THE CULTURE HUB @ SAADIYAT ISLAND

If you aren't familiar with the UAE or Abu Dhabi than you may not have heard of Saadiyat Island, but I have no doubt that you will in the not so distant future. For it boasts itself to become The Cultural District of the UAE and dare I say it the world one day?

Saadiyat Island is one of the 200 islands that make up the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, having driven over it numerous times and visited the very nice St Regis Hotel a handful of times we knew there were plans for the island but didn't know exactly what until now.

A few weeks ago on one very hot 45 degree day during Ramadan I was determined we would venture outside the air conditioned comfort of our apartment and find something that didn't involve going to a shopping mall or eating (after all it was Ramadan).

After Googling for a while I came across the Emirates Photography Competition at Manarat al Saadiyat. We had never heard of this place but it translates to "The Place of Enlightenment" and sounded intriguing, so off we went.

We pulled up to beautifully lush landscaped gardens and instantly we were glad to have gotten away to a little piece of tranquility.

It's free to enter and is essentially a large gallery space,  it houses a lovely little gift shop, a cafe and a reading area with a wide plethora of books you can sit down and enjoy. 

The only exhibition showing was the photography competition and whilst some of the photos were interesting there was a distinct lack of information which left us guessing about alot of them. 

Still, we made our way around before discovering what would be the most interesting part of our visit, The Saadiyat Experience.

I didn't get any good pics inside but it houses everything you want to know about what Saadiyat will be in the future including a sales centre for those wanting to purchase beach front living (I wish),  a movie theatre with a promo video on loop and architectural models of the island which all make for some interesting viewing.

But perhaps what Saadiyat will become most famous for is the opening of both the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.

Photo via constructionweekonline.com

The Louvre is currently under construction and could be finished late this year, but already years behind schedule it will be interesting to see when it does open. One thing I know for sure is that the building will be incredible and like nothing seen before in true UAE fashion. See below pics to see what I mean!

Photo via Abudhabi2.com 

Photo via louvreabudhabi.ae

The Guggenheim below is stalled on construction I believe until 2017, but again once open it will be an architectural feat.

Photo via tdic.ae

The end result is that Saadiyat Island is well on it's way to becoming the self proclaimed Cultural District and a destination island of the future - pic below.

After discovering all about Saadiyat we ventured outside to discover a little more, sadly as you can see from the photo the humidity we are dealing is awful because immediately sunglasses and camera lenses steam up!

The outside area is beautiful though and I do hope they plan events in this space during the cooler months.

On our way out we realised the time had passed for Iftar and so we decided we would take a seat at the lovely Fanr restaurant and have coffee. We were two of only four people braving the outside heat but it was worth it because the surroundings were lovely as the sun went down and the lanterns came on.

We met the "locals" on our way out at which point I asked Warren if we could have a kitten because there was a whole litter of them but of course the answer is no, because with two dogs in one apartment I think we are full up!

We left Saadiyat Island driving back over to our side of the city both feeling renewed wonder at the city we get to call home.

If you are in Abu Dhabi this is worth a visit and even if you aren't from Abu Dhabi than it's still worth a visit, especially when the Louvre and Guggenheim open.

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Amy