On our first day in Dubai, we saw new Dubai. On our second day, we saw old Dubai. On our third, we wanted to see tourist Dubai, so we took a taxi to the Dubai Marina / Jumeirah Beach Resort. The beach actually looked pretty nice and the Persian Gulf waters were very warm. Sadly, we didn’t bring along our swimwear.

We ate a quick lunch at a local Pakistani restaurant and then took a taxi to the Atlantis hotel on Jumeirah Palm (a set of islands shaped like a palm tree when viewed from space). The public area of Atlantis was fairly small and crowded. The water park didn’t look as good as the ones back home. To get a better view of the palm islands, we took the monorail back to the trunk of the tree. Annoyingly, the monorail doesn’t connect to the metro (and the new Dubai tram isn’t opening for another two months), so we had to get a taxi to the Metro station.

On a whim, we decided to walk around Deira, the area where our hotel is located. Valerie found a self-guided food tour online. Sadly, many of the places were closed, but we were able to buy some really delicious falafels and desserts.