Sheik Zayed Mosque

We're down to crunch time here in Dubai. With less than a week left I still have to write my final report on all of the sites we have visited, study for a final, and prepare our final presentation. I will try to write one or two more posts before I come back to the US.

Earlier this week we went to the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. It is the largest mosque in the UAE and one of the ten largest in the world. The brilliant white marble of the mosque makes really makes it stick out from the high rises of the city. At each of the four corners stands a towering minaret so people in every direction can hear the call to prayer over the sounds of the city. The balconies and domed tops of the minarets are accented with actual gold leaf. Likewise, the many domes on top of the mosque itself are crowned with gold spires ended in shining gold crescents.

Three of these domes are over the main prayer area which contains the world's largest and probably more colorful rug. A giant chandelier is suspended from the central dome. The prayer area can outside to a giant courtyard for holidays and special services. The entire courtyard is white marble with flowers of different colored marble inlaid. Surrounding the courtyard are long, covered walkways. The roofs of these walkways are a line of domes all decorated differently but all accented in gold leaf. Supporting the roof are hundreds of columns carved to look like palm trees. More gold leaf covers the leaves of the trees.

All of the artwork is a strikingly different from the cathedrals in Italy. There are no frescoes of Dante's decent into the Inferno or images of God creating Adam like in the Sistine Chapel, but the mosque was equally as impressive. Islam forbids Allah to be depicted in human form so all of the paintings and carvings are of flowers or Arabic script. Arabic is a beautiful language to see the way they use it as art. Inside the mosque all of Allah's ninety-nine names are depicted on the walls. Many of the domes were also decorated in script. The mosque was more impressive than some of the luxury hotels we've been able to see.

Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque

One of the larger domes in the mosque

Courtyard mosaic

Courtyard walkway

Arabic Script

Rolex Tower

By now we have seen all of DCC’s ongoing projects. There is a sprawling island development on the Palm Jumeirah which includes over thirty $10 million villas and three, twelve-story apartment buildings. We have toured a fifty story luxury hotel and office building and we have seen six other projects in three cities and two countries. Out of all of those projects, the Rolex Tower is my favorite.

The Rolex Tower is a 62 story tower on the main road of Dubai, Sheik Zayed Road. The tower stands out from the rest with its simple glass exterior which alternates between light and dark green. A large rectangular section of the building is missing from the top few stories to allow more natural light in.

Most of the apartments were really impressive but it was the penthouses that made the Rolex Tower my favorite. Located on the 59^th and 60^th floors, each penthouse has amazing views of the entire city from every side. Even the bathrooms look down on the cities. One of the penthouses even has its own private pool as big as the pool for the rest of the apartments…combined. The maid’s quarters are almost as big as the apartment we’re staying in.

Rolex Tower

Foyer of one of the Penthouses

Master Bathroom

Atlantis

Finally had a day off yesterday. Everyone got to sleep in for the first time in weeks. After lunch all of the Syracuse students went to Atlantis Resort to the Aquaventure water park. Atlantis is out on the end of the Palm islands so there are spectacular views in all directions. From one side you can look off into the Arabian Gulf and see the World Islands. The water is so blue here but the air is so warm it heats the water up so it is never refreshing. All of the pools are chilled instead of heated. On the other side you can see the entire skyline of Dubai. You can see the Burj Khalifa towering over every other building, the Burj al Arab, and all of the hotels along the beach stretching for miles.

At the park we spent most of the day floating down the lazy river on tubes. There are also seven slides coming out of a ziggurat in the center of the park. Most of them you go down on tubes but there is one 100 foot slide you go down on your back. It is basically straight down. When you're standing in line you can see people lay down and push themselves forward and then they just disappear. The slide runs through a sting ray tank but you're going so fast and there is so much water spraying your face that you can't see it.

Wednesday we immersed ourselves in the culture of Dubai. We took a trip to the Gold Souk or open-air market for some bartering. As soon as we walked into the area we were approached by all sorts of guys trying to sell us fake Rolex's. Of course we couldn't pass up the opportunity so we followed these guys down back alleys, not one of the brightest ideas, into sketchy apartments where they have rooms full of stolen and knock-off watches, purses, and clothes. They are all really nervous and have cameras set up in the rooms to watch for cops. It's a lot of fun to bargain with these guys. They start off at ridiculous prices and then hand you a calculator to name your price. They usually laugh in your face until you start leaving. I talked one guy down to 150 Dirhams for a Tag Heuer from 400.

It's back to work for me but I will post some more later to make up for all of the days I missed.

Tom

Mosque in Amman, Jordan.

Roman amphitheater in Jerash

Petra

The Jordan River dividing Jordan and Israel