Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque




















Wearing: 
Shirt - WhoWhatWear for Target | Pants - WhoWhatWear for Target | Shoes - Pull & Bear | Scarf - Stradivarius | Bag - Clarks

Lots of pictures today!!  The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque was easily one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to, so I definitely went a little overboard on the photo taking.  This ten year old mosque is one of Abu Dhabi's biggest tourist attractions, and if you get the chance, I would definitely recommend taking the time to go there.  With that being said, they do have a very strict dress code that you have to be careful about.  As I'm sure you've noticed, I don't normally wear a head scarf; in the mosque, as a woman, you have to be completely covered from head to toe in loose fitting clothes (skinny jeans would be a definite no).  If you're not dressed appropriately, they'll provide you with an abiyah to wear over your clothes. I spent over a week planning my outfit to make sure everything was covered; it may be hard to tell, but the white shirt I'm wearing actually has elbow cut-outs, so I'm wearing a black, long sleeve turtleneck underneath it.  But even with triple checking to make sure everything was covered, one guard still wanted me to put the abiyah on over my clothes; luckily the woman handing them out disagreed and said I was fine with what I was wearing.  In all honesty, it may just be easier in the long run to plan on wearing the provided abiyahs because it really just depends on who's working that day to judge what you're wearing.

Once getting past the security, though, you enter in the beautiful gardens where you can walk around. The mosque offers daily tours, which I would have loved to go on, but the last tour of the day is usually around 5:00, and my family and I didn't go until around 7:00.  It ended up being a great time to go because when we arrived it was still light out, and we were able to watch the sunset whilst in the mosque.  When inside the mosque, you walk around on these beautiful tile floors.  There's a huge tile courtyard with pristine mosaics in the center of it all, but you're not supposed to walk on it.  Before going, I would also recommend wearing shoes that are easy to take on and off, as part of the mosque you're not allowed to wear shoes in.  Some of my family was a bit uneasy about being barefoot in such a public place, but the soft carpeting that you get to walk on and the mosaics and chandeliers - the world's largest chandelier, I might add - you get to see are worth it (also, I don't mind being barefoot so it didn't bother me).

By the time we finished seeing everything and taking a countless amount of photos, it was pitch black and we were all ready for some food.  They do have a coffee shop in part of the mosque, but we just went home for dinner.  I'm so glad that I was able to see this iconic site.  It's definitely a must-see for anyone visiting.

Elizabeth xx






















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