Sheikh Zayed with Dr Mana Saeed Al Otaiba, UAE Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister, on the streets of Lausanne, Switzerland in the early 1970s.
Sheikh Zayed with Dr Mana Saeed Al Otaiba, UAE Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister, on the streets of Lausanne, Switzerland in the early 1970s.

Time Frame: Sheikh Zayed's visit to Switzerland



It is a beautiful morning in the Swiss resort of Lausanne and a head of state steps out purposefully into the sunshine.

Sheikh Zayed made several visits to the town and the surrounding countryside, often accompanied by his children. On this occasion, as with many others, he was accompanied by the official royal photographer, Noor Ali Rashid, who died almost a year ago, aged 80.

An exhibition of Rashid’s work, organised by the Emirati-Swiss  Friendship Forum, has opened at Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva, celebrating the connection between the two nations. The show, which runs until July 15, includes this photograph, which is undated, but may have been taken in 1979, when the official record shows that Sheikh Zayed made a private visit to the town, meeting with King Khalid bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia.

The location of this photograph is actually easy to discover. The hotel in the background is the Hotel Angleterre, although it is more likely that the president of the UAE was staying at the five-star Beau Rivage Palace, just a short stroll away.

But where was Sheikh Zayed going that day, and what had caught his eye?

Thanks to Google Street View it is actually possible to put ourselves in the ruler’s shoes.

The tree-lined street he is walking down, the Place du Vieux Port, is now a pedestrian precinct but the view is essentially unchanged.

Ahead are the sparkling waters of Lake Geneva, alive with small pleasure craft and framed by the snow-capped peaks of the Chablais Alps.

Time Frame is a series that opens a window into the nation’s past. Readers are invited to make contributions to yourpics@thenational.ae

Other ways to buy used products in the UAE

UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.

Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.

Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.

For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.

Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.

At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.