like the last. At that point we all bailed and boarded the
bus.
At twilight we arrived at the Blue
Souq or Central Market, situated on the picturesque Khaled Lagoon and a
delightful park surrounding the lagoon with walking paths and well-tended
lawns. The Blue Souq is remarkable for its mix of
modern and traditional Islamic architecture and what is advertised as “the
eclectic variety of goods found within its 600 shops.” That was true to a point, but we soon tired
of the long rows of shops all seemingly selling the same old same old gold
jewelry. As it happens, the dowry
continues in these countries as the principal family tradition and as the main
means of storing and handing down wealth, and a large majority of women cannot,
and apparently will not, marry until they have a very heavy gold necklace with
all sorts of designs and filigree safely around their expensive necks. Jewelry worn by the ladies is not viewable by
the men, but the ladies have occasions of congregating within their own
quarters where men dare not tread and removing enough clothing to be able to
show off their jewels. We were given to
understand that these situations are quite competitive, and the ladies are nice
to one another only up to a point.
Everyone on the tour was depleted,
hungry and tired well before the bus was to leave. Eventually we boarded the bus, and it took us
to the ship for the last night’s dinner.
Dinner was terrific, but then came the task of finishing packing our
luggage, which had to be out in the hall by 10 p.m., where it would be picked
up and taken ashore to a designated area in the customs shed. There we could pick up our bags next morning. We were happy and sad to be leaving the
Nautica and its professional and kindly crew.
We were also eager to take on the rest of our Dubai holiday.
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