The Hili Archeological Park

The Hilo Archeological Park was our first stop in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which we drove to from Dubai. It is near the city of Al Ain. Excavations were started here in the late 1960s by international teams. Archeologists uncovered a settlement and tombs here that dated back to 2700–2000 BC.

Hili Archeological Park

This is the Great Stone Tomb, which was restored. People were buried in collective graves, in this tomb in six chambers. Personal artifacts were buried with the people and these have been moved to the National Archeological Museum.

The Al Ain Oasis

Our next stop was at the Al Ain Oasis which covers over 3,000 acres with over 147,00 date palms of up to 100 different species.

The Al Ain Oasis: Movie

Men climb the palm trees to harvest the dates and to cut off the dead fronds. This movie is of a man climbing up one of the palm trees.

Al Ain Buildings

Each city can set their own building standards. Al Ain does not allow buildings over three stories. They haven’t gone with a skyscraper city. I thought some of these three–story buildings looked like ones I have seen in Southern California in shopping areas. In fact, I passed one a couple of days ago in a neighboring city similar to these, even having Arabic–style windows on it. Did we borrow their architecture or did they borrow ours?

Al Ain National Museum

Our next stop was at the Al Ain National Museum to view some of the artifacts taken from the tombs and settlement at Hili plus other artifacts, ethnological displays, and gifts received by Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Falcon at the Al Ain National Museum: Movie

This falcon was perched on a pedestal in front of the museum. I was fascinated by it and took a movie of it. Hoods are placed on a falcon’s head to limit its vision and to keep it calm, a practice centuries old.

Al Ain National Museum

The displays in the museum were interesting. This one is of carved daggers called Kharjar, which are worn in many parts of the Arabian peninsula.

Al Ain Mall

We went to the food court at the mall for lunch.

Al Ain Mall

The new restaurants and cafes at the mall. There were also many fast–food restaurants in the food court, many of them American. Some of the people on my tour didn’t recognize some of the restaurants that I did and vice versa, which seems to indicate that many American restaurant chains are expanding internationally rather than domestically.

Al Ain Mall

A mall with its own skating rink. The Dubai Mall has one as well.

Camel Market

Our next stop was the camel market. Camels are bought here mainly for racing at the camel race tracks in Abu Dhabi.

Sheikh Zayed Palace Museum

This was the residence of Sheikh Zayed, the founder of the UAE, and his family from 1937 to 1966.

Call for Prayer: Movie

As we entered the museum grounds, we heard the Call for Prayer over the loud speaker. We heard it several times elsewhere in Dubai and in Sharjah. You don’t see Muslims racing to go to a prayer room or to a mosque or to prostrate themselves on the ground when the Call to Prayer is heard. They just go about their business like everyone else. Mounir said that Muslims are more likely to pray when they are at home when it is prayer time.

We drove to our hotel after visiting the museum.