March 2017

The first time we were in Dubai to get on our Suez Canal cruise in 2013, we stayed at a hotel near the airport. We used cabs(not too expensive) to get around, visited old souks, went across Dubai Creek on an Abra(a wooden water taxi that costs 1 AED), walked around the creek side textile market, visited the old historic neighborhood, and ate at a reasonably priced restaurant right on the Creek.

But all Pat remembers is the breakfast the next morning which happened to be on a Friday. That is a prayer time in Dubai. All the public transportation was shut down till 1 P.M., and most shops were closed. We took a cab to one of the biggest malls in the world, Dubai Mall, and went straight to the food court area. There was a huge collection of interesting looking food counters all around, but nothing was open. A security guard told us there was a place open for breakfast. We rushed to get there, and what else! A McDonald’s!

We got to see some really sleek, tall buildings, and I got my treat: a box of dates at Bateel’s — The best dates ever in my book.

We were on the same cruise in 2017, and we decided to play a bit more local this time and stayed at an Airbnb apartment near Downtown Dubai. We ate at a Pakistani restaurant Ravi’s, a humble place serving great food. We tried to use the buses and the Metro more this time. Only 15% of the population(3 million) are UAE nationals, and the rest are from all over the world with India(51%) and Pakistan(16%) leading the way.

I loved various sweet shops that displayed the multi-ethnic composition of the population.

We visited a historic Al Shidagha neighborhood on the shores of Dubai Creek by the modern Shidagha Bridge linking the historic districts of Al Shindagha and Al Ras. This area was getting a major makeover when we were there.

We visited the Dubai Museum(almost free) and found it quite interesting and informative. We enjoyed an excellent Indian lunch at a restaurant called Mumtaz Mahal in a hotel near the Dubai Museum. The musician who played the sitar said he was a student of Ravi Shankar, the teacher of a Beatle George Harrison.

Madinat Jumeirah Resort Hotel & Market was a bit out of the way to get there by public transport, and the price tags were not meant for the customers who would get there not by a Mercedes or a Bentley. We enjoyed having a cocktail at the hotel bar, though. Not cheap, but we saved money on transportation, right?

 

[Update: March 2020]

We were back in Dubai once again for a cruise trip. We called this trip, “a Cruise to Nowhere.” Due to Covid-19, it didn’t quite work out as we planned.

Trip route: LAX -> Vilnius -> Dubai -> Abu Dhabi -> Khor Fakkan, U.A.E. -> Muscat, Oman -> “Almost India” -> Khasab, Oman -> Dubai -> LAX

Continuation after Khasab:

Early the next morning, the captain came on the PA again and announced that the port of Abu Dhabi was now closed to cruise ships and we would return to Dubai a day early, giving us two full days in Dubai.  For those who wanted to visit Abu Dhabi again, the ship offered bus transportation, but we didn’t see the point.

The first thing I noticed upon exiting the ship was the number of cruise ships.  I counted nine.  Dubai, I guess, was the only port in the vicinity that was accepting cruise ships.

The first thing we did was take a cab to the offices of Emirates Airline.  Our original flight to India was in two days on Emirates.  Since India had cancelled all visas to Koreans, there was no way we could take that flight and we hoped Emirates would be accommodating.  They weren’t.

We next went to the Dubai Frame, the largest building in the world in the shape of a picture frame.

If you look carefully at the underside of the top of the frame, you will see vertigo inducing glass panels that you can walk upon.  Not exactly my cup of tea.

It’s relatively easy to get around Dubai by taxi.  Cabs are plentiful, all are metered, and all the drivers speak English.  It’s a rare trip that costs more than $10.

We took a cab to the Dubai Mall, the largest shopping mall in the world.  With all the news about coronavirus, the mall was eerily empty.

We had lunch outside at a dumpling restaurant.  This restaurant is part of a chain headquartered in Taiwan.  We’ve eaten at their restaurants in Taipei, Beijing, Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong, and, now, Dubai. This was the first time there was no waiting line to get into the restaurant. 

After lunch we went to Alserkal Avenue where the warehouses and office space had been converted to art galleries, studios, and coffee shops.

One of the galleries featured restored classic automobiles.

We tried to stay on the ship on the second day in Dubai, but we got bored, and took a port shuttle to another shopping center, this one with an Italian theme. In Dubai standard, this was a tiny mall. 

The markets in the UAE have separate rooms for pork products.

April 2017

Lisbon is a favorite stop for the trans-Atlantic cruises, and we’ve stopped here several times for this reason. We always welcomed an opportunity to visit this city that offers enough things to see and do. This meant, though, we never got to experience the nighttime scene in Lisbon. I wanted to hear Fado music, which tends to be played late in the evening. So we picked Lisbon as a flight transfer point on our way back from Madrid to Los Angeles.

We rented an Airbnb room in Alfama district where many of the Fado joints were. This eclectic hilltop area has lots of murals, cafes, restaurants in narrow alleyways. It is very easy to get lost, but, somehow, you are never too far from where you were going.

We chose A Baiuca for our Fado night. Luckily, we were able to get the same day reservation by calling them around 6 PM. It was a small, tight space. When we got there around 8:30 PM, some of the instrumentalists were getting ready to play. We ordered our dinner and wine (minimum 25 Euros per person) and soaked in the atmosphere. The food was actually pretty good.

A Baiuca appealed to me because it had a constant stream of singers coming in to sing a few songs. We could hear many different voices and songs, and, even a cook came out from the kitchen and belted her heart out. At one point a young lady in her mid-30’s came in and asked our permission to join us on our table. Turned out, she was a singer waiting for her turn. She said she was from Amsterdam. She fell in love with Fado when her mother played the records when she was growing up, and she had to come to Lisbon to learn to sing Fado after finishing college and working to save up some money. After a few years, she got good enough to sing Fado professionally and support herself. She loved her life in Lisbon being a Fado singer.

Our stopover in Lisbon was a total success!

March /April 2017, June 2018, May 2019

We were in Madrid(population: 3.2 million) 4 times within last two years, and, based on this experience, we make following suggestions for those interested in visiting Madrid for the first time. Madrid is great for art lovers and foodies, and we’d encourage everyone to plunge in and enjoy.

We would recommend visitors to stay at least 4 nights to get to know the city, which will allow 3 full days in Madrid. It will be good to include a Sunday and a Monday: El Rastro Street Market is open on Sundays, and my favorite art museum, Thyssen-Bornemisza, is free on Mondays. Another free event to consider is the lunch time free concert at Royal Opera House from September to February at 1 PM on Fridays and some Sundays.

Central Madrid is small enough to cover by walking, and the Metro and the buses are convenient. Uber works well and just a tad bit cheaper than taxi. Therefore, staying any where in the city within the boundary of the map below will be fine. To give an idea, from the Retiro Park, the green rectangular area toward the eastern part of the city, to the Royal Palace, another green rectangular area toward the western edge of the city, is about 2.5 km(1.6 miles).

We have stayed at 4 different Airbnb apartments: one near Anton Martin station (between Atocha & Puerto del Sol), one right across the river from the Royal Palace, another one right near Puerto del Sol, and one near Tribunal station(between Callao and San Bernardo). You can look at the full metro map here.  Our favorite so far was the last one because the narrow streets in this area were more intimate and neighborhood-ly, and we could walk to every where within 20 minutes, and there were so many places to eat, shop, hang out etc. that locals were frequenting.

One of the things we love in Spain is “menu del dia” lunch specials. Every restaurant in Spain was required by law to offer a lunch deal during the week up until 2010, and this tradition is still carried on. These multi course meals come with drinks: soda, beer, or wine. In Madrid, you see lots of deals around 8 – 14 euro range. One thing to remember is that lunch time doesn’t start till 12:30 or 1 PM at most restaurants. Here is a sample of best “Menu del Dia” offerings compiled by a tour company in Madrid:

Other than the Thyssen Museum mentioned above, I recommend two other art museums: Prado Museum(one of the great art museums in the world) and Reina Sofia Art Museum(modern Spanish art). Both have free admission hours daily.

I like Thyssen because it offers a panorama of great art works in a more intimate setting, and you can actually look at each art work and appreciate better. Reina Sofia gives you an idea how active Spanish artists have been in modern times. Prada, really, is one of the great museums in every sense: the depth/width of their collection, the architecture, sheer enormity of the place etc. You feel that you are touched by art just by being there. Sadly, though, these great museums simply have too much to look at & attract too many people so that walking around in your own pace is almost impossible.

Here’s how I would organize daily schedules around free museum hours and varied food tasting opportunities. Unfortunately, arriving on a weekend will erase chances of getting more/better lunch special deals.

Day 1: Saturday

• a walking tour starting from Puerto del Sol around 10 AM or so. Look around.
• continue to Plaza Mayor and the small streets around there, walk around
• stop at Plaza de la Villa, walk around the area and a bit south
• go back up to Plaza Mayor area & have lunch at San Miguel Market, one of the most attractive food courts in the world, in my opinion. The stalls here have gotten more upscale and expensive, I’ve noticed, but you can hunt for some bargains if you study carefully. For instance, there are 1 euro tapas and 2-3 euro sea food preparations

• Uber to Atocha Station & go inside to see the unusual design of the interior.
• walk north for several blocks & stop at CaixaForum to view the building design & go up to the top floor to rest at the cafe, catch some exhibits if anything interesting is going on
• go across the street & visit the botanical garden(4 euros)
• go next door to Prado Museum(free admission 6-8PM on Saturday)
• dinner: La Malontina, a 10 minute walk from Prado, exquisite food under 20 euros
• stop for churros and hot choco at Maestro Churros

 

Day 2: Sunday

• go to El Rastro flea market(9 AM – 3 PM): better to go after 11 AM for people watching but earlier for shopping and haggling
• have tapas in the area
• go to Toledo circle & get on #C1, that circles around the city to see more of the city while resting your feet
• the bus will go north, then turn east, then turn south; get off at an eastern entrance to Retiro Park. (Av. Meneddez Pelayo stop will work well, there’s a big children’s hospital near the stop)

• enter the park, slowly walking toward the pond in the middle
• sit around the pond, admire the artsy settings, watch people
• continue walking toward the western edge of the park & you will come out behind Prado Museum. Pass this area, cross the street, walk down south on the tree lined street, Paseo del Prado
• at the end of this street, go around the corner & arrive at Reina Sofia Museum (free  from 1:30 to 7 PM on Sunday), get to the ticket window to pick up the free tickets & enter the museum
• dinner: Uber to San Anton Market & pick what appeals to you.

 

Day 3: Monday

• go to Plaza Espana to admire Cervantes and two of his famous characters: Don Quixote and Sancho
• walk 10-15 minutes to the Royal Palace (looks more modest than the pictures) to see the official residence of the royal family. We never went inside, thus, we are not sure whether it’s worth the money and time to go inside. The Cathedral is next door on the south side, but, there are more attractive buildings in this town. It doesn’t look as impressive as in the photos.
• across the street from the Palace is Oriente Plaza, and you will see the Royal Theater behind it.
• walk east toward Puerto de Sol for 15-20 minutes and go to Museo del Vino(Wine Museum) restaurant to experience their 12 euro lunch special. They open at noon, and the food portions are extremely generous.
• walk east for another 10-15 minutes & reach Thyssen Museum, free on Mondays from noon to 4 PM.

• exiting the museum, walk north for a few blocks to the City Hall. Admire the view of this area & start walking on Gran Via, the Broadway of Madrid. As soon as you step onto this street, you will notice an outdoor artisan market diagonally across from the City Hall. Browse through if the market is open. Walk slowly on Gran Via, looking around, stepping into some stores. Primark is a huge fashion store with reasonable price tags. Walk south toward Puerto del Sol from here & mingle with the crowd that fill up the streets around here. Keep walking & pass Plaza Mayor, reach San Miguel Market & turn south from there to find Cava Baja Street, A.K.A the Tapas Street.
• dinner at Casa Lucas. Great food & wine. 4  people in our party, we spent under 20 euros per head.