New Year in Dubai
I lived at the Eurika Hotel from 12/27/2011 to 01/02/2012. I was aware that this is a modest hotel after reading all the reviews, so there were no disappointments. I have been traveling to the UAE for a long time, because of the beach holidays I always took Sharjah 4 *, but I wanted to live in Dubai, see everything newly built: Burj Khalifa, metro, fountains.
Cost of the trip: Transaero business class flight there, economy return, visa, tour - 21000, a good price, taking into account the New Year holidays.
Hotel: modest, but everything for life is there: clean, tidy, cleaning, change of linen every day. By the time I arrived from the beach, my room was always cleaned (with or without a tip, no difference). In the room: electronic safe, TV, hair dryer. There is no tea set, you need to take a kettle.
Food: I liked it: healthy food, nothing harmful, always fresh, hot, replenished on time. For breakfast, very good coffee is brewed, oatmeal or rice porridge with milk, a second course, jam, honey, toast. At lunch, amazingly delicious cream soups, different every day, one salad (there was even a vinaigrette), meat or fish, tea and coffee at lunch, for a fee. Rice is very tasty in the UAE: crumbly, rice grains are long, snow-white, in our stores they sell some kind of everything broken.
City beach in Al-Mamzar park. The park is huge and well maintained. Clean toilets. There are no changing rooms. On weekends, locals come to relax with their families, they bring meat, coal, and places for barbecues and barbecues are equipped in the park. The beach is huge, you can choose the lagoon to your liking. About the sea: Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Arabian Gulf: clean, warm, salty, gradual setting, the sand at the bottom is hard as asphalt, there were small waves, you don’t want to leave such a sea!
The staff at the hotel are friendly, smiling, responded to requests and helped.
Excursions: most of the excursions I took before more than once. This time - a safari to the desert, everything went fine according to the usual scheme: arrival, riding on the dunes, a photo against the backdrop of sunset, did not ride quad bikes, then tea, coffee, sweets, I liked the Falafel sandwich - these were snacks . Desert: the sand is very fine, like dust, there is still vegetation - all kinds of bushes. When we were driving along the edge of the dune, I saw a picture below: a small camel is sitting under a bush, SO PRETTY! I wanted to get out of the car and squeeze him... The people - darkness. Tourists from everywhere - Korea, Italy, India, Britain, Georgia, there are plenty of locals (they also need to rest somewhere). Arabic dances, of course, performed by girls from the post-Soviet space, I really liked how the spinning men danced in skirts, in a variety of ways, with objects, with illuminated clothes - a bewitching sight. Well, the buffet also pleased - delicious and women, as before, without a queue.
Dubai: I liked everything: a modern, clean metro, we went to the Dubai Mall to see the Burj Khalifa and the fountain show. The ticket was taken from the cashier in the gold class, the first carriage with leather seats. The subway is computer controlled, so there is no driver. The platform is separated from the platform by automatic doors that open together with the car doors. The car is divided by a door into 2 halves - the second half is for women, if you do not want to ride with men. We drove back in a simple class - the seats were occupied, one was free and the Indian standing next to me pointed to him and said to sit down. In general, the attitude towards a woman is pleasing, often in supermarkets at the checkout the cashier invited the men standing closer to come forward. A lot has been written about Burj Khalifa and fountains, I won’t repeat it - it’s gorgeous, worthy of respect. Having previously observed the process of building the Burj Khalifa, I, as a builder, was filled with respect: a forest of cranes was installed on the building, what kind of work organization should be in order for them to work smoothly... In general, I admire the grandiose construction site in the UAE and their ambitious projects that are being implemented projects.
They went to the Al Karama market, from fake brands of very good quality Louis Vueton bags, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, etc. Prices are 5-10 thousand, probably it will be less when bargaining, I don’t know, because didn't buy them. Car parking - under houses, houses on columns. There are several parking lots inside the quarter, signs are with the distance to them. Pedestrian crossings are paved with tiles and raised above the level of the road and are a continuation of the level of the sidewalk. Thus, a kind of speed bump is formed and cars do not run into a red light on a zebra, and a pedestrian does not step down onto the road (as we do in the rain in an ankle-deep puddle). Everything is for people, a lot has already been written about air-conditioned stops. Otherwise, we walked around the city, ate and drank in cafes, the atmosphere is idle, warm, there are a lot of people on the streets until 2 am, shops, cafes, restaurants are open. From the restaurants we chose the Golden Fork, Avtomatik, Safadi. I really liked the restaurant "Damascus", a little further than Al Riggi, prices are lower, delicious, amazing hot hollow buns inside, which a special person added to the basket as they were eaten.
New Year: celebrated at the Marco Polo Hotel, cost $150. DJ, dancing, drinks, alcohol, show program (girls danced), several competitions. The buffet was very plentiful, tasty, varied, a lot of meat, hot and cold snacks, seafood, the most delicate desserts, watermelon, melon, fruit, strawberry smoothies in thin cups, everything was beautifully served. The waiters, young Indians, made me laugh: next to me, a couple ordered two white wines: they brought two shots of vodka, they told him it was not right, they repeated: two wines, leaves, brings... two glasses of vodka. They brought our waitress girl, she fixed everything. Stereotypes about us work.
Much has been written about shopping malls, I will not repeat it. There is a good Indian supermarket not far from Al-Rigga metro station, I bought obligatory dates there. In the City Center I bought a kilogram of arugula and mint for only 80 rubles, they are not sold on frail yellow substrates like ours, but in tied bundles, everything is fresh, it costs a penny for our money, which is surprising, it also does not grow there, why are we so expensive? Another Australian mango - large, red-yellow, juicy, I also like their pistachios not salted, but poured with lemon juice.
My new year was a success! The first time I met among the sun, palm trees, wonderful, magical sea, oriental exoticism, and was happy. For a long time I still could not switch and "was there. " Thank you Emirates, I love you!