Abu Dhabi Mosque - masterpiece of design and engineering

Very early yesterday morning (Saturday) we arrived in Abu Dhabi, after an unsettled Thursday night on the train from Lisbon, most of Friday on our feet in Madrid, then a sleepless overnight flight to Abu Dhabi via Brussels. Fortunately, after a delicious breakfast at our Abu Dhabi hotel, the Hilton, we were able to catch up on a few hours sleep in our room overlooking the Arabian Gulf. In the evening we went into town and strolled through the market areas, with myriad small shops selling everything from clothing and textiles to electronics, then back to the hotel for a lovely Lebanese meal. This morning we took the hotel shuttle bus to the mosque. We thought we had seen everything there was to offer along out route over the last two months, but we were not prepared for the absolute magificence of the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Grand Mosque. The mosque, which has only been completed within the last decade, is principally of Moroccan design but embodies elements of the great mosques of the world. Around the main central square there are over a thousand columns and arches that remind us of Cordoba's Mezquita, and the huge, domed main prayer hall takes us back to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul (both described in previous blogs). The 22,412 square metre mosque site can accommodate almost 41,000 worshippers. It includes 82 domes, the tallest of which is 32 metres in diameter and reaches 70 metres above the floor of the main prayer hall, which in itself can hold more than seven thousand worhippers. The main prayer hall also contains the world's largest chandelier (10 metres diameter, 15 metres high and weighing over 9 tonnes) and the floor is covered by the world's largest hand-made carpet. We were both required to wear full-length robes (provided free of charge) - white for John, black for Elizabeth - and Elizabeth was given a wrap-around head scarf. This in itself added to the experience although at 46 degrees it also added to the body temperature. We are now back at the hotel and just about to walk across to the beach for a dip in the tepid waters of the Arabian Gulf. Next - out into the desert for a sunset dinner at a Bedouin camp.