Dubai: a luxury getaway
The man (and the woman) is an animal of customs, goes the saying. As a member of a generation in which proverbs still had their weight, I was already fatally (etymologically speaking, that is, marked by destiny) accustomed to opening the year with the first international watchmaking fair, the International Haute Horlogerie Exhibition, better known by its French acronym SIHH, which is held in Geneva.
For a decade, religiously and stoically, the press had been preparing to discover the first news of the year served with ice cubes and donkey belly skies in the city of the famous water jet that presides over Lake Geneva.
But while it is true that we are creatures of habit, it is also a fact that we are hedonists by nature, and if they offer you a plan B in a more exotic and distant place, with promises of sun, desert and Asian luxury, because the change is easier to assimilate.
Dubai: everything you imagine is here
This has been how we left 180 journalists from all continents and a similar number of clients for witness the watchmaking novelties of the LVMH group , that is, those of the four major brands of luxury and prestige watchmaking: Bulgari, Hublot, Zenith and TAG Heuer (although the latter did not present its releases, which it will do in March).
In our short, but intense trip, and after completing the program of presentations and interviews, we have been able to enjoy four exotic enclaves that we will tell you about so that you can read them in a few minutes. Dubai is the 'Arab Marina D'Or', in a luxury version, in the sense that it is the vacation city of the Muslim world. Its turquoise waters and its nearby and accessible desert are compelling arguments.
my first contact with Dubai It begins as, from the airport, an adventure of luxury and privileges that take us to literally roll out of the arrivals terminal in a large family-sized buggy that deposits us in a line cleverly designed for Emirates business passengers so as not to endure the kilometric entrance queues. From here to baggage claim and the taxi, also in express mode, to get to an oasis in the middle of a state-of-the-art vertical city as stolen from The Thousand and One Nights with treachery and nocturnality.
Any eccentricity is possible in Dubai
HOTEL ONE&ONLY ROYAL MIRAGE
Halls and rooms of oriental story, flowers and welcome gongs we are later led to a room with an open terrace on a suburban lawn from a 1950s American movie.
And it is that the hotel One&Only Royal Mirage is a labyrinthine complex of buildings on more than 65 acres of immaculate gardens, soothing fountains, arches, domes and intricate Moorish details and winding pathways leading to Jumeirah Beach. Calm and collected, you quickly feel like a prince on his summer retreat, if you don't get lost trying (which you did, of course).
The hotel complex gives us terraces where you can have the first coffee of the day or the last wine (or tea) of the night , a spa with a wide variety of health and beauty offerings, including an authentic Arabian experience in the Oriental Hammam or a dip in the sea just 100 meters away.
The French Mauro Colagreco, the chef of the Mirazur restaurant , with three Michelin stars, brings his award-winning culinary creativity to the resort while overseeing the dining offerings at Celebrities, Beach Bar & Grill and The Esplanade.
Immaculate gardens, fountains, arches, domes, and intricate Moorish details
BVLGARI HOTEL
Pep Lozano, One of the Spanish directors with the most brilliant career and most respected in the luxury sector, he has been in Dubai for more than five years and has managed to make Spanish heard everywhere within the hotel complex, so much so that it attracts attention, given the that the 500 employees in his charge represent no less than 60 nationalities.
A young, enthusiastic and generously nurtured team for a resort with only 101 rooms and 20 villas, living in a parallel world but well located in Jumeirah Bay, on an artificial island , just a 10-minute drive from the bustling Burj Khalifa. Beach on one side, skyscrapers on the other. The resort has its own private beach and a pleasant and spacious garden with comfortable and elegant furniture.
The renowned Italian chef with three Michelin stars Niko Romito is the gastronomic advisor of this resort with multiple options, among which stands out Il Ristorante , with classic Italian dishes modernized. The restaurant has a terrace that opens onto the complex's marina, the first Bulgari Yacht Club in the world.
The hotel also has a sweet gem: a chocolate shop, the only one along with the one in Japan, where you can buy a tiny and exquisite Bvlgari chocolate for the price of 12 euros, according to Boris Barboni, Director for Spain, Portugal and Andorra of Bulgari. Imagine what a two-tier box could cost…
architectural luxury
BURJ KHALIFA: TOUCHING THE SKY OF THE URBAN WORLD
Little lover of selfies and even less of their publication, when promoted up to the 124th floor of a total of 163 floors (828 meters high) it is impossible not to succumb to this onanistic self-centeredness because for that we have put up with a crazy guide who took us at 20 per hour for hundreds of meters from the world's largest shopping center, Dubai Mall, without looking back in case any of us got lost. That and the eardrums on the verge of collapsing due to the vertiginous ascent with projection of what we can see from above with realism and quality worthy of nature.
As an indication, there are two viewpoints: one on floors 124 and 125, At the top (456 meters high) and another on floor 148 (555 meters from the ground) called At the top sky, which offers a somewhat smaller and more exclusive visit, although at that point I don't think it's worth paying the difference in price because the vertigo produced by its views is the same upstairs downstairs.
The tallest building in the world, located in the downtown dubai , the largest shopping and entertainment complex in the world, was built in just six years. According to a report by The Big 5, a construction consortium in the Middle East, in mid-2016 there were 3,700 construction sites in Dubai. It is said that even today there is the largest concentration of cranes in the world, something that can be seen at first sight and that is not going to stop, because In a few months – from October 20 to April 10, 2021 – Expo Dubai 2020 will open its doors, the first universal exposition to be held in the Middle East.
It is recommended to go at sunset to see the Dubai Fountain water, light and music show, although we saw it in the morning, when a concentration of frogmen did the maintenance and cleaning of the large pool of turquoise waters.
The impressive Burj Khalifa presiding over the city
THE MAGIC OF THE DESERT
Only an hour away by car (hour and a half if there is a traffic jam), and if you go during the day, in the desert conservation reserve you can ride a camel, try shisha, taste traditional Arabic coffee and even get a little henna tattoo.
If, like us, you go at night and you are the guest of honour, you may still be lucky enough to come across the same enormous aljaima in the middle of a hollow –with a staircase, yes– and tables set for dinner with impeccable crockery and cutlery, flowers, stoves and a live show, all this bathed by a giant orange full moon and slippery to the photos. And it is that luxury does not know about deserts…
Normally, when arriving at the reserve, and after adjusting the pressure of the 4X4 tires, the drivers demonstrate their experience in dune bashing on the red dunes by making the ride, which lasts 45 minutes, an exciting experience, both day and night.
Luxury comes true in the desert
THREE IMPRESSIVE WATCHES
Nobody can be surprised that a week dedicated to watchmaking is celebrated in a country where collectors are always on the hunt for the most expensive and complicated watches in the world. Nobody in general, least of all those of us who have attended the event in which many interesting novelties have been presented (only Hublot has launched about 50).
But given the choice, these three have especially impacted us: the Bulgari Serpenti Seduttori Tourbillon, the Hublot Big Bang Integral, and the Zenith DEFY 21 Carl Cox. Three jewels, each one of its kind, that have been serious competitors of the four wonders that we have discovered in Dubai.
Hublot's Big Bang Integral