Dubai it away

Al Ain

 I definitely meant to post this in January, before too much time disappeared between actually visiting Al Ain and getting round to posting the photos. Al Ain is very different to Dubai, but a great place to visit.

In the boring fact section, Al Ain translates as The Spring and it is a very green oasis city, it was fab to be able to walk out of the hotel and straight into a green park- particularly in the January weather. It was just the right temperature to be outside and sit out with a Starbucks breakfast and just enjoy the surroundings.  

Al Ain is also the second largest city in Abu Dhabi, and right on the Oman border, which made for an interesting view as we headed up the mountains- Jabel Hafeet.

There is also a fort network built around this area, which was an interesting place to visit. I am sure I am the only person in the world who can get lost in a fort built around two different squares- but I get easily confused in these places and struggled to work out which side of which quadrangle I had entered and then left. I blame the interlocking rooms and the covered verandas.  My sense of direction was only mildly helped by being able to identify one side of the fort from the other by referencing the exhibitions. A tribute to the life of Sheikh Zayed was on the right, and a photo exhibition of the works of Wilfred Thesiger from his 1945 travels to the Empty Quarter.  It was amazing to see how the people were living then compared to what can be seen around you today.

 Fantastic place for a chilled and relaxed weekend- loved the greenery compared to the sleek glass skyscrapers of Dubai and the sandy desert from my window at home.