Dubai: the crazy city that never stops

Dubai, the crazy city that never stops. This is the epitome of what this incredible part of the world is to me. Dubai often creates diatribes, between those who consider it one of the most beautiful cities in the world and those who, contrasting its modernity, consider it a 'horrible' city. Everything can be said and written about Dubai, from its supremacy in everything, its desert, its modernity to the tradition in the souks in the old city.

One thing you certainly cannot say, that it is a boring city, there are so many things to do and see.

I would like to tell you about my trip to Dubai, a trip where I had no expectations at all, I had in fact decided not to read anything on the internet, not to look at google map satellites and let myself get caught up in its atmosphere.

The result? You can read it at the end of this story ?

A journey born by chance

It's mid-January, while everyone was planning for the skiing week, we wanted some warmth and were looking for something special, to celebrate Frank's birthday. So no sea! That's how the trip to Dubai and an Emirates flight offer came about. We left without planning the days, just the flight and the hotel.

As soon as I arrived in Dubai, I realised that everything was 'high'. I stayed a week with my eyes upward: the very tall skyscrapers are the heart of modern Dubai, it is thrilling to walk among these monsters, to look at the crazy shapes of these buildings. Even the metro runs on suspended tracks that hug the buildings, like long steel-coloured arms.

The first few days we spent our time photographing vertically: how else do you shoot a skyscraper?

' I hate vertical photos,' I kept telling myself, but every corner of the city was perpendicular to the sun. Even people's clothes seemed to match, long white robes for the men and black for the women, tourists in ankle-length coloured dresses. There is actually no ban on wearing miniskirts or shorts (except in the Mosques), but in the long corridors of the malls one hardly saw 'women wearing mini shorts'.

Then we went to the old city and here I rediscovered my horizontal photos and the slow pace I adore when travelling. Between the spice souk, the gold souk and the textile souk, it is all a labyrinth of streets, alleys, little shops and colours that warm the heart. This was the Dubai that surprised me the most, the one that was unexpected, the one that clashes with the Champagne Bar! In this part of town we met many locals, normal people doing normal jobs. Life flows along the Creek, wooden boats with the flag of the Emirates swinging around waiting for customers, and at sunset the river comes alive, with the reflections of the buildings that frame it.

But it was the trip to the desert that moved me, it took me back to my natural habitat: with the animals, immersed in the orange desert. Watching the sunrise, the first rays of the sun turning the dunes into long silver shadows, and waiting for the sunset, illuminating the long horns of the oryx. I suffered the cold in the desert, but it was worth it.

Practical information for visiting Dubai

Where to stay in Dubai

The first big problem was where to sleep in Dubai.

If you try to go on the internet you will find all kinds of accommodation, from hotels for 20€ a day to the famous 7-star Burj Al Arab Hotel for 1600€ a day. It is not only a question of price, but also of where to find a hotel. If you look at the map of the city, it is clear how you can never be in the centre: it is a boot, so you either opt for the upper zone, the centre or the lower zone. Wherever you stay you will always be inconvenienced in some area, but with the metro or a taxi you can go anywhere.

In the end we opted for the 5* Jumeirah Creekside Hotel, excellent location close to the airport, with free shuttle bus to the various shopping centres and the possibility to use the brother Jumeirah Beach. We had a great time, it is a true 5-star, with enormous rooms, swimming pools, well-kept garden and very close to the Tennis Club where important international tennis tournaments take place. As luck would have it, it was at the Jumeirah Creekside Hotel that a certain Federer was also staying in those days.

Walking around Dubai one realises how many hotels there are, huge, tall, shiny, with flowers hanging on the walls, shaped like sails or like a long liquorice candy. Every time I thought I had the wrong hotel, that one is nice, ah no, this one is nice, in fact I changed my mind, I want this one. Actually most of the hotels in Dubai are 5* and they are all very nice, elegant and with exceptional facilities. So you can never go wrong, or almost never!

Getting around Dubai

First of all taxis, useful for getting to the airport and not expensive. Beware that in the city where everything is possible, everything is automated and modern, most taxis do not accept credit cards, so have some change in advance at the airport! For single women there are, if you want, dedicated taxis, recognisable by their pink roof. Please note: at certain times of the day there can be a lot of traffic, so plan well to arrive at the airport in time!

Much of the city can be visited using the metro. There are two lines, the Red and the Green, which are very easy to use. To use the Metro you need a card, we bought for 20 Aed the Red Ticket which allows you to get around, a whole day, all areas. All the information about the metro can be found on the official website.

To get around the city, another interesting way is by bus, the classic hop-on-hop-off, which allows you to see the best of Dubai. We bought the 48-hour ticket, so we stopped at almost every station, walked around, got back on the bus, all without rushing. We did not buy it online, but directly from them. In shopping centres you can find the various red kiosks advertising the BigBus. Yes, I know, it is super touristy, but it is a smart way to get around without having to use the metro.

Where to eat in Dubai

A topic whose only problem is what to choose. Never as on this trip have we eaten everything from Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Indian, Arabic, American, German and Pakistani food. We avoided Italian, if I may, when I am abroad I do not eat Italian.

For me eating is not essential in life, let's say I eat to live and not the other way around. But travelling is also getting to know the local food, different foods, spicy or bland, rich or anaemic, through food you understand a lot about a country. That's why I taste almost everything and, above all, I always take a trip to the supermarkets and here it was not easy to find them.

Near our hotel there was a small one, it was sad, with few essentials... only at the end of the week, I discovered a large Carrefour at the Mall of Emirates, which had everything!

When to go to Dubai

There are essentially two seasons: hot and very hot. Joking aside, the best time to visit this city is between October and April. Already in June you start dying of heat. July and August are impossible, you have to be permanently connected to an air conditioner to live during these two months.

We were in the UAE, in Abu Dhabi, at the end of June and the sea water was hotter than hot tea, so to cool off, the only solution was to stay soaking in the pool. Outside temperature: 42 degrees with 90% humidity! On this trip to Dubai, which took place in January, the weather was perfect, we just needed a jumper for the evening.

What to see in Dubai

And here we come to the main question, the one everyone asks when they come to Dubai: what to see? Well, the list is long, everyone then chooses according to what they like. The rough itinerary is the one you take following the BigBus route

I will tell you what not to miss, in my opinion, on a trip to Dubai ... the Boot of the Emirates

Burj Khalifa

You cannot go to Dubai and not go up to the 148th floor of this skyscraper, the tallest in the world at 828 metres and 160 storeys. To go up you have to buy a ticket (cost ca €35 for the 124th floor or €95 for 124th and tour to 148th), best booked well in advance online if you want to go up in the evening. When I was there I was already anxious about getting into the lift and doing 148 floors. But once inside, there is a video right above the ceiling that makes it all look very futuristic. Music then accompanies the very fast ascent, so within a few minutes we were on the 124th floor, without even realising it.

From there we step out, a little at a time, onto the terrace that surrounds the skyscraper, a 360° view of the whole of Dubai. It's very strange to see the contrast between the lights and liveliness on one side and the darkness and nothingness on the other. From up there you really realise what Dubai is like: a long strip of life in the middle of the desert! Then if you want to experience the thrill of going even higher, there is the terrace on the 148th floor, if you suffer from vertigo like me, "no problem" you will make it, just crawl!

Dancing fountains

Right in front of the Burj Khalifa and where the Dubai Mall is located, the dancing fountains are something not to be missed. Countless fountains, with different music, dance, play, dive into the water and then come up again, like dolphins. It was thrilling to see them with Bocelli's 'Con te partirò' in the background! We also saw them in Singapore, but these are a hundred thousand times more beautiful, also because of the location, in the middle of skyscrapers caressing the stars.

There are two shows in the afternoon, but it is in the evening that the fountains dance with lights, water and music: they start at 6pm until 11pm every half hour, the show lasts about three to four minutes. In front of the Burj or on the Promenade are the best areas to watch this phantasmagorical play of lights.

Burj Al Arab

The symbol of this city, the 7-star,sail-shaped hotel. We didn't go in because only those who stay overnight are allowed access and we didn't want to spend 1600 euros for one night, also because I was already imagining luxury and stralusso. Still, it's nice to admire it from the beach, 321 metres high it is the third highest hotel in the world and with its unusual shape it is a work of engineering that deserves a 'click'.

Dubai Frame

is one of Dubai's new attractions, a 150-metre-high golden frame in the Zabeel Park area. Those who do not suffer from vertigo can climb up to the 48th floor, you have a privileged view of the modern city contrasting with the old city, and with the glass floor, you can even see the cars passing underneath you!

Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Mall

If you're mad about shopping, you can't miss these malls, over 1000 shops, restaurants, bars, aquariums, in short, you can spend a whole day here without ever seeing the sky. The Mall of the Emirates is famous not only for shopping, but above all for the 'snow slope' in the desert, entrance fee. I am not a fan of these places, so we walked through them at speed, just to realise the absurdity, the multitude of people who come here every year to 'go shopping' (in February there is the 'Dubai Shopping Festival', I don't dare imagine the crowds in that month!) or even just to eat. You can find everything here, an artefact city within an artefact city!

Deira, Bur Dubai and Al Bastakiya

the old city, the real soul of Dubai. Cross the creek and immerse yourself in the extraordinary Arab culture, with its spice souks and gold souks, with the hustle and bustle of people using rusty wheelbarrows to move textiles, spices, silver and gold jewellery from one part of the city to the other at attractive prices (the price of gold is the same all over the world, the difference being made by the manufacture of the jewellery and the VAT, which, being lower than here, means that the same jewellery costs less).

This is the part of Dubai that I liked the most, the real part, the part that seems to struggle not to be swallowed up by the glitter of the big shopping malls. Here, time still has a value, here everything flows slower, people still wear Arab clothes, headgear and clothes with an oriental flavour. Ah, always remember to haggle, the price displayed is always higher than the real one!

Beaches

There are many, the best are in the south. We stayed at the beach in front of the Souk Madinat Jumeirah: the souk is inspired by an ancient citadel, with small shops and restaurants, everything taken care of down to the smallest detail. From there you access a private beach (we were the 'poor brothers' of the Jumeirah) where for a few hours I felt like a queen. Very comfortable sunbeds, with a desert-coloured beach towel, with a cushion placed perfectly on the neck. The parasol had a red button that was used to call the waiter. Higher up was another button, blue in colour, which served to activate the water spray. Under the parasol were slippers of the same shade as the beach towel. I have never enjoyed sunbathing as much as I did that day!

Desert

Finally, but also the most valuable part of our trip, was the desert of the UAE. We hired a 4WD with a guide and set off into the orange. The guide immediately explained to us that, if we got lost, we had to follow the colour of the sand: orange, we are far from Dubai, as it clears up it means it is going towards the sea and so we are in the direction of the city. Fortunately it didn't help, but I learnt something new.

Our desert adventure took us into the middle of immense pale red dunes where we passed families of white Oryx. Their coats were scarred, they showed signs of battles. And there alone, as if lost, we passed a small antelope that reminded me so much of the trip I had just made to Namibia.

In the desert I suffered from the cold, in the morning the fog created suggestive atmospheres, only the long black horns of the Oryx appeared, to then give way to the sun which, torrid, made its entrance. In the evening, however, the stars would embrace us, I would feel warmed by their light, then at night, under the tent, the cold would return. Going to Dubai and not visiting the desert is like going to New York and not going to Central Park!

In the end, did I like Dubai? Would I go back?

Yes, I really liked Dubai, and I would probably go back.

Dubai captivated me with all its luxury, with skyscrapers in unthinkable shapes, with buildings that defy wind and gravity. But I also liked Dubai for the tranquillity I discovered in the old city. It made me dream to see the gold souks, while the smells of the spices took me to the fairy tales of 'One Thousand and One Nights'. The desert then is my passion, I would return to Dubai to stay longer in the desert, not just one night.

Dubai is the crazy city, where everything we can think of, is there. Where the craziest things, exist and people pay to see them. Where they have turned desert sand into dancing fountains. And where an island in the shape of a Palm and one in the shape of a World float like life preservers in the middle of the ocean. In Dubai, the water is not blue, it is transparent, and in summer it is boiling hot!

But most of all I was struck by its ingenuity and operativeness: in every part of Dubai there is a crane that is building, in every part of the city they are putting up bridges, skyscrapers, shopping malls... everything is moving. They are even building a new skyscraper for Expo 2020, a good 928 metres high, in the Dubai Creek Harbour area. Unbelievable!

For me it is the city of ants, every tiny muscle in Dubai is in motion... who knows if it will ever stop and more importantly, who knows where it will go, thinking that Dubai, fifty years ago, was just a small fishing village!