Ask Ali: Time travelling to see how Dubai used to be

Dear Ali: Dubai appears very new today, with its glitzy malls and hotels, but can I still experience the old city of Dubai and learn about its history? AM, United Kingdom

Dear AM: I believe Dubai has a lot of places where you can feel the spirit of the past. One of those places is where it all started for the once small fishing village of Dubai, Al Fahidi Fort, which was built in the 18th century and is considered to be the oldest building in Dubai.

If you’re going to visit those places, I would like to share with you some details on how things used to be, so you can experience it the way our fathers used to live in the old Dubai.

To begin this journey, start at the Dubai Museum, which contains exhibits on previous lifestyles: how people lived, their occupations and leisure pursuits. I’m sure you’ll be impressed by the museum’s artefacts.

Next, visit Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood, also known as Bastakiya, which is one of the oldest residential areas in Dubai, famous for its courtyard houses. This is the best place to experience how life really was in the past.

You still can feel a refreshing breeze while walking down the narrow streets, which helped to create shadows that gave great respite from the hot sun and created a corridor for air flow that was so necessary during hot summer days before air conditioning.

If you pay attention to the walls of the buildings, you will notice pieces of coral and seashells inside the bricks. Coral used to be the most common material used in buildings in coastal areas. The coral’s porous structure also provided good ventilation, letting the air circulate through the walls.

Another important thing to note is wind towers (in Arabic, barajeel). They served a function similar to that of modern air conditioning. And, yes, it was indeed cold in rooms with such towers. You could also work out how many families lived in a house from the number of wind towers it had.

On your way through Al Fahidi, you’ll see open areas between the buildings. Some of those areas were used for local markets, gatherings or events.

Another interesting thing is how the social life was back in those days. Some ground-floor rooms had several large windows, so if there was a gathering, the windows were opened and people could come over for some coffee and dates to exchange news and stories with relatives and neighbours.

After Al Fahidi district, walk through the old market to the abra water station. You will see these little dhows everywhere. Abra means “crossing” in Arabic, and it was – and still is – an extremely popular form of water transport to connect two shores.

After you’ve crossed the creek, visit the oldest spice, textile and gold souqs in Dubai that even at that time had spices brought directly from India, clothes and fabrics including cashmeres and handmade carpets, plus all types of gold jewellery. Here, you’re welcome to try your bargaining skills.

Ali Al Saloom is a cultural adviser and public speaker from the UAE. Follow @AskAli on Twitter, and visit www.ask-ali.com to ask him a question.

weekend@thenational.ae