Abu Dhabi’s Qasr Al Watan Palace.

Hi folks!

Herewith – another rewind/catch-up post now I’ve had some time get it done!…

And so it’s back to the United Arab Emirates – this time the Emirate of Abu Dhabi – for… this! ->

But first – rewind. (“Again?!”)

Around the year 2000, I convinced myself that photos are superfluous, and that one’s memory is a much better repository of scenic views and the accompanying emotions. But that changed when I started to travel more and more. I realized that one’s memory isn’t quite up to the task of a frequent traveler. It glitches! That’s when I knew external storage was needed.

So somewhere around 2004 I started traveling with a small pocket camera. But things got off to a bad start: my first device (with all my photos to-date stored on it) was stolen from a soft-top rental car (I left it in the glove compartment) somewhere in Crete (or was it Cyprus?) .

Then came my next realization: I needed to start offloading my pics onto a hard drive – if only in case I lost my new camera or had it stolen. Next realization? Having a well-organized archive of photographs is a must. And that archive is still going strong today – some two decades later.

// Just in case: my archive isn’t in an external cloud service. That would be too impractical given that I’m often without internet on my travels (e.g., in a plane with no Wi-Fi, or, say, at… the North or South Pole!), and I sometimes need my photo archive here and now – no matter where I am. My archive is therefore on my laptop, which is with me practically always (I’ve a back-up, of course.)

And so to today’s topic…

The pic above is of Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi. When I was there recently, I was quite sure that my archive contained dozens of photos of this wonderful building from my last visit (way back when). But it turned out that just the opposite was true: I found nothing!

How could this be? I had only one explanation: there must have been some very big and important meeting to which it wasn’t convenient to come with a camera. I must have been there on my own – and with just my Nokia button phone. I recall being shown around the place, but still – no photos to show for it! Today though – I’ll make up for such a regrettable lapse…

And so – welcome to the luxurious presidential palace of Qasr Al Watan! ->

And here’s the view in the other direction. Ooh – that’s a long way to the entrance/exit. I wonder if it’s doable on foot given the 50+ °C?…

Not that I got to find out, for we were going the other way ->

Inside – a lot of gold and a lot of marble and lot of intricate classical design details – all coming togather for a lot of wow-opulence…

Of course, it’s better to see it with your own receptors, but I’m sharing it as best I can through my digital SLR ->

A few lens changes and…

You could probably listen to an hour-long lecture about all these designs and decorations. But that’s not for me: I’m merely a contemplative tourist. What I see, I project onto my dear readers visually:

While I was composing this text, I remembered a bit more about why I don’t have any pictures from my previous visit. My sclerosis whispered to me that I was here before the official opening of the palace, and I was politely but firmly asked not to take any snaps so that there’d be no accidental leakage of views of the interiors. Yes – I think that’s the version of events that’s the most probable (and not that I was without a camera).

Delegation reception hall – the kind I’ve sat in in various countries around the world on one of those “main” chairs at the front for document signings; not sure one quite as grandiose-swish as this one…

Library:

Apparently, tens of thousands of biblical masterpieces are collected here. I do hope that under careful supervision they’ll be well-looked-after for hundreds of years to come…

But the dining hall has somehow become a little bleaker: way back when I recall there was a magnificent large oval table here. No more ->

// So – what we have here is a luxurious palace for official state receptions. Not so long ago I visited a similar one in China. However, I can’t compare the two: too many different geographical-cultural-climatic conditions. Still curious how they’re both off-the-scale sumptuous...

At the exit – great views of downtown Abu Dhabi:

And that’s all for today folks! Back tomorrow…

The best hi-res pics from UAE are here.