Flower that Blooms in the Desert

Just a 90-minute drive east from the steel-and-glass skylines of Abu Dhabi, the desert begins to shift.

- By NEETA LAL

Just a 90-minute drive east from the steel-and-glass skylines of Abu Dhabi, the desert begins to shift. The land rises gently, palms thicken, and the Jebel Hafeet mountains rise like ancient sentinels along the Omani border. Here lies Al Ain: sun-washed, storied, and stunning. This is not the Middle East of glitz and glass towers, of air-conditioned malls and supercar showrooms. It is a place where the past survives; not behind museum glass, but woven into the fabric of daily life.

Designated the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in the United Arab Emirates, Al Ain offers a window into 5,000 years of continuous human habitation. "Al Ain means 'The Spring,'" says local guide Rabia Siddiqui as we walk beneath a lattice of date palms. "The ready availability of water here encouraged nomadic hunters to settle and build a life."