Ahlan, Arabic lovers! Today, I am going to take you on a tour to Abu Dhabi أبــو ظــبــي . We will explore one of the city’s cultural landmarks مــعــالــم . That is the Heritage Village قــريــة الــتــراث . This tour takes you to the Sahara الــصــحــراء , to the Bedouin life but without leaving the city of Abu Dhabi.
The Heritage Village, Abu Dhabi
The village was opened to the public in 1996 and is administered by the Emirates Heritage Club نــادي تــراث الإمــارات . It was intended to reflect the identity هــويــّــة of the Emirati people and their traditional life in contrast with the fast growing modern life there. The village stretches on more than 1600 square meters. Its corners tell the story of the past through small models of all the everyday life details that the ancestors الأجــداد had had before oil.
In one corner of the village, you can see the life of the people who live by the sea and how they adapted to that kind of life. You can see the sea and how small local fishing boats قــوارب were made. You can see lots of the see tools مــعــدات that were used in fishing. In another corner, you can see the farm life and how the ancestors used small canals for irrigation الــري . If you move forward a little bit, you will see a traditional folk-market ســُــوق شــعــبــي with some little shops of so many local handcrafts الــصــنــاعــات الــيــدويــة made of leather, wood, copper and glass.
The village is beautifully organized so that it is easy for the visitor to tell what type of environment he is in. There are also samples نــمــاذج of different traditional houses that were built from materials from the local environment and decorated by local handcrafts. You can see local women and men while doing their handcrafts and you can buy some from the shops in the village market as souvenirs تــذكــارات , too. The village has a small mosque, a café and traditional restaurant that serves local delicious food.
One important component of the village is its Museum that looks like a traditional castle قــلــعــة . The museum was built on an area of about 500 square meters. It has so many precious antiquities آثــار that dates back to the past life of the region.
The village attracts not only Arabs, but foreigners from all over the world as well. I am sure that a visit to this village would be an unforgettable experience to explore the past and compare it to the present.
Well, I was born near the city of Rasheed or Rosetta, Egypt. Yes, the city where the Rosetta Stone was discovered. It is a small city on the north of Egypt where the Nile meets the Mediterranean. I am a Teacher of EFL.
