Since last time I ate a doughnut and a burger, this time I opted for a food tour within the old town of Dubai to broaden my food horizon.

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Visiting old Dubai

The tour started at Al Khayma Heritage House in the old town of Dubai – Al Fahidi district as it is called today. To get there I got a metro day pass for around 6€ and took the metro directly from the airport until Sharaf DG station. Once in the old town, our guide explained how the settlement in Dubai came to be and what people did to survive in the desert (since Dubai doesn’t have a natural freshwater source). He told us that originally the city was heavily dependent on pearl diving, since pearls were a sought-after trading currency.

Old Dubai Food Tour

After quite a bit of research on which tour would be the best choice for my time at the stopover, I settled with the “Discover Dubai’s Creek and Street Food Souks*” from GetYourGuide.

We started our tour with a Dubai Coffee or Chai, offered in front of the heritage restaurant while we were waiting for everyone to arrive. The coffee museum was our first stop. We tried Arabic Coffee and Ethiopian Coffee to taste the difference: the Arabian Coffee was spiced with Cardamom. With the coffee we also got dates to counterbalance the bitterness with sweetness.

Back at the first stop we got a room for only the tour guests and settled on cushions on the floor around a low table. We tried samosas, flat Rogag bread with cheese, Karak tea (delicious!), Limonana (a Middle Eastern mint-lemonade) and for desert camel milk chocolate ice cream and Luqaimat, which are fried dough balls in a sugar syrup sauce.

More of old Dubai after the Food Tour

After the food, we headed to Dubai Creek to take a water taxi (an Abra boat) across the creek. On the other side, our guide Khan showed and explained the spice souk and gold souk to us, big markets that still (mostly) run as they always have, with vendors on either side of small alleys and lots of (loud) haggling going on.

We ended a tour in a spice, tea and incense shop where we got to smell and taste some of the products, without being pressured to buy something. From the souks to the next metro station (Al Ras Metro Station) it’s about a 10 minute walk, then from there you need about an hour to get back to the airport.

Der Beitrag Old Dubai Food Tour – Stopover Exploration erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.

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Flying with Emirates

When I came to the Hamburg Airport “Helmut Schmidt” at 8 PM on a Thursday the terminal hall was empty. Only about 30 travellers were waiting in the baggage lines. Coincidentally 25 of those were waiting in the same line as me. Since the airport staff had to check the final destination for every bag and if it fulfilled the requirements of all the involved airlines the waiting time was still quite long. People started talking to each other. A simple “Where are you going?” brought up a plethora of answers “Home.”, “To Dubai, I wasn’t planning on jumping out of the plane mid-flight.”, “Oman”, “Vietnam“.

Finally, one suitcase lighter, I made my way through security, walking straight through the open waiting area instead of the usual maze of barrier tape. The airport seemed deserted, even at the gate there wasn’t anyone else, not even the people I had met checking in their bags for this very flight.

What was waiting for me at the gate was this Airbus A380, the biggest passenger plane in the world. With its two seating decks and massive size, you would barely believe it will fly. This plane made a fitting start to my stopover in Dubai. The city of superlatives.

I had booked the window seat, hoping to be left alone and catch some sleep on the flight. And as the plane began to fill up, magically my row remained empty. For the first two hours of the flight, I watched a movie. The onboard entertainment system of Emirates is better than any I had ever seen before. Every passenger got earbuds and the screens were very high resolution. The movie selection was incredibly up to date, with movies that were still being shown in the cinema, amongst older ones and classics.

At about 10 pm local time, the light was dimmed and tiny LED lights on the ceiling turned on, simulating a starry sky.

The food on the plane was better than some I had had in restaurants. We were given a choice of chicken or beef. I chose the chicken option, which came with potato mash, green beans and carrots, mushroom-cream sauce, a bulgur side salad and for dessert a chocolate mousse cake with vanilla cream on top.

At the airport during your stopover in Dubai

The airport in Dubai is very easy to describe but not very easy to imagine. Try to think of a gymnastic hall, then ten times the size of it, with a marble floor and huge marble pillars lining the inside to carry the incredibly high ceiling. It is huge, modern, clean and eerily shiny. It almost looked like there was a thin film of water everywhere on the ground. It also feels very sterile:

Despite its magnitude, it’s super easy to navigate because almost everything is just straight lines.

Once outside there is a taxi area. Dubai has taxis for women only, driven by women. They are marked pink and easy to spot. However, they were not that easy to get to. The second you step outside everyone waiting there will try to get you into their taxi and beware: the nicer it looks the more expensive it will be. Keep your bag or suitcase to yourself and firmly tell them “No.” and you will be just fine.

If you don’t want to bother with the hassle of it, you can take the metro which departs directly from the airport and will take you into the main city and a day pass costs under 10€. However it doesn’t operate 24/7, so sometimes a taxi is your only choice.

At Terminal 3 between gates B13 and B19, you can have a free shower directly at the airport! Just make sure to bring an extra pair of socks to wear in the shower (smaller than slippers), as I do not recommend going in barefoot.

Must-see attractions during a stopover in Dubai

The Dubai Mall connected to this giant tower is the biggest in the world. No matter how long you stay you won’t be able to see all of it, I’d say not even people who live in Dubai have seen all of it. There are over a thousand shops, restaurants, food stalls and attractions inside. The world’s highest indoor waterfall, for example, and the Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo, which is also one of the largest aquariums in the world. And while the aquarium itself charges admission they have a several-storey high wall into one of their tanks you can see from the outside and beanbags to relax in while you watch it. There also is an Olympic-size ice rink and swimming pool and a cinema with 22 screens inside the Mall.

The gigantic fountain in the middle of its inner courtyard displays a water and music show daily, every 30 minutes, from 6 pm and is worth making time for as well.

Burj al-Arab

While it looks like it’s close to the Burj Khalifa when you are looking down onto the city, it is about 16 km (or 10 miles) away and unless you want to spend money on a suite or meal to get inside I wouldn’t recommend it for a visit during a stopover in Dubai.

Mall of Emirates

I got lost. Twice. Inside a mall. But when the mall is 230.000 square meters big, is that really that much of a surprise? The mall is a beautiful building with a mix of modern and fancy, but honestly, I couldn’t get into it. It looked like… a mall. There were stores and cafes and restaurants and entertainment but in the end, it is just a mall. Next time I’m in Dubai on a stopover I’d rather visit a market or take an excursion into the desert.

Beaches

If you leave the airport and you know you will beforehand, bring a bathing suit and a towel. I cannot tell you how relaxing and refreshing it is to jump into the ocean between flights. There are plenty of changing rooms on and near the beach where you can change in for free, as well as showers (for a fee of about 3€ for six minutes) where you can clean up after a swim. 

Every time I travel, I read up on the culture and local customs of the country I’m going to, to make sure I pack accordingly. For Dubai, I read everywhere that you should wear long pants and a long shirt, don’t show your knees or shoulders and don’t wear anything sheer even if you have something under. Then at the beach, in the metro and coffee shops, some people were in swimming trunks and bikinis, short dresses, cargo shorts, etc. So you can dress according to the weather, just ask yourself “Would I wear this in public at home” and most people will be fine.

Metro and Woman Cart

While the Dubai Metro isn’t an attraction, it is worth mentioning. It is super modern and always on time.

Maybe it’s also a thing in other parts of the world, but here in Europe, I have never seen a Woman only cart / Women only space on a tube or metro.

Not only is that part of the tube clearly marked (pink, because what else) but apparently, there is also a fine for men who even stand in it. This is very generalizing for the male population, but… well I have never felt this safe on a tube. Usually, when it’s packed, there is always a hand or a leg or a butt pressed somewhere against you, and sometimes it’s definitely intentional.

Did you visit Dubai yet or had a stopover here?

If so: What were your Impressions? Is there something I should have on my list for next time?

Der Beitrag 21-hour-long stopover in Dubai erschien zuerst auf Kaya Wanderlust.