Faiths Corner Stone
Golden Minaret
Golden Minaret Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore
This Image is from sunset at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi.
Faithful Sunset
Faithful Sunset Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore
This Image is From the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi (UAE), and in my opinion the best thing to see in Ab Dhabi. We had planned to go at sunset. During the Day it was just too hot to be walking around any where out side even for a brief time as I learn. we had taken a Taxi to the Mosque and we got there at the perfect time. The Sun was sinking in to the haze from the heat, changing the sky to golden color.
A Sheep in Snakes Clothing
Sheep in Snakes Clothing Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore
The Lone Viewer
The Lone Viewer Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore
This IMage Is from the Top Floor lounge at the Jumeirah At Etihad Towers. I really like having the window frame crate that nice framing in the shot although it’s not always easy to get them squared up in the frame and still get the subject you want.
We had run all over town and I felt very disappointed in what we had seen so far and more so the fact that I hadn’t taken any pictures so it was nice to be back at the hotel and just relaxing, and even better when I felt like I got some good shots up in this Lounge. When we booked our trip to Abu Dhabi my GF was excited because she loves Sex in the City and wanted to see the hotel they were at in the second movie. One of the problems we had though was the hotel was so nice that you couldn’t just go in it was all fenced in with guards and you could only enter the grounds if you were staying there or if you had something to do there. Coming back down from the lounge we spoke with the concierge and had him make us a reservation for High tea. After a short time relaxing in the room we hopped in a taxi and headed over to the Emirates Palace for tea.
Boxed In
Boxed In Copyright 2016 Bryan Moore
The Taxi Stopped in Front of the Abu Dhabi World Trade center and we hopped out and went inside. The cool air conditioning was a relief from the oppressive Heat. Looking around it was a typical Mall all known stores like H&M there was a Movie theater, food court and even a shooting range, but one thing it didn’t have was people. we were the only ones there we walked around the entire mall because there was suppose to be an indoor Souk. Finally we asked a store clerk and they said it was in a building Across the street from the mall. We headed back down to street level and Across the street into a building that didn’t really seem to have Ac so it was very warm inside it was kind of a bazaar. there were vendors set up through out the building but the shops were so spaced out that it felt more like a bad mall than a Souk. I was expecting more like the grand Bazaar in Turkey or the Medina in Fez but it was very lack luster.
After Leaving the Souk we tried to walk down the street because we were in more of the downtown area. There was a mosque 3 blocks away, 3 Blocks which proved to be all we could take walking in that heat. We reached the small Mosque and hailed a cab back to the Hotel to relax. The Day had been a Complete Bust I hadn’t seen any thing of note and exploring those site in the heat had wiped me out. The was not much left on our list of things we found to do there, but one of them was to go to the top floor where they had a lounge and 360 degree view of the city.
we took the elevator up to the top with a family that had a little girl and boy. The city had a misty Haze over it from the heat but it was still a very nice view. Me and my GF walked around to see the entire view as I tried to snap pictures here and there just so I could photograph something that day. The Kids we rode the elevator up with had broken away from their parents and were playing with the telescopes and peering out the window. As I came around the corner I saw the little girl standing on the stone ledge of the window looking out as the light poured in through it. I raised my camera and tok a few picture before her mother came around the other side and said ” time to go” we did one more lap around the lounge and heeded down stair too.
Pull up a Chair and Sit Down
It was 108 fahrenheit as we Stepped out of the Fish warehouse and headed to the right under the shade of the building. This Fish Market turned out to be a Bust so we decided to go to a Carpet Market that the hotel concierge had Mentioned. On the Map we were given it appeared to be Really Close so we left the shade of the building and stepped into the oppressive heat of the sun. we were in a pier like area so there was not really block but we walked maybe 2-3 blocks and the sun was just unbearable, worse than that all the buildings within sight were very non descript and the map I had was very undetailed so I was just guessing where we were headed. Sweat was dripping down my forehead by the time we had walked the 4 blocks to a road. Looking down the street I had a really good Idea of where we wanted to go but I was not 100% and with the Un relenting Sun beating down on us I stuck out my hand and got a taxi. I pointed to the carpet market Circled on the map and the driver nodded and headed down the road. The Market was the building I though it was but took a few mins to get to because we could only make turns at certain points. The Taxi came to a stop in the middle of a square strip mall like area with every store in the square selling carpets. When I got out of the taxi and took the area in I saw 15 men stand up to greet us or come out of their store. Right away I knew this is not what we wanted and this was gonna be like the fish market where we have vendors all over us, but it was too late the cab had already left. We quickly had 8 people next to us “please come this way” “come see our Carpet” “What Kind of Carpet are you looking for”
It was not what we wanted at all, since we had no Taxi and I didn’t want to poo poo some thing with out trying we said ok and choose a random store and walked in the owner followed us and turned on the lights as we entered. The space felt small inside but there was Rugs stacked all around the room, I gave it a quick look around but this was just not what I was looking for, and in my opinion the rugs were not even of the highest quality. What I was Expecting was a more open air BAzzar type feel with higher quality hand crafted rugs, More like from this post I did on my Trip to Turkmenistan we left the store and walked along the square to find a Taxi as the other store owners followed us and kept asking us to go to their store. When we reached the Road the vendors finally relented and we stood there baking in the sun for a few mins till we saw a cab to flag down. Discouraged by our last two stops we told the driver to head to the Abu Dhabi World Trade Center which had a large Mall and Indoor Souk, so down the road we went……
