Oct 15 - Al Ain

The first half of the day was spent on the drive from Abu Dhabi to the oasis city of Al Ain.  Along the way we say the Zayed Bridge (as we headed out of Abu Dhabi) and lots of pretty massive sand dunes.

We drove the city trying to do some sightseeing.  We did see a number of sacred ibis in a tree just as we arrived in town. 

Some things were closed but we did see the Sheikh Khalifa Mosque (drive by) that is similar in color and design, but much, much smaller, than the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi.

We also did a drive by of a camel, goat and cattle market. 

We had a short break while Shakib did his Friday noon prayers at a nearby mosque and then went to the nearby mall to get lunch at the food court. 

I just love how travel can totally destroy stereotypes and preconceived notions about a place.  Everyone knows what an oasis looks like.  Right!  Beautiful small blue pool of refreshing fresh water in a desolate, out of the way place, surrounded by vast sand dunes and few palm trees and other vegetation.  That's what we all see in the movies so it must be right.  Right!

Al Ain is a storied oasis in the middle of the UAE desert and has been inhabited and used for several thousand years.  It is watered by a 3,000 year old irrigation system that brings water from the nearby mountains (its a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The Al Ain Oasis covers almost 3,000 acres.  There are 550 individual farms within the Oasis and 147,000 date trees (and a few other food crops).  Al Ain and the adjacent Omani city of Al-Buraimi surround the oasis and have a combined population of about 900,000.  

So the Al Ain oasis doesn't even begin to look like the stereotypic oasis...other than it is green and has date palms.  But it was green and a little cooler among the shade of the palm trees.

Other than not fitting with the stereotypes it was a very interesting tour.

We also visited the Al Jahili Fort.  It was a home of the founder of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed, and was recently restored using traditional construction methods (lots of mud, straw and sand). 

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More Al Jahili Fort
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On the drive out of town we stopped by the Mubazzarah Park...a very green area but it was closed.  

From there we continued the drive up to the top of Jebel Hafeet (tallest mountain in the area) gave great views.  

There was a border gate with Oman (not used except by security troops) at the summit and fencing along the border of the two countries.  So we got to see Oman but can't really call it a visited country.

At the top was also a palace of a local Sheikh.  Nice views.