Abu Dhabi

April 24, Wednesday. NOTE:  This is out of order.  Should have  come before Fujairah.  Today we docked in Abu Dhabi.  I felt sick enough that I decided to stay on board and let John do the tour without me.  On paper it was more of the same--skyline, mosque, historical site, souk, but as it turns out, I missed THE mosque.  I'm sorry now I didn't go, but I really didn't feel up to even sitting on a bus for four hours, much less dragging around in the heat.

Now that we are home, I have managed to lift several shots of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque from John's film. The quality isn't great, but it's the best I can do to share what is considered the jewel of Abu Dhabi.  It is the largest mosque in the emirates, the 8th largest in the world, and is approximately the size of five American football fields. It can hold about 40,000 worshippers.  The estimated cost was about $12 million, although no one knows for sure because the sheikh kept the actual figure to himself--his prerogative since it was his money.

A first view of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque from the window of the bus

A closer view

And closer still

The entrance and a reflecting pool

There is a famous nighttime view of the mosque all lighted up and reflected in these pools.

A view inside the courtyard through a keyhole arch

The beautiful, lacy dome

One of three enormous chandeliers

The calligraphy in the center says "Allah", and what looks like a doorway
below is the qibla, which tells the faithful the direction of Mecca 

The stand contains the Quran, and I suppose the seat
is for the imam who reads aloud during services.

You can get a little sense of the scale by noting the tiny people at the bottom of this photo

This shows the carpet, the largest in the world