We love historical places with lots of old buildings, cultures and practices. So visiting an ultra modern city like Dubai for an extended period of time is somewhat out of character . However, our kids happen to be working there as teachers at the moment so, post Covid, guess where we headed to first?
But of course, the trading port of Dubai has been around for eons, with pearl diving recorded back in the 1500’s and the growing of date palms in the area thought to stretch back to 2500 BC…..at least! So while modern Dubai is glitsy and go go go, there are still plenty of historical places to visit and experience.
Down by the Dubai Creek
You can visit the Dubai Old City on the Dubai side of the creek and then, for 1 AED (cash please) catch an Abra (small ferry) across to the Deira side to the traditional Souks.
The crossing only takes a few minutes but we had so much fun, and met so many interesting people on these small boats, that we would cross back and forth as often as we could find an excuse to do it.
Which brings us back to Ishmael and dates!
Finding Dates in Dubai
What we remember most about Dubai, other than spending time with the kids of course, was our hunt for the best dates.
Fresh, of course, but in Dubai you get them with all sorts of nuts inside and all types of chocolate outside. Some even have pistachio or coconut sprinkled on top of that. What a feast for the taste buds.
We tried various markets, malls, stands, cafes and restaurants but the best by far were from one of the tiny little stalls in the Spice Souk on the Deira side of the Creek
What was special about this little stall?
From the outside, very little separated “Abdul Rahman Mahmood Al Marzooqi General Trading LLC” from all the other little stalls at the Spice Souk. However, when you walked inside, there was Ishmael!
Ishmael is passionate about all the goods on offer in the shop and is more than generous in handing out samples to either taste on the spot or take home to weave into some culinary delight.
Like many of the other shops, he sold every type of date (value added, or plain), and also saffron and other spices. His dates however were top class. Best of all though was he encouraged us to sample any or all of different individually wrapped dates.
Of course there is method in this approach in that after sampling so much free stuff, you are disinclined to walk out without having purchased something! We never left his shop empty handed but we were always very happy with our purchases!
While Ishmael’s shop was our highlight, there are plenty of other Souks and places of historical interest to visit in old town Dubai
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Follow our travels experiences at No Ties No Heels
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