Heritage Village, Abu Dhabi, UAE

I’m going to start off by sharing with you the first place I went to when I arrived in Abu Dhabi.

It was called Heritage Village which is basically a museum located on the Corniche that showcases the history of the UAE’s way of life.

This is a fun and FREE thing to check out. The museum showcases jewelry, armor and basically every day items that people used back in the day.

There are also setups of actual houses and campsites for you to go into and check out. I really enjoyed this part. You could actually see exactly how rooms would have been set up, where a baby would have slept, where people would have gathered in front of campfires, etc.

In addition to all that, there are workshops here where different skills like metal work and pottery can be viewed.

My favorite part was of the boats that were out by the water (is that even a surprise? lol). It all made for a beautiful scene. You could see the Abu Dhabi skyline from here.

It is now probably even more picturesque without all the construction cranes you can see (during my visit, this emirate was going under a lot of construction).

The boats played a vital role in the history of Abu Dhabi and were used for pearling which was one of the primary sources of income for many before oil was discovered. People would set off in these boats to go diving into the water in search for these valuable treasures which have been found in the Gulf from before 7,000 years.

Currently, Abu Dhabi offers pearl tours where they take you on a 90ish minute cruise and tell you all about the history of pearling. You get to witness how to open an actual oyster and also get to take a pearl home with you!

Did I do this cruise? Nope. If I was rolling in dough, I totally would have! It costs $100+ dollars. If anyone out there has done it, I’d love to hear about it!

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