Sunset on Saadiyat

The Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi is located on a man-made island called Saadiyat. Abu Dhabi, probably even more so than its’ neighbor Dubai, has embraced the building of man-made islands. Even Abu Dhabi itself used to be an island until the channels between itself and the mainland were filled in.

Saadiyat is being developed as a resort destination with big, posh resorts dotting the main beach on the Arabian Sea. Saadiyat also has a New York University extension campus and is in the process of adding an extension of the Louvre as well as the Guggenheim.

Next door is Yas Island which is being developed as a sports and recreation island. On it is the Yas Racing Circuit and Ferrari World both auto racing locations. There is also an enormous shopping mall with more things coming.

There are still extensive mangrove forests lining the original shores and inlets around Abu Dhabi. You may even rent kayaks and explore the mangroves.

What’s been surprising is the distances between places in Abu Dhabi. Two locales look very close on a map but are a minimum of 20-30 minutes apart. Even our hotel is 20 minutes away from central Abu Dhabi and 30 minutes away from the airport. And in between all these places are gigantic 4-6 lane expressways to carry traffic to and fro. Really not expected. Here on Saadiyat European tourists soak up the sun next to the beautiful pools and bone white beaches.

After our trip to the Grand Mosque and the Souks we returned to Saadiyat to relax as we’re still fighting jetlag. It’s hard to beat a cocktail on the beach at sundown! Then we took the opportunity to walk the beach as the sun was setting over Saadiyat and Abu Dhabi. The Arabian Sea really is quite beautiful.

The dome under construction on the right is the new Louvre.

Tomorrow we have our planned day trip to Dubai. We’ve hired a driver to take us and ferry us around while we’re there.

Dubai is a short 90 minute drive from Abu Dhabi, but the drivers are famously poorly skilled here. The fatal accident rate here is 7X the worldwide average. This morning as we left the concierge after gathering some information he said “have a great day, wear your seatbelts!”. So yeah, we’ll let someone else drive us.