Dubai – an exciting city with fascinating architecture, unique markets and malls, art galleries, international restaurants and gold!   This amazing destination, one of the seven emirates, is located on the south east coast of the Persian Gulf.

Although oil, discovered in 1966, helped with the development of Dubai, it only accounts for 5% of the Emirates income.  The main sources of income today are Tourism, Real Estate, and Financial Services.  Everything is bigger and better, like The Dubai Mall which boasts a dinosaur display, a full size indoor ice rink, as well as the largest suspended Aquarium in the world!

The skyline is ever-changing, with constant construction of new and unique structures. Of course, the Burj Khalifa is probably the most known structure, standing at 829.8 m it is currently the tallest building in the world.

Dubai also boasts the famous Gold Souk. We visited the market at night, and I can not imagine it being any better in the day.  The dazzling array of golden jewelry glittered in the warm night lights, begging to be tried on and bought!

The population of Dubai is approximately 2.5 million; interestingly, about 85% are expatriates.  Due to the unique demographic, restaurants are numerous and as deliciously varied in their offerings as the people who frequent them.

I fell in love with the beautiful dancing fountains, located at The Dubai Mall, in front of the beautiful Burj Khalifa (yes we went up!).  Below is a clip from our evening.

To see more photos of this amazing city, visit my DUBAI PHOTO ALBUM.

The following might also be of interest:

Visit Dubai – Official Tourism Board
Dancing Fountains – YouTube
Dubai – YouTube
Alerts and Warnings – US Government
Foreign Travel Advice – UK Government