Fujairah, United Arab Emirates

After leaving Dubai, we sailed overnight to Fujairah City, Fujairah’s capital in the United Arab Emirates where we spent just one day in port. Fujairah is the 7^th largest city in the UAE, located on the Gulf of Oman (part of the Indian Ocean). As of a few years ago, it’s population was 256,256.

Had we been able, we would have preferred to have spent an extra day in Dubai (we didn't even scratch the surface there) and skipped Fjuairah altogether. But that was not the itinerary. Honestly, we were so worn out after the sleep we lost in Dubai, we would have been happy to just stay on the ship in Fujairah. But there were still a few things on our list that we hadn’t picked up and besides, we always reason that we didn't come halfway across the world to see these places, and not to get off the ship or see anything beyond the cruise port.

So we dressed and dragged ourselves to the shuttle. Like several other countries we’ve visited including Dubai, a face-to-face inspection is required to enter the country. We had to have a special card to show when both exiting and re-entering the port.

 

City Center Mall

 

The shuttle was dropping off at the City Center Mall. It was a nice enough mall by anyone’s standards, but lackluster after the mall we had visited the previous day in Dubai. This mall would have been entirely “doable” if one had plenty of interest and energy. We had neither, so we only looked for what we needed. It did, however, have a large Carrefour, sort of what might be the equivalent of a Super Walmart in the states. They carried many products that we were familiar with and of course some we don’t see every day. It also had some very high end jewelry stores but overall, not as much luxury shopping as the Dubai mall.

All of the "outside" photos below are taken from the bus window. We saw some huge homes but we also saw some that looked as if they had (literally) been bombed out or fallen apart, almost all of which had air conditioning units hanging out of the windows. I honestly think it would be very difficult for anyone to live in a desert without AC!

high rises springing up in the desert

roadside billboard

 

We picked up a few things that we needed and then scurried back to the shuttle for our ride back to the port. All of the outdoor photos were snapped through the bus window. While riding to and from the mall, Ronnie commented that Fujairah is a city rising up out of the desert.

  

gold jewelry in store window

women's clothing

perfume stand (yes, men wear it too)

fresh camel milk

Lays come in many flavors!

We were in an electronics store where I was looking for a portable (battery-operated) phone charger for my purse. This young woman waited on me and I asked her if I could photograph her hand.

obliging salesgirl

mall store, Muslim fashions

more women's fashions

a growing city

a local's license plate

Sheikh Zayed Mosque

private home

more homes

...and another

billboard advertising

Look! McDonalds and KFC! (menus are adapted to locale)

storage facility of some kind (?) near cruise terminal

only AFTER I took this did I learn it is illegal to take photos of gov't buildings