Sky high in Dubai

Garry and I have finally made it back to Dubai.  Our first visit to this Middle Eastern metropolis was Christmas 2007.  At the time the city was smothered by a forest of construction cranes.  We were curious to what how this building frenzy has transformed the landscape nine years later.

Our stop in Dubai was brief.  It was literally a weekend transit as we made our way to Nuremberg for the world’s largest wholesale Toy Fair.  When were last here the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, was still under construction, the world’s largest Mall was still a tangled mass of steel beams and the first metro rail line was still a year away from completion.

We flew to Dubai on the uber-comfortable Airbus A380 courtesy of Qantas. Garry and I love these giant planes.  Despite numerous flights over the years we still marvel at their effortless, whisper-quiet take-off.  However, despite the comfortable journey, our arrival shortly before 1:00am was a rather exhausting affair.  Thank goodness an airport transfer car was waiting for us when we finally exited the Arrival Hall.

We stayed at Sheraton Hotel on Dubai Creek, just a few hundred metres upstream from where we’d based ourselves in 2007.  Dubai is a rather soulless place, filled with shiny glass towers that spring from rather drab dusty surroundings.  However, the old town and the creek that runs alongside it are the rare exceptions.  This broad, curving waterway provides a wonderfully refreshing and tranquil vista - both day and night. 

We filled our first afternoon in town with a visit to Burj Khalifa.  At 829.8 metres (2,722 ft) its height exceeds anything erected in all of human history.  For many years the CN Tower in Toronto was the world’s tallest free-standing structure, while Taipei 101 was the world’s tallest skyscraper.  However, Dubai was determined to beat them all – which it did in spectacular style. 

When it opened the Burj Khalifa broke every conceivable height record for a man-made structure, surpassing even the most flimsy of guy-masted transmission towers scattered across the mid-western plains of the USA.  When it opened on January 4, 2010, it also boasted the world’s highest observation deck. This was our first destination of the day.

SKY level is located on the 148th floor, a mere 555 metres above the surrounding area.  Its curving wall of windows offers what can only be described as a truly bird’s eye view of Dubai and the Persian Gulf.  The observatory also offers a small outdoor deck where you can literally feel the wind whistle through your hair almost half a kilometre into the sky.

As is typical of so many things in Dubai; tickets to the 124^th floor cost an eye-watering sum. However, the locals attempt to justify this with a few exclusive VIP touches. For example, we skipped the painfully slow queues snaking their way to the ticket counter and on towards the elevators.  We were entertained with coffee and dates while our tickets were validated.  Then, when we finally arrived at the observatory, we were greeted by waiters welding trays of delicious canapés and flutes of champagne.

As for the view?  Well, you’re soaring so far above anything else that it's honestly difficult to appreciate just how high you really are.  In fact, when you look up from the outdoor observation deck and see the building climb another 270 metres into the sky you could be forgiven for thinking you’re still on the ground.

In fact, the building height doesn’t become apparent until you descend to the lower observation deck, At the Top.  This larger observation platform is located a more modest 452 m (1,483 ft) above the ground.  However, you suddenly notice how much larger the same objects appear when you’re 100 metres closer to them.  Only then does the building’s incredible height start to unveil itself.

Having conquered the world’s tallest building, our next stop was the world’s largest mall, conveniently located at the base of Burj Khalifa.  This building is huge.  Four levels of stores work their way around the four sides of a square. It literally takes 15-20 minutes to complete a circuit on each level without stopping. The building boasts two indoor waterfalls that soar three floors, an ice-skating rink and a full-scale walk-through aquarium.

Garry and I spent most of our time shopping for comfortable shoes to get us through six days of wandering the exhibition halls in Nuremberg.  We eventually found our perfect footwear – only to discover we’d both picked up the same pair of shoes displayed at opposite ends of the store.  After a brief debate, we decided that comfort was always going win the day over cheesy “twin dressing”.  We left the store with identical shoes.

Our final day in Dubai was spent largely working from our hotel room.  We had a lot of paperwork to catch up on before we headed to Germany. However, we did break from our routine to walk the Creek waterfront where a flotilla of traditional dhows is still loaded and unloaded each day by hand.

Life in the Dead Sea

The final day of our organised tour through Jordan was spent visiting the Roman ruins in nearby Jerash, before heading off for a refreshing swim in the Dead Sea. Jerash was another awe-inspiring archaeological site. This city and its surrounding area have been inhabited since the Bronze Age. These days, on the edge of the modern city, you’ll find the remains of the Roman settlement of Gerasa. They're some of the world’s largest and best-preserved Roman ruins outside of Italy.

During its prime, historians estimate that Jerash had a population of 20,000. However, the city fell into decline during the 3rd century. It suffered several brutal invasions, first by the Persians and then by the Muslims. It was also devastated by multiple earthquakes, including a major quake in AD749 and a second two years later. The city was eventually abandoned.

Since 1925, the ruins have been progressively excavated and extensively studied. Today they’re a popular tourist attraction second only to Petra. We spent several hours exploring ancient Jersah from one end to the other. Sights that captivated us included the magnificent triumphal arch erected to commemorate a visit by Emperor Hadrian, rows of Corinthian columns in the Temple of Artemis, and an enormous oval Forum encircled by marble columns. It’s hard to comprehend that these ruins are considered relatively modern when compared with those in neighbouring Egypt.

The Dead Sea is quite something. The concentration of salt is such that you literally float on the surface of the water rather than sink into its depths. The sensation is unbelievable...and the salty brine eats at every nick and cut on your skin.

The salt crystals that precipitate on the shore are just as unreal. They form enormous rocks with deadly sharp edges that are surprisingly heavy. You can see me examining a relatively small crystal rock below. Trust me, it's not something you'd want to tread on while swimming.

Our last day in Jordan was spent wandering the city of Amman. The city is home to more than two million people and spreads itself across a series of ravines, or wadis, and hills referred to locally as citadels. We spent time exploring some of its Roman ruins. This included the Roman Theatre, a restored 6,000-seat amphitheatre; the forlorn Temple of Hercules standing guard on a nearby hilltop; and the temple's neighbour, the dome-capped Umayyad Palace, a largely ruined Islamic complex.

I was surprised to learn that despite these ruins, Amman is a relatively modern city. Over the centuries it has been abandoned and resettled several times. In more recent times, it was a relatively modest village until the Ottoman Empire began construction of the Hejaz Railway linking Damascus to Medina. The railway transformed the city almost overnight from a sleepy town of less than ten thousand to the sprawling metropolis it is today.

As we sat in the Roman Theatre, on our final evening in the Middle East, we reflected on two months of non-stop travel across three continents. We'd ticked so many things off our bucket list and experienced so much more than we could have imagined. I doubt we’ll ever do anything quite like it again. On December 13, Garry and I flew out of Amman ready to begin our new life in London.

UPDATE

Here's a little more about our time in the Middle East. One of our tour friends sent me some of her favourite photos.

The promised land

After visiting Petra we travelled up the King's Way, visiting Kerak Castle and the incredible floor mosaics of Madaba. Kerak Castle was our first stop of the day. As you approach Kerak, you're greeted by the striking silhouette of its Crusader castle towering over the surrounding Wadi Mujib Valley.

The castle was first built during the Crusader era in 1142 by Pagan the Butler, a Crusader lord from France. It was initially constructed as a small fortification to protect the area from Muslim forces. Over time, it grew into a much larger structure with multiple towers and walls designed to protect the city from attack.

Our group spent more than an hour exploring its numerous crumbling ramparts and dark maze of stone-vaulted halls and passageways. Hopefully, the images below give you a feel for the scale of this massive structure. I pulled the final image from the internet as all of the summit profiles I took from the bus were motion blurred.

Madaba proved to be an unexpected highlight. Its claim to fame is a series of stunning floor mosaics preserved throughout the town. The most famous of these is on the floor of St George's Chapel, an early Byzantine church sitting in the middle of town. 

The chapel floor includes a mosaic map of the Holy Lands, with a particular focus on Jerusalem. The Madaba Map as it's known, is the world's oldest known geographic floor mosaic. The first image below shows the Nile River delta. In the middle image, Jerusalem is represented by the oval section in the lower right, while the Dead Sea sits in the top right with the River Jordan flowing into it (Unfortunately, the sea is out of focus.).

Our group was given a rather brief, and all too hasty, tour of the main chapel before going for lunch. However, I was determined to see more of Madaba's mosaics. I decided to skip lunch and walked to a nearby museum called, oddly enough, the Archeological Park. The detour was well worth it.

The museum displays mosaics from a 6th-Century Byzantine villa that once stood in the same location, along with mosaics recovered from other sites around town. There was hardly anyone there when I walked in the door. A departing visitor recommended tipping the curator for an extra excursion. I followed their advice. After a little baksheesh exchanged hands, the friendly man took me on a personal tour of the site, including a close-up view of several impressive mosaics behind locked gates.

We finished our long day of travel with a stop at Mount Nebo. Here you can see the Dead Sea shimmering in the distance with the Jordan Valley disappearing out into a dusty haze. It's a surreal experience to stand where Moses stood surveying the same vista he saw 3000 years ago.

Mount Nebo is the place where Moses was granted a view of the Promised Land by the Lord before his death. Hence, as you'd expect, the ridge is crowned by an old chapel and a rather sculptural metallic cross. The chapel, while relatively modest, contained another series of impressive floor mosaics. 

I was surprised to see how many African animals were depicted. The menagerie included ostriches, antelopes, zebras, and other exotic creatures. It was another reminder of how Palestine has long been at the crossroads of human history

Follow this link as we take a dip in the Dead Sea.