Drive West – that was all me. I thought that we should do it. Gorgeous views of the Gulf (the Persian one, not the one between Mexico & Florida) and sleepy towns that used to be renowned for pearl diving. Or so I read…
So we did. We hopped in the car and drove. West – as in towards Saudi Arabia, but never got that close. We managed to stay 200km from that border. But we did have a destination in mind. There was not a lot to see on the drive. The Western Region of Abu Dhabi is home to one of the largest deserts and is a vast 60000km large. The area is called Al Gharbia. There is desert and a considerable amount of date trees, which means an abundance of dates:
Driving was a little less straight forward than we originally thought it was going to be. We wanted to go to an island and packed our swimming suits, but the road to what we thought was an island did not quite work out. We were told in no uncertain terms, that it was not passable by us. So, we got back on the highway and kept driving. We ended up taking another wrong turn into what we thought was a town, but clearly not a place for visitors, but more for those whose work involves the law. Back on the highway we went to look for the pearl diving town, and the idea of swimming became increasingly appealing.
The hotel in the town stood back from the Gulf waters in the middle of beautifully manicured grounds. While there was a pool, the Gulf waters taunted, since no swimming was to be had…
Due to the lack of swimming, I surmised that we would not find any pearls…
We did however, find some very interesting locals –
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