Belated TR: Middle East and Central Europe Dec 22-Jan23

[Flashback]

I've studied catching long distance trains in central Europe many times, but never could convince myself. If there was ever a window, Looks like I've missed it!

No, Bucharest to Chisinau is still available - hasn't changed a single bit since 1950

 

[Seat0B]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2023/oct/08/german-train-travel-deutsche-bahn-kafka?

This article in the Guardian tonight covers all my complaints about DB and other trains in Europe. Seems like our experiences were far from unique.

 

[Seat0B]

Bratislava Friday 16 December 2022

For this stay at the Ibis, we could not go past the option of a full breakfast for €9 per person. We had not bothered at any of the other Accor properties (Munich, Berlin and Prague) because of cost of €20-28 per person. Much cheaper and pretty easy in those places to buy pastry, coffee, yoghurt and fruit. But for €9 we were tempted - and not disappointed! It was a very central European experience - collect a breakfast ticket each day from reception after checking we were eligible. Hand this to the concierge at the breakfast room - further checking of eligibility. Escorted to an assigned seat. Have at the huge buffet, which contained all the classic central European breakfast items of cabbage rolls, cucumber and dill salad, tomato salad, hard boiled eggs, some kind of smoked fish, lots of hams, salamis and other delicatessen meats, all kinds of cheeses, nuts and dried fruits, yoghurts and quarks, so many types of heavy breads including pumpernickel, light rye and carraway seed, and some slightly odd things like cornflakes and muesli (that both truly tasted like cardboard), tinned fruit salad and tinned orange juice. Plus the strongest, most bitter coffee I have ever tasted (and remember we just came from the Middle East ) - it was literally undrinkable until I made it up like cordial. I poured about 5 cm into my mug, added the hot tea water, then some milk and sugar, which I don't usually add to coffee, and just about managed to drink it. There were the usual opaque rules about using new plates, getting fresh cutlery, and the need to return and sort your waste and put your used dishes on a tray, your used utensils in a basin of water and so on. It was overall a great experience and an excellent and substantial start to the day ahead. Sorry, no photos taken, too busy eating after our meagre rations the night before.

Then we walked to the meet up point for our Post-Communist Slovakia tour organised through the excellent Authentic Solvakia company with our guide Brano. The winter tour offerings were somewhat limited, but they have a lot of tours for those travelling in the summer, and I would highly recommend them. Brano was excellent - had an encyclopaedic knowledge of his country's history and culture, spoke excellent English (his high school teacher was an Aussie of Czechoslovakian heritage who came to find his roots, found love, and stayed) and a great sense of humour in delivery! All questions were welcomed and answered in a non-defensive way. Our vehicle for the tours was a 1992 VW Transporter in original condition (rusty and beaten up) to add to the authenticity of the tour. Those going is summer can ride in Skoda and Trabant vehicles of the immediate post-communist era, but these are not safe in winter conditions. We were originally quoted €50 per person, as we were the only 2 on the tour, but when 2 others joined our fee was reduced to €35 per person without asking @RooFlyer!

Tours in Bratislava with Local Guides | Off the Beaten Path

Tours in Bratislava, Slovakia with local guides: Soviet era sightseing communist tour in retro Škoda car, bike tour, wine tour, castle tour and more!

www.authenticslovakia.com

I learned so much history on this tour including the originally democratic roots of the country, followed by the slide to fascism and close alliance with Germany in WW2 and then the communist era. Over time, Germany annexed both Austria and the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, but allowed the Slovak part to remain "independent" meaning it was relatively untouched by WW2 until late in 1944. By 1945, many areas were "liberated' from the Germans by the Russians, and soon thereafter the Slovaks freely elected a Communist government, and from there, the Iron Curtain began to operate. During the 1960s, Czechoslovakia flirted with the "liberal ordnung" view of Communism and citizens were allow to associate freely, travel abroad and own properties and businesses, which was all very suddenly and harshly repressed in August 1968 when Russia sent in tanks to enforce more austere conditions. From here it was Iron Curtain all the way until the early 1990s, with Czechia and Solvakia becoming separate countries on 1 January 1993.

Brano now describes Slovakia as being on "turbo capitalism" as a completely user pays state - for example there is no social housing provided by the state.

On our tour, we saw the first prefabricated public housing built in 1956, complete with rousing soviet murals over the entry ways - but otherwise in the brutalist style. Buildings were constructed in 3-6 months, start to finish. Each apartment was 45 sq m (tiny), and allocated on communist principles - couples, couples with a child, couples with children all getting bigger and better apartments. Free and compulsory child care at 6 months of age and kindergarten so mothers could work



Next stop was a soviet era market Tržnica which still operates today for an older clientele aged 65+ nostalgic for the "good old days". It's heritage listed. Note the Vietnamese food place - there was a lot of migration from North Vietnam to the CSSR during the Communist period. Also note the quality drinking wine on sale for €1,50!


Also visited a lot of other soviet brutalist buildings and the Russian war Memorial, which usually offers an excellent view - not today as it was 2 degrees and foggy. We were given samples of typical communist era soft drinks, alcohol nips and chocolate bars that are still popular and sold here now.

By now, we were ready for lunch, and I will continue in another post.

 

[Seat0B]

Bratislava Friday 16 December 2022 Part 2

Went to a local restaurant recommended by Brano (sorry forgot the name) for the local specialty dish of sheep chees piroghi with sour cream and bacon. It was not bad, although I found the sour cream extremely sour.

Next stop was an excellent little coffee shop called Caffe4U where we enjoyed a fantastic flat white for €3,10 while planning the rest of our day. Our morning tour was expected to run 2- 2.5 hours but actually ran for well over 3 hrs, so we needed to do a bit of on the fly re-planning.


We decided to visit the Tourist Info for some suggestions and sort out 24 hr tram tickets. Found that we both qualified for a seniors ticket for the grand sum of €2 ea! Very happy with that. Based on the advice we received, we decided on a visit to the main square of Bratislava and the Christmas Market there. Very happy with that too! This was one of the nicer Christmas Markets in our trip. A much bigger variety of foodstuffs on sale than in Germany or Czechia, and an absolutely enormous array of hot wines and punches. We happily sampled local sausages, and sheep cheese pastries, and I had hot plum wine (fantastic) and Mr Seat 0A had hot honey mead which he also enjoyed. Both were only €3.



Today's step count 11,078.

 

[Seat0B]

Bratislava Saturday 17 December 2022

Today we had another insight into local culture via a former work colleague of Seat Son, who is Slovakian and lives in Bratislava. He volunteered to show us around a bit, and gave very generous answers to our questions about life in Slovakia.

We started with brunch at a hipster little bistro called "Otto!"He described it as upmarket home cooking - like what your mum would make, only better! So with his guidance, I ordered the pork fat scrambled eggs for €6, which came with lashings of bread and garnish and which tasted to me like eggs cooked near bacon. He had the same and said it was very authentic home style cooking. Excellent coffee with a small flat white 2,90 and a larger latte the same price.


He shared a lot of his family experience with the fall of communism - his mother is in her late 50s and he is in his early 30s. Here are some things we learnt:

• people renting state flats were given the first right of refusal to buy their flat at very cheap prices of around €3,000-€5,000 (in total ), payable over several years as no one had any private savings
• people now struggle with the cost of heating, which was previously very cheap as utilities were subsidised by the state. He said younger people now keep their heat around 17-18 degrees, but older people still want to crank it more towards 24 degrees.
• typical apartment size now for a family is 70-80 sq m, and he just bought an apartment of 100 sq m for around €400,000, which he described as a big stretch (he's a US Ivy league educated lawyer)
• his mother was a state notary, and has really struggled to adapt to a client service approach to her work rather than a bureaucratic process rule bound approach. So much so that she retired early rather than deal with it.

After this, we walked past the famous Blue Church, and drove along the banks of the Danube and saw the famous UFO Bridge (novy most). we did not go in as there was low cloud and fog, and it was -1 degree, so not really conducive to the view. Then he dropped us to the Castle (hrad), where we enjoyed a brisk stroll in the gardens taking in the amazing views



.

Next we took the walking path all the way back down to the old town and walked along the Danube for a bit before catching a very soviet style old tram back to the city centre. As we wanted to warm up a bit, we stayed on this tram as it tootled out to the suburbs, which very quickly took on the soviet brutal style quite at odds with the gracious architecture we had seen earlier in the day.




Made our way back to the old town centre, and had dinner at the Christmas Market again- this time an excellent pulled pork roast jacket potato with sour cream for €8 - so huge we just shared it, and we took another run at the "grogy". I had blackcurrant wine and Mr Seat 0A had apple, again €3 each. Then a brisk walk home and a step count of 12,014 steps for the day.

 

[Seat0B]

Bratislava to Budapest Sunday 18 December 2022

I'm sorry to be leaving Bratislava. I've really enjoyed it here and have relished the chance to understand a bit of the history and culture of the place. I would like to visit Slovakia again, maybe in the autumn to avoid the summer crowds and appreciate the autumn foliage. I also understand there is a developing wine culture here, so that might also be a good focus,

Made our way to the very Communist era railway station - the comment from Seat Son's colleague was "Oh my. I'm sorry you had to arrive in Bratislava that way. That is a very ugly Communist building" was very accurate indeed. Same system for platform allocation as encountered in Prague. Everyone waits around the main departure board until the platform is revealed and then the sprint is on. We planned ahead this time, with Mr Seat 0A positioned by the lifts with ou rbags waiting for me to sprint towards him with the top secret info of our platform number. It worked. Beat the crowds and entered the train with no dramas at all. A very easy trip of only 2.5 hrs, much of it along the banks of the Danube and through rich farmland. Had lunch in the dining car which was a nice experience and an effective way to spend a few more of our left over CZK from Prague. I had an excellent chicken schnitzel with potatoes and Mr Seat 0A had veal with carrots and lentils, plus a Czech Bud and I had a local red, and two coffess for $35 in total. Very pleased with that. The Budapest station had interesting architecture with a nice blend of modern and old buildings. Got a Bolt to the hotel for aound $11.



We are staying at Hotel Nemzeti Budapest M Gallery which is a glorious old building from the later 1890s. We have a very spacious room, but the layout is a bit odd, with the bathroom off the sitting room rather than off the bedroom. Popped to the bar for our welcome drinks - a glass each of a very serviceable local red, and some bar snacks for dinner. Did a quick shop at aldi for some snacks and lunch items, and was very surprised at how expensive the groceries were - by far the most expensive of anywhere so far, including Berlin.



Edit: I forgot to post the photos!!

 

[RooFlyer]

We planned ahead this time, with Mr Seat 0A positioned by the lifts with ou rbags waiting for me to sprint towards him with the top secret info of our platform number. It worked. Beat the crowds and entered the train with no dramas at all.

Technique !

 

[Seat0B]

Ok taking a break from posting now, will continue shortly......

 

[Seat0B]

Budapest Monday 19 December 2022

We had again chosen the included breakfast option for around $15 per person, and given the high cost of meals and groceries in Budapest, we were glad we did. It was a great spread in a beautiful old room. Plenty of choices - again I forgot to take photos of the food, but there were eggs (hard boiled, scrambled and omelettes), plenty of veg (mushrooms, zucchinis, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage), deli meat, fish, a huge array of breads and spreads and also pastries. I admit to lingering. And an amazing tea service - a samovar I think.

Thus fortified, we walked down to the Danube then over to the Buda side for a visit to the huge Castle Precinct. On the way, we passed a number of clashing architectural styles - the old classic European style abutting many soviet brutalist or utilitarian buildings.



At the castle Precinct, there were many restorations being undertaken, so it was quite chaotic. Also very cold, hovering around -4 degrees, and my hands were frozen. But the views over the river were totally worth the trouble. The instagram influencer set were out in force, sitting and even lying on the castle ramparts, twisting their bodies into crazy poses, making sure all their brand name labels (Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chanel) were prominently visible and doing duck face pout. Honestly ridiculous, and totally not in the moment of enjoying the beauty of the surroundings, just looking at themselves on the screen of their phone and talking about whether the lighting made the colour of their skimpy, lightweight clothes pop. Still, we found our tribe and helped a nice Italian family take a sweet family portrait, and also a young Asian couple. In return, they each took a photo of us. Such a different vibe! we were all wearing coats, hats scarves and gloves, unlike the insta crew who were wearing T shirts or thin jumpers in most of their shots.




Warmed up after this activity with a great dirty chai latte at a nice local coffee haunt Zërgë found on Google. This cost HUF 1500 (around $7), so again on the more expensive end of coffees for this trip, but it was so good and I was so cold, I had 2. Very limited seating in this place - literally 6 seats downstairs and maybe 8 upstairs. Had a snack here as well.

 

[Seat0B]

Budapest Monday 19 December 2022 Part 2

next we bought an all day tram ticket for HUF2500 ($11) which again was quite expensive compared to Bratislava. Rode a mix of trains and trams back along the more than 4 km we had walked this morning, enjoying the river, bridges and general scenery as we went by. Took some photos at the famous Liberty Bridge and then ate a snack of ham, salami, cheese and wine back in our room at 4pm. Not sure what meal to call that!

Rested, we headed out to the Christmas Markets. Another country, another vibe. This one featured commercial light displays, a lot of traditional crafts, and mass commercial catering with a small number of enormous stalls selling a standardised menu of local dishes such as pork knuckle and red cabbage, a pasrty like a pizza topped with uncookedchees, and massive hot dogs. Ypu guessed it, expensive at HUF5000-6000 per dish ($20-$24) and hot wine or punch at HUF 1200 (about the same price as we paid in Germany).

All up, a good day with the step cound 17,772

 

[Seat0B]

Budapest Tuesday 20 December 2022

Spent the day exploring the transport options of Budapest! Caught the famous 2B tram along the river front and then the funny little 87 suburban train to the end of the line which was in the midst of a sea of communist pre-fab apartments that looked as grim and featureless as the ones in Bratislava, but with worse maintenance. Clearly from the same cookie cutter. The biggest, brightest, newest building for miles around was "Elisabeth Doron - English for your children" with good English clearly a ticket out of a very hard working class existence. Then a visit to a local shopping mall for flavour! Got some very good Hungarian red wine to take to DXB for Seat Son. "Highlight" was the visit to the soviet toilets - 6 of 8 cubicles in the ladies were out of order - some for so long that the doors had been cable tied shut; 3 out of 4sinks simply had no tapware installed, and the door handle on my cubicle was hanging by a thread!


Walked around the area, taking in the magnificent decrepitude of the buildings. Such a contrast to the glitz of the main CBD area.






Spent the rest of the afternoon doing some preliminary packing for our return to the UAE, and sorting out our Global Blue tax free refund claim before heading out for a delicious dinner at the very popular BP Ribs - had pork ribs, salads and sides, a beer and a cider and it was FABULOUS for HUF 13,000 - about what we would have paid for just the meal at the Christmas Market.




Then a few night photos.

 

[Seat0B]

Budapest-Dubai Wednesday 21 December 2022

Up, pack, breakfast, more packing and depart for the airport about 1030 in a private car for HUF15,000. We decided to take the private car as the app showed a Bolt or a taxi would cost about the same amount, so we enjoyed the ride in a very smooth black Merc instead of slumming it. Arrived about 1115 for a check in that opened at 1140, which allowed the perfect amount of time to sort out our Global Blue tax refund and then put the items into checked luggage for the flight to Dubai.

HA, HA, HA! Spoiler alert, this is not how it went down.

Off I toddle to the Global Blue Office. Sign says "sorry we are closed. Please go to the other terminal". Long walk to the other terminal; at least it was all indoors, but had to wait for 15 minutes while the single officer dealt with the 4-5 people in front of me. Yet another man so happy in his job! I got schooled in the labrynthine process for a claim which involves 10 steps!!!

1. at the store where you buy your tax free item, get the forms and official stamp - done. All our tax free items were bought in Germany or Slovakia, and were paid for in Euro.
2. fill in the forms - done
3. check in for flight and get a physical boarding pass and electronic check in or BP is not acceptable. So back to the other terminal. By now check in was open and thank goodness for being a WP on EK/QF code share, there was no line. The regular whY lines were already long, so I reckon most people would give up about here. Arrange our check in.
4. Get the BPs and but withold the luggage so we can put the items in and check through. We had too many things, including boots and shoes to take as carry on.
5. Take items, boarding passes, forms back to Mr Happy in the other terminal and wait in line to get an official stamp on the forms. He did not want to see of check any of the items, although he gave the woman in front of me a thorough going over.
6. Go back to the original terminal to put the items into luggage and check that in.
7. Give thanks to WP stauts again for the ability to cut lines, and thank goodness F check in was quiet and I only had 1 other pax in front of me.
8. Go through security, passport control, duty free.
9. Find the poorly signposted Global Blue refund kiosk and line up and wait.
10. You get your refund in Euro. All our dockets were in euro, so simples right?? First they converted all expenses to HUF at a very unattractive exchange rate, then converted that back to Euro, and took a bunch of service and transaction fees out. Actual tax paid was €90, and our refund amount was €32. What a scam!!

Total time expended for €32 refund was almost 2 hours. Not really worth it.

By now I wasn't in a great mood, and the short visit to the Platinum Plaza Lounge didn't really cheer me up much. It was OK, but nothing to write home about. Note to self: Be sure to get to DXB early enough on 3 January for a long visit to the EK F Lounge.

B777 flight to DXB ws uneventful and weirdly short at just over 5 hours. Binge watched Season 2 of the Flight Attendant, but only made it to the end of episode 7 out of 8, so I am really hoping to find it on the IFE for our return to Australia.

Collected at midnight by Seat Son, only about 1 hr from touch down to out in the car park, so pretty efficient. I was quite wired though - the three hour time difference meant that I was still wide awake at 0200 local (2300 body time) and I did not actually settle to sleep until after 0430 local time. I think tomorrow might be a bit of a long day!

Edit forgot to post this photo - only one I took that day

 

[Seat0B]

Dubai - Thursday 22 December to Monday 26 December 2022

These days passed in a happy blur of family and Christmas. Christmas in Dubai is a weird experience. Given the large expat community, it is noted and celebrated, but not by the locals, so 24, 25 and 26 December are just ordinary days in the calendar. They do have a thing they call the Winter Shopping Festival which allows for any expats wanting to have the whole Christmas shopping experience .

For those who followed along with my COVID wailing about not seeing Seat Son for 2 years due to lock downs, you'll understand how happy and contented I felt to just have these few days to be together and meet his friends, see his lifestyle, appreciate his city, spend time with the GF and her family, and just hang out together. I made another batch of nuts and bolts, and my grandmother's traditional Christmas shortbread. We put up the tree and decorated, wrapped presents and had a good time. Christmas grocery shopping on 24 December at Union Co-op was the most relaxed Christmas Eve shop of my life.

On Christmas day we had our traditional breakfast "American Breakfast" to celebrate the place of Seat Son's birth. We had pancakes, maple syrup, some ridiculously expensive ($40/kg) but delicious and crispy bacon, orange juice, champagne and topical fruits. Ate on the balcony, looking out over the Marina and the Palm on a sunny, blue, delightful morning.

Over to the GF's house for what turned out to be an embarrassingly extensive present opening and then on to her extended family for a traditional South African Brai, which was amazing - such delicious, moist meats and fabulous salads. it was an interesting cultural exchange too - so many similarities in the way we celebrate, along with a few quirks.

Some prices of things $1 =AED2.5

• AED 30 medium latte
• AED 30 150g grated cheddar cheese
• AED 45 box of crunchy nut cornflakes
• AED 50-60/kg chicken thighs
• AED 800-100/kg beef
• AED 35 sour dough bread
• AED 6/kg local cucumbers
• AED 4.50/kg local tomatoes
• AED 9/kg red chillies
• AED 5-7 200g of spices such as coriander, fennel, sumac, paprika etc

Moral of the story : Eat local!!

 

[Seat0B]

Dubai - Monday 26 December 2022

The weather here is now noticeably cooler than when we first arrived at the end of November. It's consistently 25-28 degrees, occasionally spiking to 30 degrees, which makes for pleasant travel conditions. We have abandoned the morning swims - too cold now to be fun.

The big news of today is - it is RAINING IN DUBAI !!!!!

The drains are all blocked with blown sand and so the roads have very large puddles despite only a small, gentle rain fall. It's also cold by local standards - only 19 degrees and windy too. I wasn't able to get a photo, but this one from the internet is exactly what happened.

We had to go out for a drive to experience it. The most striking thing we saw was all the poor construction workers huddling together to get out of the rain. Some had the luxury of a garbage bag for protections. They looked absolutely wretched, poor men. They are used to working in the open air in temperatures in the high 40s, and then they got this.



Otherwise, it was a domestic day and we spent a pleasant afternoon cooking up a few Mum's rescue meals for Seat Son's freezer.

 

[Seat0B]

Dubai Tuesday 27 December 2022 - Day trip to Hatta

Up early this morning to take a day trip to Hatta 2 hrs to the south east of Dubai. Hatta is famous for its honey production, and we planned a bee keepers tour of one of the honey farms plus a visit to the beautiful Hatta Dam. It was 19 degrees and still raining which will come into play shortly.

It was an interesting drive to Hatta, similar to the trip to Fujairah, passing through the city to the desert and on to very rocky, craggy, moonscape mountains. Quite spectacular.



When we arrived, we found that our beekeeping tour was cancelled because of the weather. Apparently rain upsets the bees. We were pretty annoyed as we had phoned ahead to confirm it would still proceed inshallah. So we had to content ourselves with a honey tasting of their extremely expensive honeys that started at AED 175 for 200g ($70) and went up to over AED 300 ($140-$150). Literally liquid gold. Given these costs and the potential quarantine issues on return to Australia, we were not even tempted to buy any. The different types of honey did have noticeably different tastes and textures.

Our next planned stop was the Hatta Dam and Park, but we found out that this had also been closed down while we were tasting honey because of the weather. So a hasty re-group was necessitated and we headed to a vehicle adventure park that Seat Son had visited before. We had coffee and honey pastry. The coffees continue to be small, expensive and disappointing, but the pastry was magnificent. Sorry, no photos - too busy stuffing my face. Slammed down 2 coffees and felt a bit better. Again, I was struggling with extreme tiredness at the time, which was likely an indicator of the leukaemia. We explored the park, which was quite good. It had courses for 4 WD, motor bikes and mountain bikes, horse paths and hiking, plus a high ropes course and some adult swings, bridges and other obstacle type activities. Quite fun, and they also had eco lodges perched up in the hills where you could stay the night.

Adrenaline fueled attractions for all the family. - Hatta Outdoor

Hatta Outdoor are the operators of the biggest outdoor adventure park in the UAE, providing adrenaline fuelled attractions for all the family.

www.hattaoutdoor.com

While we did tis, the weather began to clear so we made it to the Hatta Dam after all. Very spectacular. Bought some excellent karak chai or AED2 and some veggie samosas also AED 2 ea from a street vendor near the dam wall. They were excellent.


But the highlight of the trip was the "decorative" dam spillway adorned with huge murals of the various emirs - that opened directly onto the car park! Can only assume they think the dam will never overtop!

 

[Seat0B]

OK, more to come later....I am really enjoying reliving this trip as I write up the report, and thanks to all for following along with me.

 

[Seat0B]

Dubai - Wednesday 28 December 2022

Domestics and a game of padel tennis and brunch followed by a late afternoon stroll around Al Serkal Ave - a cool hipster arts precinct in Al Quoz area of Dubai. Lots of cool eateries, coffee shops, gyms and spas and art galleries selling the work of local artists. A place to be seen, for sure. I absolutely loved the Islamic calligraphy art by Iraqi born artist Wissam Shawkat. These are very beautiful modern interpretations of Islamic virtues, and are totally stunning. Unfortunately for me, the prices started at $10,000 and rose quickly, so out of my budget just now. Maybe one day I will have one of these spectacular works.

Alserkal Avenue | Visit Dubai

Alserkal Avenue is the top arts district of Dubai with galleries, museums, events, workshops, cafes and activity spaces. Discover the venue with Visit Dubai.

www.visitdubai.com

 

[OZDUCK]

OK, more to come later....I am really enjoying reliving this trip as I write up the report, and thanks to all for following along with me.

I was going to say that you seemed to be relishing the recall of the highlights of your trp. It is good to see that is correct.

 

[Seat0B]

Dubai Thursday 29 December 2022 - Day trip to Sharjah

Took a road trip to Al Sharjah about 1 hr to the north. Parked on the Corniche and walked around to the beautiful Al Noor Mosque just in time for the evocative midday call to prayer, sung by an imam with a spectacular voice. Very atmospheric, and always fun to people watch as the faithful turn up for prayers - some are leisurely, some are harried, some alone, some in groups.

Then walked through the thick date palm forest by the harbour and enjoyed seeing many groups picnicing - mainly women and children with men in very short supply. Where are the men? At work? Praying at the mosque?



Drove the full sweep of the Corniche and visited Starbucks for another $10 coffee (and really to use the loo), and supplemented this with some delicious local food for lunch. A kind of local pizza (manakeesh) which is a big flatbread with melted cheese on half and Za'atar on the other half, accompanied by mabroma, which is a totally delicious long fried crispy pastry tube filled with sweetened cream cheese and decorated with honeyed kataifi (very fine noodles) , and a mullhabia (rosewater milk pudding) from the famous Firass Sweets. Absolutely delicious and the total cost for 3 was AED35 (about $15).



Next stop was the very interesting Al Mahatta Aviation Museum, which gave a lot of insight into early aviation in the Gulf region and particularly into the role of the British in geopolitics of the day. The British needed a place to rest overnight and refuel on the long flight (7 days ) between London and India during the 1920s and 1930s. They invested a lot of time in the various emirates, all independent at that time, trying to secure access but were not able to do so. Eventually, the ruler of Sharjah succumbed to the lure of money and local jobs and the Al Mahatta Fort was built in 1932 as an overnight stop for passengers, who were served by local security guards and a large Indian workforce to manage the facilities, provide food and service the rooms. The museum is in this old fort, that is now completely surrounded by modern buildings and roads. Al Mahatta was used by the RAF as a base during WW2. Fascinating - I knew nothing of this history.



I thought people might be interested in the costs and flight itineraries of the era. Note that arrival times are just given as "morning" or afternoon, although departures have a specific time! Certainly adds to the "why go direct when you can connect" theme of this forum. Early aviation pax were obviously wealthy people of leisure, with a sense of adventure about them.



Stopped for an excellent shawarma and lemon and mint juice at the Blue Star Cafeteria before starting back towards Dubai. It doesn't look much but there was a constant stream of customers, and food delivery drivers collecting food, and Seat Son had been here before.


On the way, we stopped in to the famous Blue Souk because Seat Son had decided he wanted to buy us a Persian rug such an unexpected and delightful surprise. Until that point, I hadn't even thought of this (thinking how heavy it would be to bring back) although I had genuine admired the nice rug he had in his apartment.

So started the Middle Eastern dance of buying something in a souk. Many rugs produced and the merits of different styles, colours and fabrics discussed. Exhorbitant opening prices offered, discussions of quality, education about how to tell genuine from fake etc. Mint tea offered. Vendors will try anything to prevent you from leaving their store. We visited 4 places and bought from the third one after we had narrowed down the style and colours we we preferred and we just liked the story this guy told - I'm sure it was sales patter, but it got us in. We negotiated the price down from AED2,000 to AED1050 (about $400) and then talked with him about his relatives in Western Sydney, eating dates, ma'amoul (date pastries) and drinking mint tea while the carpet was carefully wrapped and packed for safe transport. It weighed about 18kg so we were glad to know that this would be within our luggage allowance after dropping all the things we brought over for Seat Son. Photos show the dark side of the carpet and also the light side back home at our place in Aus.

 

[Seat0B]

Dubai Friday 30 December 2022

Today we discussed NYE options and based on previous poor experiences with both fireworks and laser shows on earlier visits to Dubai, we decided to try something different - a dune bashing camp out. So today was spent checking our equipment and sourcing the things we might need extra, including wood for our campfire and water. We had to pack food and drinks, and suitable clothing as it can get very cold in the desert overnight. I'm looking forward to this.