The Gold Souk and Dubai Creek

Today we visited the "old" Dubai markets, including the legendary Gold Souk.

The opulence was just stunning! Every store along the street, and in the market building, had many displays of beautiful gold and gemstone jewelry! The jewelry is priced by the weight of the gold at market price, so the craftsmanship is a bonus. Many of the items used cubic zirconia instead of diamonds to keep the price lower. Even still, there are some amazing deals if that's the Dubai souvenir you're wanting.

We even managed to find the Guinness World Record gold ring in the gold market building! Guinness World Record gold ring

The friendly store clerk wasn't busy, so she was happy to take our picture and show us around. They had a nice customer lounge area.

The streets in the surrounding Deira and Bur Dubai neighborhoods are a tangle of small shops selling everything from clothing, household items, electronics and tourist souvenirs. The vendors all stand at the door and beg you to "come in for a look," especially those selling replica handbags and watches. Yes, it gets annoying!

My favorite part, although small, was the spice Souk. The smell of the many fresh spices in open bins in each store was just indescribable!

After shopping the spices and gold in Deira, we rode on an Abra water taxi across the creek to Bur Dubai. The Dubai Creek is an inlet of the Gulf, and it has beautiful clear water. The water taxi ride across is only one AED, definitely one of the cheapest things to do in Dubai! The waterfront is busy with the abra taxis, large wooden boats (both party and commercial) and a few huge yachts parked on the side.

We decided to have lunch in a restaurant along the creek. We had a mixed grill plate, labneh (cheesy yogurt made from kefir that's really good!), and some fresh juices. The food was delicious and it was a welcome break to watch all the activity on the waterfront.

We ended up buying an extra suitcase in anticipation of the shopping we'd be doing throughout the trip. This was a smart move! We hauled the suitcase back to the hotel on the Dubai Metro.