#11 – “When Wine Calls” – The Winter Grape Tour Coming to an End but not before the wonders of Dubai Calling.

Welcome back to When Wine Calls “The Winter Grape Tour”. 

Our time in the UK and Europe had come to an end but we wanted to take the opportunity on the way home to Australia to have a stopover in Dubai to not only explore this amazing city for the first time but to also spend some time with our wonderful friends Tom, Lisa and their children Zoe and Nikos who had moved over to Dubai from Australia for a work opportunity some years ago. We had caught up with them in London in the early part of our tour but we always said that we would call in on them on one of our trips so they could show us around their new backyard.

Tom was waiting for us on the other side of customs, and it was so great to see him again. We loaded our bags into his monster car (they are all big cars in Dubai) and headed up the highway towards the Dubai Marina district where we would be staying. 

On route were tall buildings of all different sizes and unique architectural design aligning the highway and in particular the tallest building in the world Burj Khalifa which sits adjacent to Dubai Mall, the world’s largest mall (at least by land area), The Frame building and the incredible Museum of the Future, We were planning to head back to that area  later in the week to discover the wonders of these buildings and the surrounds but for now we continued to look in amazement at the city’s unbelievable skyline amidst streams of cars travelling at breakneck speed across multiple lanes of the highway in both directions. 

Since it was the last leg of the tour, we had shouted ourselves the luxury of staying in a 5-star hotel in the heart of the Dubai Marina district and close to where Tom and Lisa’s apartment was located. The other advantage of staying here was that we could enjoy the luxury of a hotel with a swimming pool that would provide us the opportunity of soaking up the sun each day  – we certainly needed it after travelling through so much winter weather over the past weeks although we still wanted to explore the city as much as we could while were here.

On our previous times in Dubai, we had only transited through the airport on route to Europe, so we had only had seen the city from the air. We, therefore, had no idea on what to expect other than what we had researched but was pleasantly surprised when in the late afternoon we strolled around the marina (in summer clothes at last) with all the buildings then lighting up as dark approached in an amazing array of colours and formations. It was a very comfortable and relaxing atmosphere. 

The next day, after a leisurely breakfast and swim we headed out exploring again, this time to nearby Jumeirah Beach which overlooks the well-known Palms neighbourhood. The area was full of restaurants and other eateries, beach clubs, a large ferris wheel and water sport facilities all along the beachfront creating an exciting beach party atmosphere. 

That night we went to Tom and Lisa’s apartment to catch up and enjoy pizza and wine   overlooking the boats moored in the marina – it was great to have a relaxing evening in the comfort of their home for a change rather than at a restaurant. We were also able to catch-up with Nikos again who was trying to study for school exams but under difficult conditions with us all laughing consistently.

Dubai Mall is massive containing an aquarium, ice skating rink and extremely large waterfall in the complex not to mention 1200 shops to keep you amused for hours.

When we finished exploring it was going on sunset, so we walked outside just in time to see the first of the light shows that take place on the lake as well as all up the sides of the enormous Burj Khalifa building and others surrounding the lake. It is such a spectacular and mesmerising sight complete with spiralling waterfalls and background music in tune with the continually changing lighting that we stayed to experience several sessions of the show.

Lisa wanted to take us to a shop in the market that served traditional Turkish coffee, and they were eager to demonstrate the special way they make their coffee which had been used for generations – it was a fascinating experience and the coffee was divine. 

Palm Jumeriah consists of three man-made archipelagos in the shape of a palm tree. The neighbourhood’s that make up the Palms are Palm Jumeirah, Dubai islands and Palm Jebel Ali. At the tip of the palm is the unbelievable and world-renowned Atlantis 5-star Hotel standing prominently with the Gulf as a backdrop.

As sunset arrived the incredible view became even more magical, this is another must do activity amongst so many if you visit Dubai.

Tom had managed to organise the next day off work and wanted to show us around the Dubai Old Town including the historical Gold and Spice souks. Pauline was particularly excited about visiting the gold markets and egged on by Tom and Lisa I knew we would not finish the day without acquiring some new jewellery.

We firstly had a quick lunch on the opposite side of the Dubai Creek in the markets near the Al Fahid Fort before we experienced crossing the creek on a traditional Abra boat where all the traditional trading boats were passing loaded with a large array of goods (including whitegoods) to offload at the markets.

Walking around the vast labyrinth of shops in the markets with spicy aromas evident throughout was chaotic but provided a wonderful experience of market life back in the early days of Dubai now blended with today’s approach to commercialism.

After a great day we had arranged for us all to have dinner back at the hotel for our last night in Dubai. When we arrived, the tables were all beautifully set up on the verandah overlooking the marina and with a balmy night thrown in provided a wonderful backdrop. 

We had really enjoyed our time in Dubai, and it was extremely difficult in having to say farewell again to Tom, Lisa, Zoe and Nikos but Dubai marked the end of “The Winter Grape Tour” and it was time to travel back to Australia. The next morning Tom and Lisa kindly dropped us back at the airport and as we sat in the lounge awaiting our flight we reflected on the tour and how it had exceeded all our expectations and left us emotional and with indelible lifelong memories. We were, however, eager to catch up with the rest of the family that were on various flights heading back to Australia and share their travel experiences since we had left them following Christmas. 

All that was left for us to do at that point was to hop on the plane, locate our seats and request a bubble’s or two. “When Wine Calls” was calling us Home.  

We hope you have enjoyed reading about our amazing travels on “The Winter Grape Tour” as much as we have bringing them to you. Please join us again on our next tour, “The Sake Adventure” in the coming months. Until then, remember “When Wine Calls” Travel Answers! 

 See you all again soon. 

Bruce & Pauline