ABU DHABI… IT’S THE PLACE TO LIVE LIFE ON THE EDGE
Our SUV was balanced precariously on the crest of a 100fthigh sand dune. The front wheels were off the ground, in an unintentional homage to one of the most famous unresolved endings in cinema history.
We still don’t know what Michael Caine was planning as his gang’s coach hung over the precipice in The Italian
Job, but our driver, Nadr, had our fix all worked out. We simply sat on the crest, took in the pristine golden world in front of us and waited for another vehicle on our tour to tow us clear.
Stopping was a relief. Nadr had been storming the nearsheer slopes in Abu Dhabi like a stand-in for Stig in Top
Gear. As we surveyed the landscape, the cinematic theme in my head changed to Lawrence Of Arabia. The great desert explorer would have recognised this sweep of shimmering sand. The city skyline in Abu Dhabi is updating constantly, but the desert is one feature that remains unchanged.
Abu Dhabi is one of seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, and before the oil that made them fabulously rich was discovered in 1958, the Land of the Gazelle was little more than an oasis.
But Abu Dhabi is already looking beyond the age of the black gold, remaking itself as a tourism destination for European visitors in its cooler months from September to April.
Dune-bashing, about an hour’s drive from the city, is an almost obligatory activity. But there are other ways to connect with the emirate’s ancient roots.
One is a gentle drift in a kayak through the still-abundant mangroves that fringe the city. I consulted a helpful crib sheet and checked off the flourishing birdlife – western reef heron, clamorous reed warbler, crab plover. We later returned to the water for some virtual pearl-diving. Without anybody getting wet, our guide made us imagine the daring 90-second descent divers used to make to find oysters.
Unlike those brave souls, who rarely found one with a pearl, we enjoyed a suspiciously high success rate from the oysters our guide opened for us. After this gentle hour of aquatic make-believe, our next call was immeasurably huge and grand.
I had first seen the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque from my hotel balcony the night I arrived, more apparition than reality, floodlit in blue and apparently floating in the hot evening air. It is the city’s sensation, a building beyond price. The third-biggest in the world, it holds 41,000 worshippers. The central courtyard, bounded by pillars of white Greek and Macedonian marble, shimmers like molten gold in the right light. The walls sparkle with lapis lazuli, amethyst and mother-of-pearl.
Think up any price-tag and you are probably too low. The late Sultan, who paid for it, decreed that it should never be revealed.
We stayed in the Shangri-La, one of the emirate’s first upmarket hotels. It’s a cool and comfortable retreat in a hot city, with fine dining, spas and swimming – the temptation is to stay in and be pampered.
This is not a city for walking, and public transport is rudimentary, so we relied on the inexpensive taxi service.
One timeless annual event predates everything. It is the hatching of hawksbill turtles on the beach on Saadiyat Island. At the dead of night, the mothers haul up on to the protected beach close to busy hotels to lay their eggs. A miracle of co-existence in this supercharged city.
Even the emirate’s fortune can’t buy the history and culture of venerable European cities. But it can attract ambitious projects such as the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum, which opens in November. Etihad.com offers return flights to Abu Dhabi from €503. Rooms at the Shangri-La Hotel Qaryat Al Beri start from €210