Dubai Food and Fun

A week ago, my parents arrived in the UAE. We are now in Al Ain enjoying the relative calm of a Friday in the garden city. We’ve had a busy, fun and relaxing first week.

The first full day of our travels, Saturday, was a low-key day. We started the day with a Mother/Daughter spa morning. We then went to Madinat Jumeriah to take in the fancy shops and the nice views of the Burj al Arab.

Burj al Arab from Madinat Jumeriah.

After lunching and shopping around a bit, we headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for our evening plans. In the late afternoon we headed to the Mall of the Emirates to see the sights in the mall before heading off on a Dubai food tour. The mall was packed, I have not seen a mall that busy since Ramadan. But my parents got to take in Ski Dubai and some of the more high-end shops that can be found in Mall of the Emirates.

VIP parking at Mall of the Emirates. It appeared that many Saudi princes were in town.

But the highlight of this first day was our “Arabian Foodie Food Pilgrimage” with Frying Pan Adventures. Arva, our guide and food blogger, took us around “old Dubai” (the Deira area) and we sampled some delicious food from all over the Middle East. My personal favorites were the falafel and the baklava. It was a very interesting night. I learned so much about Middle Eastern food and what I like and don’t like. Plus it was fun. We had a great group and our guide, Arva, was awesome. She was knowledgeable and professional and really knows how to find some good food!

Delicious falafel and hummus.

Lovely sweets!

On Sunday we visited the souqs in Dubai. Gold, spices, and fakes. After visiting the gold and spice souqs, we took an abra ride across Dubai Creek, sat in a shaded patio and enjoyed some fresh juice in the Bastakia quarter. Then we went to Karama hoping to find some sweet deals on some good fakes. We didn’t find any fakes to buy, but we did get to go to a “secret room” to shop. The “secret room” was really the only reason I wanted to take my parents there, so I was glad we got to visit one.

I love this indigo!

Monday was a big day of “architecture.” We started the day at Umm Suqeim beach, with great views of the Burj al Arab. We then went out to Palm Jumeriah to visit the Atlantis hotel and ride the monorail.

Later that night we headed to Dubai Mall for dinner, dessert and the Burj Khalifa. Of course the highlight was going up into the Burj Khalifa and taking in the sights of Dubai. After coming down from the “top of the world” we headed off for some shopping and finally landed at Paul Bakery for dessert.

The next day we walked around the Dubai Marina and then checked out of our hotel and headed to Fujairah.

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