Ramblings from the Desert

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Another weekend- how time flies!!
On Thursday I went off to the art fair in the Bastikya which is one of my favourite places at the best of times. It is where settlers from Iran built traditional houses from their part of Iran with barjeels or windtowers. My visit coincided with the Iranian new year- the celebrations for which last over 10 days. A lot of the Iranian settlers here call themselves Persian stillwhich can be quite confusing.I had lunch there and a very pleasant afternoon - managing however not to buy anything which was a relief to Ian. In the evening we joined Ian and Sally B for dinner on the Terrace at Le Meridien and a very pleasant time was had by all.
On Friday ian and I drove through Sharjah to Ajman and using one of our buy one get onbe free tokens had lunch at the Kempinsky Hotel there.We are trying to explore as much as we can of the Emirates before it gets too hot. It is in the top 30s at present ( in the shade)Unfortunately the batteries ran out on my camera so there are no photos!!
Saturday morning we left here bright and early- well early- and picked up Sally and Ian and we drove up to Abu Dhabi-it was Sally's first visit to the capital city. Abu Dhabi means father of the gazelles in Arabic, so I believe, (I have not done any of my Arabic lessons for a while.)Our task was to visit the Grand mosque there - the Sheik zayed mosque is very new and work is still very much on goinbg on the beautiful grounds.

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Photos

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This is the entrance to one of the houses in the bastikya where the art exhibition was

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The Sheik Zayed mosque is mainly of Moroccan style but it also has Turkish features - it has 80 domes the main dome is believed to be the largest in the world

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there are 1096 columns in the outer courtyard and 96 in the main prayer hall

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the tops of the columns are 24 ct gold plate and the white marble is decorated with semi precious stones- lapilazuli, red agate, amethysts etc

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this is inside one of the rooms in the windtower houses - I rather like these sculptures by a local artist who had once been a fisherman

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there is a minaret in each of the 4 corners

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there are 80 iznikpanels( tiles) in the traditional way

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the chandeliers came from germany- 24 ct gold was used and swarovski crystals

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each of the 80 domes is beautifully decorated

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there are modern glass doors - electronically operated between the different areas- there is a ladies prayer hall, a men's one and the main huge prayer hall

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in the main prayer hall there is the largest handwoven Persian carpet in the world

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the chandeliers are quite spectacular- under the circle of pillars on the left is the stained glass work shown in the next picture- the ablutions are underneath the mosque

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beautiful stained glass work under the circle of pillars-

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by the doorwaysand windows into the other prayer roomsare racks of beautifully decorated Q'urans

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the largest hand woven persian carpet in the world