Dubai Diary 7 - Fujairah

A tiny bustling town, there really isn’t much to see in Fujairah but I loved the feel of the old unostentatious distinctly local town. Worlds apart from the glitz and glamour of Dubai, where one really can’t experience much of local culture and flavour.

We hired a taxi to take us through the little harbour town, and he charged us an abominable price, which we fought bitterly over but couldn’t chip more than 20 dirhams off. The driver knew, of course, we had just a few hours for sightseeing before we caught the bus to Dubai.

UAE was celebrating Id with a four-day holiday then and the beach at Fujairah was swarming with picnickers. The coastline is thin and rocky, and the sandy shore will not count as a beach to lovers of Chennai’s Marina, but the wide promenade and the lovely park along the shore make it a great picnic spot. It is not uncommon to see Arab families on barbeque parties by the beachside – a scene I see along Dubai’s beaches too.








the promenade and the park


The beach at the tiny town of Khor Fukkan, a short drive from Fujairah, is wider and more beautiful. Again swarming with people.



the beach at Khor Fukkan



the beach at Khor Fukkan


A sixteenth century mosque where people still pray is one of the attractions of Fujairah. Located at the base of a hill fort, the small sandstone mosque is fairly well preserved as is the rock-gypsum-sandstone fort on top. We climbed the hillock and went up the spiralling staircase of one of the sentinel towers of the fort.



the fort



Located on a hillock, the palace at Fujairah is well maintained but no longer in use, and locked [with a big Made in China lock – what else?] though tourists can clamber up to it, or potter around it and in the grounds below. Close by is the Fujairah Museum, with relics that claim to be 2500 to 3000 years old.




the palace

The Fujairah Museum housed relics of its past, mostly pots, burial urns, weapons, tools in wood, metal and ceramic, besides depicting the cultural lives of other times with elaborate life size models. Dubai museum housed in the Al Fahidi Fort and the Heritage House in Al Ras – which we were later to see - had lots more of these relics and models. Dubai Museum also claimed to be representing a 3000 year civilisation –looks like Indus Valley has a lot of competition – we have never developed our tourism potential, I realised as I wandered around the two museums.

The Fujairah Museum even had traditional Arab robes which tourists could wear and take photos in. The museums not only showcased relics but also gave a dekko into the culture and lifestyle of different periods – and though they aren’t the most vibrant of museums, they still leave you with an enriched understanding of the places.