The next morning we woke refreshed, grabbed some breakfast and immediately drove over to the Sheikh Zayed Mosque. If there’s one thing you see in Abu Dhabi, it’s this. We were really lucky that it was also a gorgeous (if really hot!) day, full of blue sky and the white mosque against it was absolutely picturesque.
Definitely recommend taking the tour as you get to learn more about it and break away just a bit from the main crowd (make sure to check out the tour times as they’re not hourly,but it is free and you don't have to sign up beforehand). Also important to note, is that you can get the proper coverings there. The mosque is definitely the strictest dress code where you need to be totally covered. Also, when you're taking pictures, men and women cannot touch, hold hands etc. This is true throughout the Emirates, but the only place we actually saw people being told not to was here.
Started in 1996, this huge mosque was finished in 2007. It can hold around 40,000 people and it was constructed as a monument to help represent the culture and religion of the area as well as educate visitors (you cannot go into most mosques as a visitor so it’s great that this one was built with that in mind).
From the inlaid columns to the gold minarets, from the former largest chandelier in the world to the largest single rug, they really spared no expense and the place is breathtaking. The lines in the carpet were pretty neat—think of them like pews in a church. When people come in, they line their toes up to the lines in the carpet starting at the front left. Shoulder to shoulder is how they calculated the 40,000 capacity.
Two of the things we found most interesting were the prayer clock and the interior wall. There are 5 prayers during the course of the day but there are 6 times on the clock. The trick is that the first prayer has to be done between the first and second times, so it’s more of a window, and then the others are done on the actual times.
The wall is what they face when lined up for prayer. On it are 99 characteristics Allah; generous, forgiving, etc. There is one blank tile at the top to represent the fact that Allah is infinite. Pretty amazing.
As we were leaving, we actually heard the call to prayer while still on the mosque ground. Incredible and so interesting to think that the call you hear all over the city originates from this mosque.
Next we went downtown to go to the old Fort. Didn't have any issues driving around, but it was almost comical to note how similar a lot of the street names are, so many involving Sheikh Zayed! Unfortunately, they only open up the Fort once a year during the festival, but there is a small museum that documents the change in the area over the past few decades. Pretty crazy to think the UAE only came into existence in 1971 and before that they were really just separate villages….
Headed down to the waterfront for a nice outdoor lunch and then rented bikes and biked along the Corniche. Seemed like a lot of people were really in Abu Dhabi for a beach vacation, which struck as strange at first, but there beaches are nice and if you live in Europe, it’s really not far to travel (and is consistently hot year round!). Stuck our toes into a new body of water—check!
After our lowkey afternoon, we headed to the Emirates Palace Hotel to check out the massive and opulent building. Unfortunately, there’s an attire check and you can’t wear shorts. Headed home to get ready for dinner and then popped back by on our way out that evening, so it all worked out. The building is ridiculously large and worth seeing for the sheer scale alone. Headed out to a late dinner, then back home to grab a few z’s before getting up for our next adventure!
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