Look at this palace.
Seriously, I don't even know where to look.
Are you lost? - Oh, I could get lost here.
[music]
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Many people only think of Dubai when you say UAE...
But we quickly discovered that this is a city
that also deserves a visit.
- Future offices of Gordon and Renata.
- [laughs]
That's just the gate to the hotel.
In this video, we're going to show you a few more reasons why.
Here is a main one.
The Presidential palace, also one of the newest attractions in Abu Dhabi,
as it opened to the public in 2019.
It's what we're planning on visiting later today.
Abu Dhabi is the center of political, industrial,
and cultural activities in the UAE.
They even have a Louvre Museum.
Yes, the Louvre, like in Paris.
The city is also famous for theme parks.
There's a Ferrari theme park.
Mind you, they have Formula 1 races here.
Unfortunately, we only have another day in Abu Dhabi.
So we'll save museums and parks for a future visit.
We really wanted to keep exploring the area
where we're staying, close to the Corniche,
as there are many interesting places around here.
- I'm going in.
- I'm Renata, I'm a journalist.
This is my husband, Gordon.
And we are discovering the Middle East.
In the previous video,
we visited one of the most beautiful constructions in the world.
And also saw how warm the beach is here in Abu Dhabi.
We should have planned a beach day here.
That's the Corniche.
And now we're heading southwest along this avenue.
This is one of the last public spots,
where you can simply walk to the beach.
On the breakwater ahead,
you can see one of the newest hotels in the country,
and a flagpole that once was the tallest
freestanding flagpole in the world.
This is the end of the Corniche, the very south point.
The Corniche is that famous waterfront avenue
I mentioned in the first video.
But over here in this end,
you cannot even see the sea anymore.
It's all closed off with nice restaurants, beach clubs,...
So nice.
So let's keep walking.
This here is the Founder's Memorial,
a place dedicated to the founder of the UAE,
and the first president of the country.
Look closely, and you can even see his face.
[music]
Meet Sheikh Zayed.
Does this name sound familiar?
Yes, the Grand Mosque you saw in the previous video
was also named after him.
- What's that? - Oil extraction, I guess.
- I'm assuming that's the first oil rig that they put up.
They found it right here, huh?
- I see this name everywhere, ADNOC.
- Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
- You're so smart.
- And you see those taps?
You just turn it on,
and you get to take a barrel of oil
and natural gas home, right here. - Oh, come on.
One for gas, one for oil.
It's a big building.
This is what funds Abu Dhabi. - Yes.
- And right behind, what are those buildings?
- That's the future offices of Gordon and Renata.
- [laughs]
- That's our office location. - Okay.
- I signed a lease yesterday. - Okay.
- Did I tell you? - No.
- Oh, you slept in. No wonder, you missed it.
- That's actually where we're going right now.
These are the famous Etihad Towers.
Three of the buildings are residential,
there's a hotel and there's also a business tower.
There's an observation deck. We're going over there.
And right in front of very famous hotel here
is the Emirates Palace.
I was thinking that this here was some kind of other monument in front.
But, no, that's just the gate to the hotel.
The Emirates Palace is one of the most expensive hotels ever built.
And it is home to one of the largest collections of gold in the world.
[music]
Look at how interesting.
You do a combination here of the floors.
We're going to the 74th.
Oh, wow.
The name of this restaurant here is Observation Deck 300,
because we are 300 meters above the sea level.
This here is the famous Emirates Palace.
They have a private beach. Look at that.
That new hotel I mentioned before,
it's the Rixos Marina Abu Dhabi.
This Observation Deck is actually a restaurant.
You can come here and sit down in one of those places,
or you can just pay to come here and take a look.
But you are actually walking in between the tables.
There's also minimum consumption here. It's AED 55 per person.
These are the prices in case you want to dine over here.
Sandwiches, bagels,
ciabattas for AED 40, coffees, AED 35, AED40,...
Teas...
About the same price.
Here are the drinks.
Oh, look at that. They have wine.
Wine and beer. - How much for a beer?
- AED 40. It's not bad. Same price as coffee.
[music]
- I signed a lease for the office, right?
I bought a spot for our house.
- Oh, my God. - So you can walk to work.
- Oh. - What do you think? Are you ready?
- Keep dreaming.
- I asked a guy, they said these are all man-made islands.
A lot still to be developed over here.
This tower where we are is taller than the others.
We see the others from above.
- And you see that dark building? - Uh-huh.
- Way out in the distance, that was a curvy building
that's about, uh... - The leaning building.
- Yes, and then just beyond that is the Grand Mosque.
- This area, straight ahead here,
is what we showed in the previous video.
You see? The World Trade Center over there.
- Remember you didn't make it to breakfast?
I signed that lease. - Uh-huh.
- The kicker that they threw in was that big boat.
How could I resist? - Keep dreaming.
Want to buy an Aston Martin?
- Oh, that was thrown in.
I don't know what you're talking about.
- For sale at the mall.
Yes, there is also a high-end mall over here.
See the Etihad Towers?
After a 10-minute walk, you arrive right here,
and we're now ready to visit the presidential palace,
Qasr Al Watan.
We also saw this complex from up there,
and it turns out, there was still quite a walk from this point.
We didn't realize how huge this is.
[music]
Look at this palace,
the view is amazing everywhere you look.
[music]
Did you expect it would be this beautiful?
- But I haven't gone in yet.
- Oh, I'm already amazed.
I don't even need to go in.
- Well, then I'll see you later. I'm going in.
- Me, too, of course.
But, you know, just look at this outside,
this facade is unbelievable.
- Yeah, it's quite amazing.
- The gardens also.
You drive through the gardens to get here,
and everything is so beautiful. - Yeah.
- After you buy the ticket, a bus will bring you to this area here,
and you already learn a few things inside the bus.
- The main dome is one of the largest in the world.
It measures 37 meters in diameter.
For example, here you have the Office of the President,
the Vice-President,
and nobody lives here, they just come here to work.
[music]
I won't touch but...
you know, you feel like it,
but it's everywhere.
- You see the eagle with a flag?
Look at that door handle.
Think of all that work.
Wow. - Amazing.
You know what, Renata?
I think I'm the only one that's seeing this
and photoing all these little details.
This would be your room. - Yes, totally.
- The journalist. [in Portuguese]
- The room for press conferences. Look at that.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,
let's get started with the press conference.
- Don't you want to introduce me?
- We have here today, Sir Gordon Delwo.
[laughs]
- Is that a one-way glass?
- Ah, so cool.
- This is how the original press conferences were done,
on the floor... - Yeah.
sitting on a pillow. - Wow.
Are you lost?
- Oh, I could get lost here.
- [laughs] - Yeah.
- Seriously, I don't even know where to look.
[music]
Just out of curiosity, I had to come and see
how are the restrooms in a place like this.
Look at this, individual cabins.
You even get your own mirror.
There's a whole pavilion here
explaining the Islamic influence in Europe.
Wow, Cordoba was also an Emirate,
and also there was an Islamic conquest of Sicily.
When we were in Portugal,
how did they explain the Islamic presence there?
- As an occupation. - As an occupation, exactly.
The Moors occupied the Iberian Peninsula, right?
- And how do they explain it here?
- Conquest. - Exactly.
- Yeah, we always get a European point of view.
I never knew that there were Emirates there.
- Yeah, Cordoba was an Emirate. - Yeah.
The precursor to travel vlogs.
[laughs] Look at that.
The first was more than 4,000 years ago.
The progress made by Arab scholars
in math, science, astronomy, exploration,
and even medicine laid the foundations
for the Renaissance.
[music]
That's an important meeting room.
Here is the room for the presidential banquets,
up to 300 guests.
I feel like I'm in the United Nations right now.
- United Emirates.
Look how big that thing is.
A chandelier.
This chandelier is so large
that it had to be assembled right here in this room.
They couldn't bring it ready from the outside.
[music]
Here are some of the gifts that the President
received over the years.
Medals from various countries.
Oh, the eagle.
That was a gift from the U.S.
Where do most gifts that you saw come from?
- I don't know.
- No. You didn't pay attention? - No.
- France, Netherlands, and Korea, I'd say.
- Oh, really? - Yeah.
I thought it would be the neighbors, but no.
- This is the founding father of the UAE.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Wow, we just left now... Look at this light.
- Beautiful, huh? - Yeah.
Very interesting, very beautiful,
and you learn a lot about the history of the UAE as well.
And now everyone is here outside
because there's a light show about to get started.
- What? They turned out the lights.
[music]
[applause]
Excuse me, Ma'am. Hello! Please sit, just a minute
So beautiful.
Again, worth it coming at this time
because you get this show for free.
The only challenge now is to go back
because there's a big crowd,
and everybody needs the bus.
We all depend on their buses.
As we were in the last set of benches,
We were the last group allowed to leave.
But it was all very organized.
We took the chance to take a few more pictures.
As if we don't have enough ;)
It took us about 30 minutes to get out,
but it was very worth it.
[music]