The saltwater inlet the whole city grew from, still crossed by wooden boats for one dirham.
Dubai exists because of the Creek. A natural saltwater inlet running about fourteen kilometres inland, it gave shelter to dhows and a base for pearling and trade, and the town grew on both banks: Deira on the north-east side, Bur Dubai on the south-west.
In 1901 Sheikh Maktoum bin Hasher abolished trade tariffs, and merchants — many of them Persian, from Lingah and Bastak — moved across the Gulf and settled here. That decision, and the dredging of the Creek in the 1950s under Sheikh Rashid, funded by a loan from Kuwait, is the origin of everything that followed.
The abras
Traditional wooden boats, diesel-engined, seating about twenty on a central bench, crossing continuously between stations on both banks.
The fare is one dirham, paid in cash to the boatman during the crossing. There is no schedule; boats leave when full, which is every few minutes. The crossing takes about five.
Stations: Bur Dubai and Al Sabkha, and Dubai Old Souk and Al Seef. There is also a tourist abra you can charter by the hour, and an air-conditioned water bus and water taxi service, all of which cost many times more and are less good.
This is the best value and the most genuinely local thing available to a visitor in Dubai.
The dhow wharfage
Along the Deira bank, hundreds of wooden dhows tie up two and three deep, loading for Iran, India, Somalia, Kuwait and Iraq. The cargo is stacked openly on the quay: air conditioners, tyres, mattresses, televisions, sacks of rice, car parts.
This is not a heritage display. It is a working port operating largely as it did eighty years ago, and it is entirely open to walk along. The crews are mostly Indian and Iranian and generally friendly to anyone not getting in the way.
It is the single most surprising thing in Dubai for most visitors.
The souks
On the Deira side: the Gold Souk, the Spice Souk and the Perfume Souk, all within a few minutes of Al Ras station.
On the Bur Dubai side: the Textile Souk, a covered lane of fabric shops leading into Al Fahidi.
Al Seef
Further along the Bur Dubai bank, a modern development built in a heritage style — wind towers, coral-effect render, narrow lanes — with restaurants and shops. It is a reconstruction rather than a survival and it does not pretend otherwise. It is pleasant in the evening and it is not the real thing, which is ten minutes upstream.
When
Late afternoon into evening. The Creek in the last hour of light, from the middle of an abra, is the best free thing in the city.
