Tour at Dubai

The financial crisis Dubai has received a major blow. Nevertheless, they built, A stroll from the Palm Jumeirah to the new Old Town. The fascination comes from the warm, blue-gray water. Over there, a hundred feet above the bay begins Palm Jumeirah, the large, in desert sand man-made island Palm form. Here, however, we are still in the country, has created almost as nature, the One and Only Royal Mirage, a luxury hotel with a nearly one kilometer long sand beach, with a Mediterranean and an Arabic-style hotel with matching restaurants and extensive swimming pools . The Royal Mirage is an oasis, large enough to let the skyscrapers and construction sites of Dubai behind. To dive into the pool area with its warm water - or even in the warmer waters of the Gulf. In order to eat Indian or Arab, to sunbathe, shop, to do nothing.

The Mirage is old for Dubai circumstances, it was built ten years ago. But the South African hotel magnate Sol Kerzner is building with its local partners, as it were, namely at the outer end of Palm Island. There, in November, a luxury boutique hotel opened in the emirate as it is, the One & Only The Palm. It only has about 100 rooms. To get there by car, you have to go once through the palm trunk, then through a tunnel on the outer half-ring, which you follow up on one end. Faster the shuttle boat, whose futuristic investors on the beach of the Mirage is receiving the guests.

Already open longer has the hotel on the tip of Palm Jumeirah, the Atlantis, which also belongs to the small, delicate realm of Kerzner hotels. There, the trip is longer, at least if one takes the new Einschienenzug from the mainland. Walking to the station is a single, still partly sandy site, so not only the shoes are dusty in the heat. The station itself is ready, ultra-modern and spacious. Two escalators lead to the platform. Every 20 minutes from the train, slowly, he slides over the dam and past the tall buildings full of apartments and offices, which dominate the beginning of Palm Jumeirah. Further out, followed by the arms arranged in perfect shape, giving the island its distinctive look, some already loaded with hundreds of villas, some still pure sand, free from everything. Finally comes a new bridge and the train pulls into the outer ring. There, emblazoned wide and high, bright and sparkling, the Atlantis.

The luxury here is different than on the mainland, a mass luxury brand, Robinson Club, just bombastic. In particular, the huge aquarium in the center of the lower floors of the hotel. On the long journey to the front desk draw the rays and small sharks by the entire world besides fish. At the pool before the main hall is noisy bustle. Only when the hotel facing the sea leaves again, comes to rest. Only a few guests enjoy views of the bay, the wide lawn and the walk along the edge of the area protected by a stone wall artificial island.

Then it's back to the monorail, left in the distance the famous hotel is in the form of a sail, Burj al Arab, with its partially gilded suites, on the right projects at the Dubai Marina, a new high-rise city on the waterfront, with an artificial waterway through the canyons of skyscrapers. Between them is small and almost hidden behind trees, a relic of the past ten years old: the Royal Mirage.

The fact that Dubai has received major financial crisis in a major blow, also felt this hotel. Pride is one of One and Only but it have held in the past two years prices, instead of like other part, to reduce sharply "In fact, Dubai has experienced between 2009 and 2010 crises due to global crisis," says the Managing Director Olivier Luis. "However, the hotel resorts because of their small numbers were less affected than the many city hotels."

What say the people of the Mirage want is nevertheless obvious. Previously, the view was clear. Today, he is left on the quay wall of the Dubai Marina and is otherwise indicated on the houses of the island. Not quite atypical for the region, says a German tourism manager who is familiar with local conditions. The investment conditions change in an instant. As can kill suddenly at the Spa Hotel, an artificial island or change the width of a skyscraper next door, the atmosphere in the direction of big-city atmosphere.

The pace of change is high, although the Emirate of Dubai in the crisis the money had gone out and now moves many a development project or abandoned. What yesterday was still the ultimate, is now deprecated and has been that way. Thus, the newest attraction of Dubai real estate is not caused by the sea, but 15 kilometers in the interior of the desert city.

Around the tallest building by far the world, the Burj Khalifa, Emaar Properties, one of the Dubai real estate giant, built a modern wonderland - consisting of three hotels under the brand The Address, probably the largest mall in the world and an artificial lake, including dozens of restaurants and bars with terraces, built directly on the water.

Here you can see: not only the pace of change is high, and the pace of learning. Emaar is not a hotel or a consumption landscape temple built, but both intertwined. Downtown Dubai is the total work of art because it brings to life next to the more Western-style skyscrapers, the Arab architecture.

It is activated around the lake, the concept works. Tourists, foreign workers and locals stroll, admire the huge fountains of solemnity and to music, in which even the Burj Khalifa is involved, then the lights at different levels to the rhythm.

Law, however, is the authentic food from around the world, including the very good buffet restaurants in Arabic is kept cool, The Address Dubai Mall, on the other side of the shopping center is the top hotel, The Address Downtown Dubai with nearly 200 luxury rooms. Once over the water of the Arab district begins in the district, The Old Town. A bazaar is missing there just as an apartment complex in the style of the rock houses in Yemen. The showpiece of the Old Town is the third hotel, The Palace.

After going down by a Geschlängel of arcades, fountains and fairy lights, you get to the Palace. Here the individual is receiving the tea-table. If you're lucky, a room is replaced with a view over the lake on the Burj Khalifa and can see how the more than 800 meters high building with the changing position of the sun the color seems to change, and finally black lights in the evening. An elegant skyscraper stands there like a rocket into several tapering steps, with semi-circular elements on the outside.
The pool of the hotel faces the lake. Where to swim in the evening, overlooking the Arabian Palace with its columns, to the Burj and the periodic water fountains, is an artificial experience, yes, but an experience. Just as later in the evening to sit on the balcony and enjoy the quiet of the warm night an exotic drink.

The Burj greyish in the morning mist, the lake is empty, the magic gone, but only until the next afternoon when the sun goes down slowly. The taxi to the airport, it is fast out of Old Town. On our way we pass all sorts of high-rise buildings and neighborhoods, it is like a journey through the wild years of the last decade. What 2005 was still hyper-modern, looks uncool and not as it could come back into fashion.