My brother-in-law asked us, "So, how many malls you've visited so far?" and then judging by our answer, he said to his wife, "You should take them to Ibn Battuta."
So here's the plan for today. My sister would drop us at Ibn Battuta Mall, and left us there by ourselves. After we're done, we would take the metro train to Mall of the Emirates because that mall was the closest to home. My sister would pick us up from there.
We stopped at the mall's huge parking lot area and saw the giant metro station just across the street. Mat was ecstatic to hear that we would take the train on our way back. But first, let's go into the mall.
IBN BATTUTA MALL
Spreading more than 270 shops, 50 restaurants, a 21-screen cinema and over 4,500 parking spaces on a total of 521,000 square meters, Ibn Battuta is the world’s largest themed shopping mall. Named after a great Moroccan explorer, it's the first shopping complex inspired by an individual’s life nearly six centuries after he embarked on his renowned journey. The architecture reflected the 6 regions he explored.
I should have studied the mall before hand, because we were lost! Lost in the grandeur of the interior and architecture, lost in our way. We entered into a bright area where walls were decorated with Egyptian relics or paintings. But not long after that we made a turn and suddenly we were in this beautiful turquoise interior. Then after some time, we found ourselves strolling under the blue sky and fluffy clouds. Then we found lions, a giant compass, and we're back to the turquoise area. At some points, seemed like we were walking in circle because we passed by the same store, the same hypermarket, and the same food court over and over again. Hyashhhh!
So we reset our trip. We walked slower. Instead of listing all the stores, we had our eyes up the ceiling, down the floor, 360 degrees to the walls. Only one level, 1.3 km long.
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| Egypt Court Entrance |
Inspired by: Islamic architecture of the Mamluk period in Egypt. The Mamluk Dynasty ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1517 – a period of great cultural prosperity and building activity in the capital of Egypt. The sandstone gate based on the Pylon Gates that are the causeways to many of the ancient temples found all over Egypt.
Characteristic: reliefs of scenes of Pharaohs and Gods from Egyptian mythology and ancient Egyptian royalty, painted hieroglyphics, temples, pyramids and fairy tales, sandstone walls with a
mashrabiya window or a wooden balcony. Earth colors.
Centerpiece: The statue of Ibn Battuta.
Anchor stores: Nike, Cotton On
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| Persia Court Entrance |
Inspired by: Persian carpet, Turkish mosques, Baghdad bazaar.
Characteristic: The Jewel of Ibn Battuta Mall. This court has the most striking design and colours. It has pointed arches inlayed with blue and turquoise mosaic tiles, inter-cut with glazed brick columns, arabesque ornamentation with octagons, hexagons and stars, glazed mosaic-work, turquoise and dark blue glazed tiles, cross-vaulted ceilings separated by glazed brick arches, brass lanterns.
Centerpiece: The Dome with its gigantic brass chandelier and The Travels of Ibn Battuta - a generous display of his life story and journey history.
Anchor outlets: Starbucks (they made it classy under The Dome), banks, Peekaboo (a supervised play area), Fitness First, Paris Gallery, Debenhams.
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| Andalusia Court Entrance |
Inpired by: The Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Alhambra Palace in Granada.
Characteristic: lofty halls, horsehoe-arches, alternated with red brick and white stone, white marble, red stone walls, terracotta tile roof.
Centerpiece: The “Lion Fountain” based on the fountain in the “Court of the Lions” in the Alhambra Palace. This fountain featured eight lion statues, surrounded by marble columns.
Anchor outlets: The Toy Store, BC Bulgari, Timberland.
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| The Lion Fountain |
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| Tunisia Court |
Inspired by: 14th Century Islamic architecture, coastal towns of Tunisia and Carthage, African marketplace, Moroccan Palaces and madrasas, Tunisian skyline, the fortress at Monastir and at Souss, Moroccan mosques, Al Bahia Palace in Morocco.
Characteristic: whitewashed stucco buildings with blue painted doors and window, streetlamps and lanterns, ornamental wrought-iron windows, various styles of crenellations, chiseled stucco, timber marquetry and glazed tile-mosaic, blue sky-ceiling, robust stonewalls, white limestone pillars.
Centerpiece: I couldn't find any, might have missed it. But on the opposite of the over-the-top Persia Court, Tunisia Court felt clean and elegant in its white walls and blue ceiling surrounding.
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| Géant Hypermarket |
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| .. is so neat |
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These four courts exhausted our legs. No wonder there's an
in-mall shuttle service provided for visitors to cover all courts without wasting bits of their legs, chargeable at AED 5 per person.
By far, Ibn Battuta had become our favorite mall in Dubai. It's ridiculous how Dubai could build such a mall that combined shopping with so much detailed cultural/historical sightseeing. They said that visitors could even enter some quiz about Ibn Battuta at the end of the visit.
(and we didn't know we missed two courts because we were still pretty much lost. Later in the evening upon pickup, my sister asked, "Did you see that junk? No? How come you missed that?? It's in China Court and it's BIG!!" Wait. Whaaat? There's a China Court in there?? ).
Latest news said that there would be a 28,000 square meter expansion, two floors, 150 new shops and a hotel that would be linked to the existing building and the metro station.
Outside the mall, we found this unique building adjacent to the mall. It's a 5-star hotel, equipped with 396 rooms and suites - 29 rooms among them are themed around the travels of Ibn Battuta.
.. to be continued to Day #9 .. The Commuters
(some info and pics posted are from net. credit to owners.)
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