Grand Mosque and Yas Island circuit

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

On Tuesday morning Grace, James, Harvey, and I visited the Grand Mosque. We had driven by the mosque every time we went to the club so I was enormously excited to catch a tour.

There are only 2 mosques in which non-Muslims are able to visit. As I had heard many times from tour guides, the grand mosque is “not only a place of religious worship but also a learning experience.” It is a way for people to better understand the Muslim religion. The word unbelievable does not even do it justice. As you step inside the mosque, women are shown to a dressing room because burkhas must be worn inside the mosque. The burkha is made out of light material and covers the entire body and hair.  If a man is wearing shorts, they are to put on a dishdasha which is the long white collarless gown.  Harvey’s shorts were long enough but James was told to put on a dishdasha.

I learned many things about the Muslim religion from the tour. The religion requires 5 prayer times a day. The prayer times are determined by the sun and moons rotation. There were many clocks in the mosque that stated the specific time.  Women and men do not pray together. There is a special room for women to pray so that they are not a distraction from the men. Men are supposed to go to a mosque each time they pray but women can pray at home.

The entire mosque is made of white marble. The gold parts on the mosque are just that, 24 carat gold leaf. There are 82 domes on the mosque and inside the main dome holds the largest chandelier in the world. The carpet in the mosque is the largest one piece of carpet in the world and was made by 1,200 Iranian women.  It took them 2 years. The Mosque’s 1,000 columns in its outer areas have more than 20,000 marble panels inlaid with semi-precious stones, including lapis lazuli, red agate, amethyst, abalone shell and mother of pearl.  The 96 columns in the main prayer hall are round in shape and inlaid with mother of pearl.

Yas Island Marina Circuit

On Tuesday night we headed to Yas Island to bike and run along the Marina Circuit. You have probably heard of Formula One racing. The first Abu Dhabi Grand Prix took place in November 2009. It was Formula One’s first ever day-night race. I can’t lie and tell you that racing is my favorite sport, but running along a massive and beautiful 5k racing track was exhilarating. I biked around the 3 mile track twice, and then Harvey and I walked halfway around the circuit and ran the rest.