There are two sides to Dubai, the flashy one that you are familiar with from Instagram, and another that is significantly more laid back, culture oriented, and dare I say, interesting. Well, what else did you expect me to say? That the admittedly wonderful looking skyscrapers full of luxury shops is more interesting than a harbour full of old dhows? I will obviously go with the latter any time of the day, and today, I am here to show you that Dubai has that historical and cultural side to it that goes unnoticed by some tourists, which is akin to a sin for me. Let us see what this city has to offer to those who are more interested in the old Dubai, or as some of the locals put it, the real Dubai.
The old Dubai is the one that can be found on either side of its famous Creek, which acts like the city’s connection to the rest of the world, especially after it was dredged in the 1960s and furthermore in 1970s. Today you can find both old and new ships harbouring on either side of the Creek, often to the backdrop of buildings that are either quite modern, or pleasantly older looking.
One of my favourite spots in all of Dubai can be found on the eastern bank of the Creek. You can find this place on Google Maps under the name of Dhow Wharfage, though there is more to it than that. There are tons of dhows here, that is true, but there are also a lot of other ships, cargo freighters, small fish tugs and so on. On a side note, you can see the Burj Khalifa peeking above the Dubai Frame on the background in the photo above.
I was at the wharfage by the time the sun was setting, not on purpose, but I just got lucky with my timing. It looked and felt fantastic to be around this place, and to observe the dock workers carrying cargo of one sort or the other all around me.
Since you are that far away from the more central parts of the historic Dubai already when you are visiting the wharfage, I would recommend you visit the nearby Deira Clocktower as well. This one is not something super special, but it was one of the earliest landmarks that the city had. I did not manage to get a good photo of it, because it is found on a busy roundabout, but this older area in general is well worth seeing with your own eyes.
On this side of the Creek, one can also find the Gold Souk, which is likely the most popular of all the souks in this part of the city. I prefer the spice souk myself, but in all honesty, none of these places really attracted me. While the overall atmosphere is good, smells are amazing, and people are friendly, I just felt like I was being harassed a bit too much for my liking by some vendors. It really only takes one to spoil the day, so I suppose you may get luckier than me. If you are fine saying no to people repeatedly, you should not have a problem here, but I got tired quite quickly.
Far away from these vendors, on the other side of the Creek, the side that I actually stayed in, one can find the Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood, which you can see above. This small area is full to the brim with souvenir shops and some cafes, so it did feel a bit too touristic for my taste still.
While one can say the same about the nearby Dubai Old City, this loveliest of pedestrian friendly coastal heritage center of all time, I beg to differ. It is true that there are also far too many cafes and souvenir shops in this part of the town, but they are spread around more evenly, and you certainly have more room to roam around freely, without being invited indoors to their shop by anyone. Furthermore, those towers, which are windcatchers that, well, catch the wind to ventilate the air indoors, are everywhere here, and they add so much to the atmosphere.
This is not necessarily an authentically old part of the town, then again, it is one of those things that make you question what authentic really is. In a city like Dubai, where cash flowed like crazy in the last few decades, it would be absurd to find some decrepit buildings and outright unsafe looking parts in the central parts of town. It is not like all of these buildings were built from scratch, mind you. Some of them were already there, and yet they were renovated to look the part of the project, clean, new, uniform. I agree that it is a bit too dolled up at parts, but it is a beautiful experience to walk up and down its many streets day and night, especially in the latter.
I actually never dined here, not because the prices were outrageous but because it was just a bit out of the way from where I stayed, near the Al Ghubaiba bus station. It is not like I lived on the other side of the city, but there are just too many interesting options (especially Indian ones) in between where my hostel was, and where all these windcatchers were. Next time I am around town, I do wish to dine by the Creek in one of these restaurants for sure.
If you enjoy this type of areas, then you will be happy to hear that just a few minutes up north, you can find the Al Shindagha Historic District. It has a very similar history to Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood, but it is significantly less crowded.
This area is actually one massive complex of museums, housing almost twenty of them, and possibly more. You can get a day ticket costing 50 AED to get into all of these buildings and enjoy what they have to say. I did that, but you can just enjoy the premises as is as well.
With that being said, in all honestly, I mostly found myself going back to the Dubai Old City, not only because I enjoyed its views better, but also because of its location. I could often combine an enjoyable meal in a night market on the other side of the Creek with an even more enjoyable late night walk to burn some of those calories thanks to the dhows that plied the route in between the two banks of the Creek here.
I do think that some of the empty space here can be better used though, for example, some street art or more artistic displays like this one can be of great use to keep people interested in sticking around. A similar tactic is used in the rapidly developing heritage district of Ajman, which I enjoyed so dearly.
However, truth be told, you cannot really beat the lightning game of this place, which really transforms this place at night. I only really spent a single day here, as in, in daytime, and while it was fine, it was not anything special that would have me come back there. Gladly, I first visited it at night, so I knew that it deserved numerous visits from me.
While most of the more historic sites that Dubai has to offer can be found on either side of the Creek, there are a few outliers elsewhere as well. Jumeirah Mosque was opened in 1979, and for the standards of this modern metropolis, it can be considered historic. It serves not only as a mosque today, but also as a religious and cultural center of sorts. As far as I could tell, they have some guided tours that teach non-Muslims about Islam, and possibly some other religions.
If you walk for a few minutes south from the Jumeirah Mosque, you will be in a part of town that I would like to call as the Iranian quarter. This is where there is an Iranian hospital, with some interesting decorations all around it, and this Iranian Mosque, officially known as the Imam Hussein Mosque. When I visited it, there were some umbrellas on its courtyard which made it impossible for me to take a decent photo of it, alas, here goes my best attempt. It was similar in style to some of the mosques I saw in Uzbekistan, and in case you are interested in such colourful architecture, a quick visit to the area cannot hurt.
In short, one can be quite certain that while the truly historic parts of Dubai are more or less extinct today with the inflow of money to the region which helped renovate the city centre, there are still some unique, admittedly touristic yet nevertheless more laid back parts of the town that will surely you feel like you are in a different country, which is not something that you necessarily feel in more modern parts of any megapolis today. A mall in Istanbul may very well be in Dubai, or in Astana, or in Moscow, and the same goes for a skyscraper. However, we certainly do not have those lovely windcatchers in Turkey, and they would be most out of place in Astana. So, there is your answer, it is well worth visiting the historic Dubai along the banks of the beautiful Creek, which can be done in a single day if so desired.