Council estate

Today I visited one of the beachfront hotels in Jumeirah and still cannot believe the ugliness going on around there. What used to be a peaceful strip of about 6 beachfront hotels most of them 5 star, with quiet serene beaches tucked away from the hustle of the main city, is now a concrete jungle. As soon as you drive out of these hotels (one of which being the Ritz Cartlon), you are immediately faced with 60+ concrete towers which resembles council housing, built within a stone’s throw of each other.

What I don’t understand is why they have been constructed right behind these hotels (only metres separate them), when there is plenty of desert and beach front to build upon half a mile further down.

Understandably, it has been a source of income however surely it should not be to the detriment of the tourism industry? Robbing Peter to pay Paul comes to mind.

The hotel that suffers the most has to be the Royal Mirage; my favorite hotel and I’m sure it’s popular with honeymooners. A hotel which captures the Arabesqueness (I just made that word up), in a more subtle, less opulent yet luxurious way.

Until recently, the clientele could enjoy views of the ocean as far as the horizon, hear the waves hushing and lapping whilst dining at the beachside restaurant, or couples walking hand in hand along the beach whilst catching the sunset.

However, now, the vista is a building site and the ocean is as still as the water in a pond. A man made island in the shape of a palm tree, with 30+ hotels and hundreds of apartments and villas all being built on sand. I am sure there is some wise saying about the man who built his house upon the sand?