HISTORIC AL-FAHIDI DISTRICT (BASTAKIYA)

The Al Fahidi district was known as Bastakiya, named after the Bastaki community of Iranian origin who settled on the banks of the Creek in the late 19th^century . It's the city's most picturesque, architecturally rich and endearing district. A visit here will give you an idea of what Dubai was like before the discovery of oil. The district is made up of a maze of streets where you can wander around and discover some 50 traditional houses with wind towers, restored to their original condition. Most of the houses now house cultural centers, art galleries, museums, a small souk, cafés-restaurants and even a hotel. But nobody lives there anymore. As you wander through the narrow streets, you can admire two "arish", or palm-leaf houses with simple, ingenious ventilation systems, as well as a reconstruction of a Bedouin camp. A wall can also be seen in the square, where a wooden racing boat is enthroned. This wall has been restored and left deliberately unfinished, to reveal the materials once used: gypsum and coral. Further on, the remains of the rampart that surrounded the town in the ^19th century. Take a close look at the wind towers, no two of which are exactly alike. Note also that the main door of a house never faces another main door, to keep comings and goings discreet.

Here's a short list of houses not to be missed. To find your way around, head for the square where the magnificent wooden boat stands. Near the camel paddock, a sign displays a map of the neighborhood, with numbers and letters corresponding to the house numbers. Here's a short, non-exhaustive list of places you could visit, whose numbers correspond exactly to the district map. In particular, we recommend you visit House no. 3: Historic house; house no. 7: Currency museum; house no. 15: XVA, hotel-café and art gallery; house no. 37: Spice store; no. 42: Photo with a falcon; house no. 44: Coffee museum. Houses no. 19 and 20: Historic houses. House no. 4: House of Calligraphy, House no. 26: Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding. A: Fortified wall, E: Mosque, F: Areesh-type fisherman's house.