Yay, we're getting to know Dubai

At 9 o'clock our alarm clock rang. Fresh and lively, we got ready and went to have a delicious breakfast at the hotel. There was a little bit of everything, some European food, Arabic food, and of course fresh fruits and very tasty fresh juice. After we fortified ourselves, we first went on the Hop on, Hop off tour, which we booked at “www.big-busses.de”. We paid 50€ per person. Personally, I love these buses. Because through them, you can get a good impression of the city, discover all the sights, and even get discounts on museums and other attractions in the city. In addition, a bus comes every 20 minutes, so waiting for the next bus can never take long. Here in Dubai, there are even three tours, the green one, the red one, and the blue one, so you can really relax and explore Dubai in one day.

The first stop was only about 10 minutes away from our hotel and was right at the souk, the soul of Dubai. Everywhere you can see clay-colored one-story houses, sandy streets, and lots of new & unknown smells. We took a little walk there, which already feels like sports in almost 40 degrees.

Finally, we ended up at a market. There we found great scarves, clothes, spices, and jewelry on every corner. We wanted to stroll around a bit but after less than 5 minutes, it turned out to be a big mistake. Because the sellers pull you into the shops and don't let you leave without buying anything. But we managed to leave the market without losing any money. Then the next bus came and took us to the Mall of Dubai. It took us about 40 minutes from the souk to the mall. When we arrived at the mall, we were overwhelmed by its size and the incredibly huge aquarium that adorned the entrance area. We strolled around the mall at first until we discovered "Five Guys". There we had a hearty lunch. Then we went out again to see the Burj Khalifa. We didn't go up because the 80€ for a view wasn't worth the money to us. Then we went back to our bus. This time we chose the green tour, as it includes stops at Jumeirah Beach and the Burj Al-Arab, among others. We were at the beach, collecting seashells and testing the water. The sand is light, the water clear, and above all, very warm. Unfortunately, the almost 33 degrees warm sea was not refreshing, but it was still beautiful. Then we looked around the area of the beach and unfortunately missed the last bus. But fortunately, taking a taxi here is not very expensive, so we came back to the hotel by taxi for about 15€ (30km). When we arrived at the hotel, we jumped into the pool, and a refreshment felt really good, even though it was also 33 degrees.

After a long swim and relaxing in the sun, we got ready because we want to go to the "Estrellas Sky Bar". It's only about a 10-minute walk away. We made ourselves comfortable there with a hookah, hummus, and Arabic bread. The atmosphere of this bar is great. The staff was very attentive, and the view was gigantic. Everything was blinking, and you didn't know where to look first.

After spending a cozy three hours there, we went back to the hotel and let the impressions of the day pass in our sleep. It was a great first day of vacation.