Our Eid this year was spent in Fujairah, an emirate three-hours of drive away from Dubai. The entire drive up to the city was made special by gorgeous views of the magnificent Hajar mountains, which is the highest mountain range in the eastern Arabian peninsula. We made a brief stop at Masafi, to have lunch – which we brought with us – facing the mountains. Masafi is a village that is the highest living area in the U.A.E. and is famous for its natural springs.
Along the way up to Fujairah, there are several shops selling carpet; the price is similar to the ones sold in the malls – 350 dirhams for a small carpet. Also along the highway are shops selling fresh fruit, vegetables and potted plants as well.
Since it was a holiday, Fujairah was packed with people from Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. And there was so much traffic that most of our time was either spent driving or looking for a parking spot. Even the beach was full! But that didn’t discourage us. We went on a short boat ride in the Gulf of Oman and enjoyed the cool water hitting our faces. The ride costs 10 dirhams per person.
By the time we were having dinner – at Pizza Hut, where young Emiratis were playing Lady Gaga songs on their phones for everyone to hear – we felt like we didn’t have the energy to drive all the way back to Sharjah. It was 8 pm. So we drove around the city in search for a reasonably-priced hotel. Another reason why we wanted to stay overnight was the fact that we haven’t really seen all of Fujairah yet. Unfortunately, 99% of the hotels were fully booked. We found one that had some vacant rooms. They were charging 1,500 dirhams for the night. It was a 2 star hotel. One could stay in Atlantis hotel in the Palm Island with that price!
We drove all the way back home and arrived at 2 am.
I was already unconscious before my head hit the pillows.
It was an adventurous tour, MashaAllah. But at the same time very exhausting. Kudos to your driving
Oh, it was definitely fun! We should go there again before the cool season ends
Sounds like you had a great time, Nadia! Minus the long drive home, of course.
The place looks wonderful, and those carpets! Gosh. They look beautiful. Yeah im starting to imagine
Great pictures mann.
Oh, the carpets were gorgeous, Smiley! We might return there just to buy one
Masya-Allah, I like your journey. Exploring places, taking pictures and explaining details. I hope one day I could be there too, Insya-Allah. Thanks, dear sis. As usual, you’ve got lovely pictures that made me fall in love with the places. Spontaneously.
Thank you, Sis. Fujairah is a small, laid back place – a very good and pleasant change for us. And the Emaratis here appear to be friendlier than those we regularly come across in Sharjah/Dubai.
Seems like a wonderful trip (minus hard-luck with the hotel part); Visiting tourist locations on such an eve is mostly annoying due to overcrowding and exponential increase in accommodation fare. Nonetheless, a good adventure!
Thank you for sharing these beautiful photographs.
.. and a belated Eid Mubarak.
Thank you, Raheel. Visiting such places during the holidays has its disadvantages, but everyone gets off from work at the same time so, yeah, we couldn’t avoid the crowd. But I’m glad we decided to return home – no hotel can provide the same comfort.
a good time overtakes tired ness and discomfort – no?
Yes! Every time
Why have you left your blog title blank? I mean, on my subscription page, I always see [no title] whenever new post is published from your blog. Even Google doesn’t know the title, which is “The Purple Journal”, of this blog. Like when you’re on this blog, see the titlebar of Firefox/Chrome and you’ll see nothing.
It doesn’t create any problem just looks odd. May I know why the title is left blank (from Settings > General)?
Thanks for pointing this out, Sajib. I had no idea why I left that blank; I just didn’t notice, I guess. I added a title now, hope that fixes the issue
Now it looks better. I thought it was intentionally left blank.
carpets are gorgeous! And that beauty restaurant belongs to some beauty? Lol….
I’m not a fan of tiring journeys on jam-packed roads myself but I’m sure you guys had fun. I mean it’s not often that I hear of anyone having lunch facing the breath-taking mountains with springs and all!
I hope this Beauty Restaurant does belong to a beauty – to justify the name – specially since we can’t say that about the restaurant itself
There’s a downside to having a meal in the middle of such magnificent scenery: you tend to eat more.
Fujairah has always been a great place for a vacation – particularly Khor Fakkan and the surrounding areas – I love the combination of blue seas and rolling mountains. It still has retained its charm of olden times – compared to the glitzy spectacle of richer neighbours.
I agree, Mezba. Fujairah is such a relaxing change. I’d love to drive all the way up there again soon.
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