Our flight is at 2.30 am so it’s a long night before we even board. The kids are so excited the time is of no consequence so checking is a breeze. We board on time and off we go! I didn’t think that they would serve food straight up but they do. We are flying Emirates for the first time and the service is excellent and so is the food. The kids get little goodies which keeps them occupied for a while and despite the fact it’s a 17 hr flight, it goes quickly.
We arrive at 1.30pm Dubai time. Our first night is at the Savoy Park Hotel Apartments. The service is great right off the bat with someone bringing us cookies and cold tea as soon as we walk in the door. The hotel is a little older but it’s comfortable enough for one night.
Breakfast the next morning is at the hotel so we headed down to see what’s on offer. Chickpea curry, scrambled eggs n sausages, croissants and a selection of fruits and Middle Eastern goodies. We then decided to walk up to see the coffee museum. It’s in the historical sector about a 20 min walk from the hotel. Benjamin mentions that he was expecting Dubai to be all new and not old like what we are walking through 😂. The museum is located in group of old building that remind us of a rabbit warren. The architecture is beautiful.
After an interesting walk around and a selfie with a friendly Arab, we head to the spice Souk. It’s a short Abra ride across the river. An Abra is a traditional water taxi and is super fun, very fast and only 1 Dirham each. Along the way there are lots of individual souks. One for textiles, spices, utensils and even mattresses! We are lured into a textile store by a guy who puts a traditional head dress on Benjamin. We all end up being dressed in traditional fair. The young guy is a great haggler but in the end I’m happy with my two pure cashmere scarves and Ayrlie looooooves her traditional blue dress.
We stop to buy some spices….until we get the price! For 3 very small bags of spice and two of tea the gentlemen wants 580 dirhum…..$190!! Ummmm no thank you! Off to the gold souk it is! I’m looking for an eternity ring or bracket and maybe some earrings for Ayrlie. The gold in the windows is simply amazing! They specialise in laser cutting the gold so it shines and sparkles with the smallest of light. It’s extremely decorative and very beautiful. We end up with two pair of earrings that we haggled down from 1180 durum to 850 around $300 Australian. Pretty good for 22crt gold. The service in the jewellery shop was perfect. We are given chairs and drinks. The Marsala tea was super delicious! We are all starting to get tired so head back to the hotel.
It’s time to make our way over to the Atlantis where we will spend the next 7 nights. We have imperial club access which gives us breakfast, all day access to the club lounge and free entry into the aquarium and watermark. As we are checking in, they send us over to the lounge to have afternoon tea. It’s quite an impressive spread. The hotel is almost to amazing for words. Ornately decorated with stunning colours, sculptures and golden details. I’ll be sure to take photos in the coming days because you simply won’t believe it!. Happy hour is from 5-7 and we feast on some hot dishes, treats and free cocktails. Mark and the kids can’t resist a quick dip in the pool despite the cold. We are all still recovering from a bit of jet lag so turn in for an early night.
