Doin’ Dubai . . .Differently

I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder 

than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything.

                              -- Bill Bryson

Maybe that is why we ended up liking Dubai.  

Skyline from freeway interchange - Dubai

We’d once had a four-hour layover in Dubai and saw nothing more than an airport concourse. It was interesting, but still, just another airport.  

Reviews from traveling friends were mixed: love it or hate it, but there would be no in-between. Or so it seemed, before we arrived on a bright December day aboard the Celebrity Constellation. Our itinerary called for an overnight stay in this high-rise mecca of modernity and opulence.

A Marina Bay Sands like that in Singapore is under construction - Dubai

That’s the sum of what I knew about Dubai when the ship docked.  The city was waiting to be explored.

The one thing I knew I wouldn’t do while there would be to travel to the top of its tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, which at 828 meters (2,717 feet) and 161 floors, is the tallest building in the world. A trip to its top can be done for a price, a rather hefty price for an elevator ride at that. (It is that spire building in the photo above.) My dislike of small enclosed spaces -- like elevators -- and heights like this tallest building in the world, removed that outing from the ‘to do’ list. 

And neither of us were too excited about visiting ‘the Dubai Mall’ (its the one with the aquareum in it and and ice skating rink). It is also one of 73 malls at last count in the city.

Hop on, Hop off tour bus - Dubai

With nothing in particular in mind to see we opted for a Big Bus, hop-on, hop-off tour of the town. The bus company wisely has started serving the cruise port here, so we could walk off the ship and board the bus.

It might have been the best cruise-tour decision we could have made as it gave us independence to stop where we wanted and provided a full-day’s overview of this rapidly expanding city.  (They offered two-day packages as well and one that included a trip to neighboring Abu Dhabi, located just down the road and across the desert.

Traffic, traffic everywhere

Our tour guides -- real humans -- provided lots of tidbits of information:

We were cautioned not to take photos of government buildings, military establishments, airport or cruise ports (too late for the latter when you arrive on a cruise ship). 

We were told not to take photos of Emirati (those wearing traditional dress) without their permission and certainly not to take photos of policemen; unless they were near their new fleet of cars which includes Maseratis, Jaguars, and Ferraris (in which case the officer would likely agree to a photo by the car if permission was asked first).

Among the things we learned is that of more than 2.5 million people in Dubai only 15 percent are Emirati.  The remaining 85 percent are ex pat and migrant workers.  Of those folks 71% are Asian (the majority coming from India). 

While oil production is credited with putting this area, settled by the Bani Yas tribe back in 1833, ‘on the map’; today oil production makes up less than 5 percent of its gross national income.

What a difference a decade or two makes - Dubai

The tribe settled along what is called Dubai Creek, although the ancient Greeks called it the River Zara. Back in the 30’s and 40’s the cityscape looked like the poster above and its main industry was pearl diving.

The Old Souk, once called the Textile Souk

Old Dubai, that which was constructed in the mid-20th Century, is clustered around that creek and its old skyline has been preserved by city codes forbidding major changes in building height and design. It was this old area that we liked best.

Textile vendors line the streets near the Old Souk

It is still home to a very active souk, once called the textile souk for good reason we learned as we explored its side streets.

We dined

We dined at a restaurant Bayt Al Wakeel, overlooking Dubai Creek. The meze plate was delicious and the setting spectacular as the restaurant is housed in the building constructed in 1935 to serve as the headquarters of the Gray MacKenzie shipping company. The bottom of the building was the shipping company office and the manager and family lived upstairs.

From the table we sat at on the wooden porch extending over the creek we watched the marine traffic that plies the water, hauling goods and people from one point to another.

The wooden dhow transports tourists as part of the Big Bus tour

We joined other visitors on the dhow pictured above and spent an hour traveling the creek as part of the Big Bus tour.

Water taxis shuttled people back and forth across the creek

We also rode one of the many water taxis, a cheap way to get to locations along the waterway.

This area of the city seemed a bit more real than the high-rise area

A kaledescope of scenes from the working ships and live aboards to those a bit more opulent:

It would have been fun to see this one's interior 

It was also fun to see the city from the water as our dhow took us between the old and the new areas.

Scenes along Dubai Creek

Dubai, we’ve decided, may not be a place we’d rush back to as we would to Abu Dhabi or Muscat, Oman (both were also ports of call on this cruise) but a cruise stop was an excellent way to see this Middle Eastern megalopolis.

Cruise passengers were welcomed with long stemmed red roses - Dubai

I suppose I technically wasn't supposed to take the photo above, as you recall, no photos in the port. But when the welcome is warm and the place worth remembering, I'll risk a reprimand for taking a photo (there wasn't any, btw)

Thanks so much for the time you spent with us in this port of call. When we left Dubai we headed for the Gulf of Hormuz and then the Arabian Sea and our next ports of call on India's west coast. Hope you’ll join us as we explore those cities in future posts.

Safe travels to you and yours.

Linking with:

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Greece: A Winter’s Day ~ An ‘Errand’ Outing

Wisdom comes with winters.

    -- Oscar Wilde

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: now that we've been here for two winters, I can assure you that we do have winter in Greece.

This year has been a poster child for winter with snow falling throughout the northern half of Greece while the rest of us were bombarded by cold temperatures, hail that turned nearby beaches white and rain. Lots and lots of rain. . .and wind. Lots and lots of wind.

This country – a playground for sun and sand seekers – proved again that it can also a winter wonderland.

A walk on a winter's day

As I wrote this post a week ago, snow was falling in northern Greece. It dusted our surrounding mountain tops but didn’t reach our home. The taller peaks of the Taygetos Mountains which border our Mani region are definitely snow covered while the lower hills look like they’ve been dusted with powdered sugar. For a few days our temperatures ranged from 4C to 8C (high 30’sF – mid-40’sF).

The Stone House on the Hill sits below a dusted mountain range

With no snow on the ground we were able to get out and about to run errands or rendezvous with friends.  Sometimes we went to the local coffee shop for a cappuccino, sipped by their toasty fireplace. Many times we simply stay at home listening to the wind howl and watching the rain fall.

Winters are wet at times in The Mani

It is those incredibly nasty days that make us appreciate the other winter days when Mother Nature  turns on her charm. On those days, temperatures shoot towards  60F’s. And it is on those days when we set off to run a most routine errand -- like depositing our garbage in the community bins or buying groceries -- that we can’t resist the temptation of what I call an ‘errand outing’.  

It is amazing how much fun an ‘errand outing’ -- almost a miniature staycation -- can be. And we probably should have done more of them in our Pacific Northwest when we lived there, but traffic congestion and windows of travel time always seemed to take the edge off such spontaneous outings.
Here, with no traffic and a new world to explore, we simply set off. . .like the day we drove around the bend to the village at the end of the road:

On a winter's day in The Mani. . .

I’ve recently been reading of high-priced travel destinations designed so that the traveler can  ‘tune out and turn off'; simply disconnect for a bit of time. No cell phones, television or computers.  Lots of walks and time spent outside.  'Time to reconnect with yourself. Slowing down your pace,' are the marketing hooks used to lure guests.
 
If  those people signing up for those getaways read this blog, they’d know they could have the same experience by running errands in rural Greece. . .we leave the phone in the car, turn off the computer and don’t own a television: instant, easy and cheap disconnect!

New paths to explore on an errand outing

On those spring-like winter days like the one that prompted us to take this outing, we’ve explored the villages around us. It is amazing what you can find in your ‘own backyard’ if you simply give yourself permission to get out and enjoy it instead of being tied to a self-created ‘to do’ list.

What would we do with this place if we owned it?

The photos in this post come from an outing we took to a village, quite literally at the end of the road. It  is one of those almost-deserted villages that you read about in the mainstream media. The ones where the young people have left, leaving a couple dozen full-time residents most of the year and less than a dozen in winter. Families return for August summer vacations or other holidays – and then the place comes to life.  While many of the homes are sporting new paint and plants, some sit forlornly abandoned.

Imaginations soar  in village settings. . .

We find our imaginations working overtime as we wander through the village on its narrow foot passageways that lead to and past ages-old stone homes; the towering gray stone structures typical of the architecture found in this area. We ponder the history of the village and wonder how it must have been back when the olive press was operating here. . .how many stores and restaurants did it have operating? Ships, we’ve read, used to sail from the small harbor here bound for Kalamata and other ports of call.

When we are lucky enough to happen upon a bench we do as A.A. Milne's famous quote says. . .

'Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits...' 

Exploring our world includes sitting time

We ended this errand outing by sitting on the single bench that overlooks the town and harbor. The sun was warm on our flannel shirts, it was a reminder that winter will soon be drawing to a close. Spring can’t be far away.

Errand outings are easily accomplished. They can be a long or short as you want them to be and require no advance planning.   Now that I’ve planted the seed,  are tere some places near you that you’ve been thinking of exploring that would make for a perfect as an errand outing?

Let us know in the comments below or shoot us an email.  Where ever your travels take you ~ enjoy! Thanks so much for the time you spend with us here!  We’ll have a few more tales of our Arabian nights coming next week - hope you'll join us then!

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A Magic Carpet Ride ~ Through the Grand Mosque

It could have come from one of Scheherazade’s tales. . .dusk had turned the Mosque into a fairy tale structure. At one point we stepped out of the tide of humanity flowing through this enormous ediface, found ourselves a corner and took a moment to savor the overwhelming magic of this fanciful place.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi

On a late Friday afternoon we were among thousands inside Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque; the largest mosque in the United Arab Emirates and the eighth largest such place in the world. In my mind we’d just hopped aboard a magic carpet ride into a world far removed from the one in which we live.

Reflecting pools at sunset - Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi

It is simply that kind of mind-boggling place. And to think we almost skipped it!

Dusk gave a most exotic feel to the experience

We’d arrived in Abu Dhabi on a Thursday evening for our cruise departing on a Saturday. We planned to see as much as we could of this young and rapidly expanding city on the single day we’d given ourselves for exploration.

Friday, though, is a Holy Day in the Muslim world. The Mosque was closed to visitors until 4 p.m.  So we spent the day exploring other parts the city and almost decided against making the effort (a sizeable taxi ride from our downtown hotel and back) to visit the place.

We’d seen mosques before, right?
Wrong. We’d not seen anything like this before.

Luckily the travel gods gave us that unexplained nudge and we decided we couldn't miss the Mosque.  The taxi dropped us off at a far gate at 5 p.m. and by then the place was crawling with people – the faithful and the tourist had blended together to experience this holy site.

Strict dress codes and behavior codes apply when visiting

At the entry The Scout was directed to the doorway for males while I entered through a door for women only. Dress code is strict. My exposed ankles and wrists got me herded into a walk-in closet (with many other women) for a complimentary abayas issued to those of us not covering enough of our bodies.  My abaya, I think would have been quite comfortable had I not had a full set of clothes on under it. And it was far too big (one size does not fit all). To be able to walk I hiked it up so that the same amount of ankle was showing as before.  While I certainly wasn't opposed to wearing it, I have to admit as I lifted the hood, I wondered how many others had worn this garment since it had last been washed.

Shoes are not to be worn by any visitor and pairs are left on massive shoe racks at the entry to the building. I always marvel that they are still there when we return.

So properly attired, we were off.  Hop aboard our magic carpet and I’ll tell you a bit of what we learned about the Grand Mosque:

The inlaid marble floors of the courtyard were stunning

The massive structure was built at the direction of Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the United Arab Emirates.  Construction began in 1996 and it was finished in 2007.  The construction cost was 2.5 billion UAE dirham or 700 million US dollars.
Sheik Zayed, died in 2004 at age 86, and is buried here.

More intricate inlaid work in the walls 

More than 3,000 workers and 38 contracting firms from around the world were involved in the project. Materials were imported from Pakistan Iran, Morocco, Germany and a host of other countries.

Chandeliers were stunning

While the Mosque can accommodate 41,000, its main hall can accommodate 7,000. The visiting hordes of which we were a part, were not allowed on the carpet in the main hall; we walked to its side. It is the largest hand-knotted carpet in the world. It took 1,300 crafts persons two years to complete the work and then it took two months to transport it from Iran.

I should have taken photos of that magnificent carpet but it was the seven chandeliers which caught my eye and of which I couldn’t take enough photos.

Chandelier Grand Mosque Abu Dhabi

And I couldn’t decide which of them I liked best.

This may have been my favorite chandelier

But then I turned and saw the stained glass . . .click, click, click went the camera shutter.

Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi

And again found myself trying to decide which was more magnificent.

Window overlooking a garden area - Grand Mosque Abu Dhabi

There is nothing that compares with the call to prayer in a Muslim city. It wafts through the air in much the same manner as church bells ring out across our towns in Greece.  The echoing human voice just adds to the exotic feel. We were lucky enough to be visiting here at dusk when the call to prayer seemed to reverberate off the walls. It was a travel moment to remember!

The Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi

It was a perfect way to end a whirlwind tour of the city and was a great introduction to other sites we'd be seeing after we set sail on the Persian Gulf. You'll have to come back next week for my next tale of Arabian adventure. It was pretty amazing to have Iran on our north and the Saudi Arabian peninsula to our south as we headed out!

See you next week and  thanks again for your time today. We look forward to hearing from you and having you with us. Safe travels to you and yours ~

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Greek Life ~ Our Trip Around the Sun

No, you never see it comin', always wind up wonderin' where it went
Only time will tell if it was time well spent
It's another revelation, celebrating what I should have done
With these souvenirs of my trip around the sun  

                -- Jimmy Buffett, lyrics, Trip Around the Sun

Our village, Agios Nikolaos

Several times in the last few days we’ve remarked, ‘This winter certainly isn’t like last. . .’ or ‘Last year . . .” comparing the weather, or state of the garden or happenings in the village.  And each time, I’ve thought how amazing it seems that we’ve completed our first trip around the sun living in Greece; fulfilling the challenge we gave ourselves to ‘live differently’ while we were still able.

The Stone House on the Hill

In our case, for you new readers, that means in a home at the edge of an olive grove on a hillside in Greece’s rural Peloponnese.

(For regulars here, I promise more tales of our Arabian nights will be forthcoming as I am feeling a bit like Sheherazade with more from our Arabian and Indian travels than I’ll ever be able to tell you. But as the year comes to a close it seems a time to reflect on this trip around the sun of ours and life’s souvenirs we’ve gathered along the way.)

Winter “Wonder” land

Honestly, I’m not sure if I’d have bet money we’d make it as full-time ex pats at this time last year.

Stormy seas, stormy skies, stormy day in Agios Nikolaos

We moved into full-time ex pat life just weeks before the winter storms arrived and what a winter it was!  Weekly, it seemed during the month of December, the wind whipped down the gorges of the Taygetos Mountains, howling and shrieking; a wind strong enough to knock over potted plants while rain came down in the proverbial buckets.

At the time, if we were honest, we’d have to say we wondered what had sounded so appealing about this ‘living differently in Greece’ idea. . .

For a day, sometimes two or three we’d hunker down to avoid the nasty weather in our Stone House on the Hill even though it was dark and cold thanks to power outages caused by blown transformers or downed power lines.

Even with a roaring fire in the fireplace and candles scattered about, let me tell you, you can start going stir crazy in cold, dark houses.

‘It isn’t a normal winter,’ the locals would say.

‘Haven’t had power outages like this for a decade,’ long-time ex pats would say.

‘This is driving us nuts!’  we would say.

In January – as you regulars here know – we set off for our Hawaiian timeshare life and had I not had my cats awaiting my return I might not have come back and doubt if The Scout would have resisted.

Springtime Came Early

Kalderimi near our home in the Peloponnese

By mid-February though we were reminded that most of the time our area – best known for the groves of Kalamata olives that carpet the countryside here – is downright breath-taking in the spring and luckily spring comes early!

The countryside was covered in blooms and you may recall I wrote about taking outings on the ancient kalderimi, cobble-stoned roads that were built decades ago for hooved animals that linked the villages. (They lace the countryside here and are most popular with hikers and outdoor enthusiasts., If you are considering a visit, you might want to time it to see the springtime blooms and experience these roads less traveled. )

Spring was also the time we began in earnest planting flowers and vegetables in our garden. I had visions of the harvests I would have. . .

The sunflowers towered over me. I built bamboo frames (as they do here) for the promising tomato plants. Strawberries were going to be plentiful.

I would make jam.

I’d probably have to freeze some of the tomatoes.

I’d give away potatoes.

Yes, the promise of spring. . .

And then Came Summer

And with it the realities of that Mediterranean sun. . .these photos taken in July tell the garden story. No amount of watering (morning and night) nor the addition of shade (using beach umbrellas) could save the garden.  My harvest was humbling (it’s okay, you can laugh as even I can laugh now) and is shown in the bottom photo – a few garlic, tomatoes, almonds, and potatoes.

Summer realities in the garden

By August another reality hit and that was the loss of our olive crop to the pesky dako, the olive fly that has destroyed crops in Italy and France, and now is invading Greece. We had no harvest this year, nor did many of our Greek friends. Ours is a hobby, so was disappointing, but we could almost cry for our many Greek friends who have hundreds or thousands of trees and who lost their crops on which they depend for income this year.

Reality set in back in August

Many versions of ‘why’ exist but the most often given is that Spring's warm, wet weather also nurtured the fly’s eggs and thus doomed the crops.

Hot time in the summer in the villages

Crop failures aside, summer was a wild, wacky time in the villages.  Streets closed to traffic in the evening and taverna tables filled the roadways. We are so used to our American friends never having heard of our area, that we were stunned to see the hundreds of tourists who flock here every summer from other countries.  It was hot, but it was grand!

Autumn’s Arrival – how quickly it came

By this point in our grand adventure of living differently, we’d given up the idea of being homeless in America. We’d made it for almost a year.  We realized that boomer-aged people who have money in financial institutions and medical care providers in the US, and well, who have to deal with the government (Social Security and Medicare) really need a residential address in the U.S. Greek addresses (which we don’t even have) and Greek phone numbers just don’t fit in the forms (we were square pegs trying to fit round holes).

Another adventure in living: Manson, Washington State

Autumn brought a return to the U.S. so we could move our belongings into our residence we’d purchased back in July (it can be done from Greece) in Central Washington State. For now the home will serve as a landing pad when we visit, provide that much needed address, and be our fall-back plan and destination when the time in Greece comes to an end.

Winter Comes Again

December 28, 2018 Stone House on the Hill

Winter has returned to The Mani, this place where we’ve lived while taking that trip around the sun. This year storms have been few, temperatures are mostly spring-like.
 
Our trip around the sun has been filled with making new friends and creating ‘our world’ here, continuing to learn the nuances of a new culture, struggling to learn a Greek word here and there and planning for ‘next year’.

We will be reapplying for our resident permits in the spring and if granted we can continue on as full-time residents for another three years.

And you know?  I think we just may do that!

A toast to you on solstice in Abu Dhabi at The Grand Canal

Our wishes to you all for the Happiest of New Year’s and we hope your travels – whether in real life or armchair – take you to places you’ve always dreamed of visiting.  And our thanks for coming along with us on this journey and all the others on which you’ve joined us. We appreciate the support and cheerleading when we needed it and all the  kind words and comments you’ve made along the way.

Hope to see you back here next week and bring some friends along with you!!

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Yes, Virginia . . .They Celebrate the Season

We’ve been walkin’ in a winter wonderland and rockin’ around the Christmas tree since setting out on our Middle East and India adventure nearly two weeks ago.  And that is certainly not what I expected to be telling you when we headed to Abu Dhabi on the northern coast of the Saudi peninsula!

Mural - Abu Dhabi

Over coffee one morning in Agios Nikolaos, the Greek village we call home, my American expat friend Marti and I speculated on whether or not there would be much evidence of Christmas in the Middle East. . .a place where you ski sand dunes, not snowy hillsides. Probably some on the ship, we concluded, but little elsewhere.

In a Winter Wonderland

Were we ever off base! First, it is winter in the Middle East. While we tourists from Greece (it is in the 50F back there) are basking in temperatures hovering at the low 80’s, department stores are selling coats, sweaters and woolen scarves. It is cold here for the locals.

More than once we heard the refrain playing in the malls, “Oh the weather outside is frightful, but inside it’s so delightful, let it snow, let it snow, let is snow.” And the malls had snowflakes hanging right along side banners of their ruler, the Emir.

Snowflakes in an Abu Dhabi Mall

The Festive Season

And the decorations sure looks like Christmas but here it is called The Festive Season. It comes complete with gaily decorated evergreens (Christmas trees) and even gingerbread houses.

Tree trunk goes up in Emirates Palace Hotel - Abu Dhabi

One of the largest seasonal displays we saw was under construction at the opulent Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The place showcases the Arabian culture and puts you in mind of a palace when you enter. Opening in 2005 it cost 3 billion U.S. dollars to build.

Gingerbread house construction at the Emirates Palace Hotel

The Dubai Mall, one of more than 70 shopping centers in this sprawling city, was playing holiday music and had displays up for The Festive Season as well.

The most beautiful displays we happened upon were in The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India. I could have spent a day photographing its many scenes and settings in its common areas.

Lobby Taj Mahal Hotel Mumbai

And it was so nice to see it gaily decorated! On a cruise stop three years ago we visited the hotel and there was a lovely – but somber -- memorial to those who’d been killed during the terrorist attack there in 2008. The lobby definitely felt festive this week.

Lobby of the Taj Mahal Hotel

Sailing into the Holidays

As our cruise comes to an end this week many of our fellow passengers are making plans to go home, hit the deck running and get the festivities and decorations underway.  It has been fun though enjoying those throughout the ship – no muss, no fuss for any of us!

Celebrity Constellation lobby

Festive colors, festive scene and Christmas music playing in the common areas of the ship.

Decorations on the Celebrity Constellation

We’ll be home in The Stone House on the Hill for Christmas and thankful that we had a chance to experience The Festive Season during the month of December.  Good wishes to you and yours ~ whatever your season and whatever your holiday, we hope it is magical.

May it be magical

Thanks for being with us ~ as always we appreciate your time spent here.  Next week we’ll have more tales from Arabia for you!

Linking:

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