This was Mick at breakfast this morning. What a selection! After having spent the last five weeks in AIRBNB accommodation, staying here at this Four Star Hotel is a treat.

I soon wiped the smile off his face when he found out it was about a 2 Km walk to where the Hop On Hop Off Bus would leave from. I had no idea it was so far, but because we had no local currency we were a bit stuck. It was a pretty tough workout.

This was the most expensive of our bus tours this holiday at 230AED (~$86AUD) each, but it was the BEST.

Because the staff were very helpful, the buses ran to a timetable, the audio was clear and really interesting, the buses were airconditioned and we were provided with free bottles of water.

This city is so young, so new and so interesting. We have loved our stay. We want to come back, but perhaps later in the year as the temperature did reach 50°.

As part of our bus ticket we got to ride on an Arabian Dhow.

We were the ONLY passengers so had a private tour of part of the Arabian Gulf.

Not that we spent too much time on the top deck as it was too hot, but we got to see the beaches which were patrolled. This shot shows the single man on the single male beach. You may need to zoom in to see him.

There were some fabulous boats on display as well but we only saw one being used today.

After visiting the Mezquite in Córdoba we would have loved to have visited this place.

But, we wouldn’t have been able to do the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque justice, so we must come back. This is apparently the third biggest mosque in the world and can cater for 40,000 people.

Sheikh Mohammed Zayed is venerated in Abu Dhabi.

He was the founder of the United Arab Emerites and was its first leader. What he achieved is impressive.

We stopped for half an hour at this mall to buy a few essentials and were impressed by the quality of service of everyone. The store we went to had people to pack your bags, like in the olden days.

They were spotlessly clean and would take days to go through.

We caught a taxi back to our hotel after I withdrew some cash at an ATM. It was 7.25AED (~$2.75). We were crazy to walk but we did not know.

We have had a blast in Abu Dhabi and hope to come back some time. I think I’ll keep a copy of the map for Mick so we are prepared.

Fingers crossed our plane can leave on time tonight. Etihad has treated us so very well though.

Cheers