Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates.
Despite the experience at the Sheraton, we had a nice brief visit to some of the attractions in Abu Dhabi. We spent the day visiting the Emirates Palce Hotel and the Shieh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan Mosque. We were happy that we had the rental car, because these places were not anywhere near each other, and would have required taxis over long distances (15-20 km) to each.
The Emirates place hotel had impressive grounds and included the strange Gold ATM where you could purchase gold bars using a credit card.
"The Gold ATM" - because the world needs more Gold to Go.
We visited the Shieh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan Mosque in the afternoon and took the 5 PM tour. The mosque was absolutely fabulous, probably the nicest, more glamorous one that I had ever visited. Being newly constructed, it didn’t have the history some of the other famous mosques of the world, but like many things Arab, it aimed to impress.
The mosque included several large Savarkosi chaneleiers and the largest hand made carpet in the world, which was built in Iran, bought over in 7 pieces, and sewn together on site.
It's possible to visit the Mosque on an Abu Dhabi stopover, but before you make plans, check out the
Shieh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan Mosque website to make sure that it's open and you're not here during prayer time. The public opening hours can vary and of course, you need conservative clothing (No shorts and abeyya's are provided and mandatory for women).