أهلاً وسهلاً / ahlan wa sahlan, Arabic; be at ease, be at home
Dubai / a stopover that became a place I chose
VISITED
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I have been here.
United KingdomCities
- Deira & the Creek The old city, wooden abras across the water, the spice and gold souks behind.
- Al Fahidi (Bastakiya) Wind-tower houses and sand-coloured lanes; the quarter that still remembers the desert.
- Downtown The Burj Khalifa, the fountain, and a mall roughly the size of a town.
- Abu Dhabi A day trip south, the Grand Mosque, and the Louvre's desert cousin under its dome.
The table
- Dates & Arabic coffee Gahwa, cardamom-heavy, poured small; how a room says welcome.
- A shawarma, late The honest, two-in-the-morning kind, off a corner counter.
- Machboos Spiced rice and slow meat, the Gulf's answer to a Sunday lunch.
- Luqaimat Little fried dumplings drowned in date syrup.
Saved pins
- The Dubai Mall & Fountain ↗ Yes, it's a lot. Go at dusk when the fountain runs and the tower lights up.
- The Gold & Spice Souks, Deira Cross by abra for a dirham; haggle for something you don't need.
- Al Fahidi Historical District Coffee in a courtyard under a wind tower; the calm the towers are built on.
My note
Dubai began as a stop between London and Lagos. One layover became a few days, then it became somewhere I would choose to visit on purpose.
The door uses a mashrabiya screen, built to let air through while holding back the glare. The chime borrows its plucked sound from an oud and looks towards the old creek rather than the glass towers.