Hatta Fort

 

We are trying to squeeze in UAE travels while the weather is still tolerable.  One of the places on our list for this spring was Hatta, a fort town in the mountainous center of the country.  The climate at Hatta is hot but drier than Abu Dhabi and Dubai, making it a relative summer haven.  

Nearby Hatta Fort is a small complex of a few towers and a main square, now converted into a museum scattered with all-too life-like soldiers.

We stayed at a charming hotel, open since 1981 (an eternity by UAE standards).  Hatta Fort Hotel lacks the sheen of modern UAE architecture, and we didn't miss the glitz one bit. It is an unofficial gathering spot for the Dubai Harley Davidson club. The 100+ degree weather didn't deter the bikers from parking their bikes in the sun and striding about in their leather pants.

The hotel has an endearing medley of attractions: a putt-putt course, where the "greens" are cement (the ball never stops rolling!), rabbits in a rabbit house, goats, ducks, and several loquacious peacocks.

Even though it is spring here, it is still quite warm.  We walked up to the hotel's observation point. Despite our considerable sweat, no one will be impressed with our ascent.

 

Fujeirah

The UAE has seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai, Ras al Khaimah, Ajman, Um Al Quwain, and Fujeirah. We've been in the first four long enough to go for runs, spot flamingos, camp, and scope beaches. We've hardly touched the last three. Especially Fujeirah, the pink region on the map below.

This is a serious omission. On the east coast of the Arabian peninsula, just below lovely Musandam, Fujeirah has an entirely different look and feel: coastal mountains gathered next to sandy beaches, tremendous snorkeling (or, in our case, diving with goggles), and a whole new gulf to swim in. 

The drive there from Abu Dhabi sent us up past Dubai, through the rather scrubby interior....

....until dunes begin in earnest.  

And then, as if the terrain couldn't get any stranger, the mountains set in. 

Then it was over the mountains and a quick swoop down to the coast, where we stopped at a tiny Indian restaurant.

"No menu, just biryani," the proprietor explained enthusiastically. Two deep-fried fish later, we wandered out to meet the Gulf of Oman. 

We made it up the coast nearly to Dibba, where we stopped at Snoopy Island, named for its uncanny resemblance to Snoopy asleep on top of his dog house.

 

And that's where we spent the night. On the beach, with an Emirati family camping nextdoor.  

But first, we played some frisbee, swam in our front yard....

....and watched the sun set.

 

 The next day, we swam out to the coral reef near Snoopy Island, where we saw fish that could only be described as tie-died, sea slugs, urchins, anenomes, and all kinds of coral. We lay on the beach afterwards, listening to the German, Russian, and dubious English of the various vacationers. And then started back by a different route. 

The Atlantis Aquarium

Legend has it that, when building the Dubai Palm, workers uncovered a lost city. To a city crowded with delusion-prone imaginations and eager to realize the most extravagant childhood dreams ("let's build the tallest, shiniest tower we can!"), underwater ruins could only mean one thing: Atlantis.

And so the grand hotel at the end of the Palm is called the Atlantis. And the fancy aquarium within it is Atlantis-themed, with a confusing array of unspecified fish and jellies drifting through fake ruins. In between the tanks, designers have interspersed rooms full of mist, fog, mystifying sculptures, and fountains.

Were we confused? Why, yes. Not having read up on the fake history we were encountering, we were occasionally at a loss. But we were also pretty happy. Why? It's summer here, and it's cold in the aquarium. Crazy cold.