If you follow me on Snapchat or Instagram (@ciaranoelleoc on both!) you'll know I took a little jaunt over to the United Arab Emirates for about 10 days to visit my sister. It was a great experience and boy did I soak up the sun(like a little too much. No like a LOT too much). So let me welcome you to my UAE photo diary!
We stayed in Sharjah which is another Emirate right next to Dubai, so while we were close which was great, the traffic was constantly insane - as were some of the drivers! I feel like it is much cheaper to stay in Sharjah and as it is quite close it's another option if you're looking into visiting Dubai. The pictures above are from Al Qasba on Al Khan road - a lovely canal with palm trees and restaurants and cafes lining its sides. So nice! Plus - ice cream. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaas.
This is the English Club in Sharjah - kind of a place for local expats to hang and meet other expats, and also get a good English breakfast!
We spent an evening at the Burj Khalifa, watching the sunset. Possibly the nicest thing we did while in Dubai, it was amazing to see everything from so high up and see it both in the day and in the night. I'd definitely advise going at this time - around 5.30pm. PS look at ALL THAT TRAFFIC.
After watching the sunset from the Burj Khalifa, we headed down to the Dubai Mall for some dinner at The Social House which was amaaaazing, and to watch the fountain show right in front of us. The music is everything - think Celine Dion and Enrique Iglesias with fountains.
It's pretty hard to get a good picture of the Burj Khalifa with nothing blocking its way simply because there is no unoccupied space in Dubai!
We stopped off at the Heritage Village (which was pretty much all closed when we got there so, I'm not much help!) along the Dubai Creek, and ate at Al Bandar - so niice, I'd recommend having lunch there if you're in the area! Unreal humus, salads and coffee! Plus there are extremely cute kittens wandering around - bad for some but I HIGHLY enjoyed it.
Water taxis on the Dubai Creek, which is near the Spice and Gold Souqs.
Chillin at Jumeirah beach! It's so nice there, it's a public beach so free access, the water is so clear and nice - but salty! - and you have a great view of the Burj Al Arab!
We also hung out at the Radisson Blu private beach in Sharjah - its amazing. You have the beach, but also like four pools, unlimited towels, sunbeds and umbrellas, a delish restaurant - with the tastiest Ice Tea - and even a resident cat!
And some pictures from the Blue Souq in Sharjah - it is soooo pretty from the outside, but then inside it's really just like a kind of shopping centre BUT THEN you walk into the little knick-knacky shops and well all I can say is I could have filled the whole airplane with what I saw in there.
Hope you enjoyed this little post! If you have any questions about Dubai or Sharjah let me know and I'll try my best to help you out!
