Dubai stopover
Marita3
Mark & Helen Syrett
Wed 27 Mar 2013 15:51
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The Emirates flight to Istanbul gave us the
opportunity of a 22 hour stopover in Dubai. Having negotiated a lengthy wait at
immigration
 we decided that in the limited time available a
City tour was the best way to see as much as possible. A party of about 16
of us left the hotel at 1700. First visit was the beach via the city
skyscrapers
 the guide telling us the height of each building,
the number of hotel bedrooms or the office size whilst driving along 6 or 7 lane
highways
 We arrived at Jumeriah beach where people were
swimming and surfing and at one end the ''sail'' hotel complete with helicopter
landing pad (top left) and restaurant (top right)
 From there to the Palm development which was on a
far larger scale than we imagined
 and to the Atlantis hotel, on the outer fringe of
the palm and accessed by tunnel, where rooms start at 2,000 US dollars per night
and suites at 28,000 dollars. They are still building hotels despite a 50%
annual occupancy rate and 100% rate during the Dubai January shopping
month.
 The water fountain display was next with the Buri
Khalifa skyscraper in the background
   and finally to the Creek, where the trading boats
still tie up having crossed from India and other places, and to the gold and
spice markets
 where Helen bought a box of
dates!
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