hosts took me to Olivia’s, an Italian trat- toria located within the ADNEC grand- stand. Although the menu consisted mostly of standard Italian fare, we did sample the camel pizza, which tasted more strongly of the spices used to fla- vor the meat than anything else. On night two, we left Capital Centre
and headed through downtown (about 20 minutes) to the Abu Dhabi port area for a dinner cruise. The Al Dhafra restaurant provides event space for up to 800 people in land-side ballrooms and private dinner cruises for about 50 aboard a traditional wooden dhow sailing vessel. For several hours, our group cruised alongside the Corniche, the city’s popular beachfront, dining on a multicourse Middle Eastern feast that included hammour (a locally caught fish) and luqaimat (crispy fried dough balls). On day three, I set out to see more
of Abu Dhabi with a guide from the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority. We began with a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, a magnificent, white- marble tribute to the founder and first president of the UAE. Completed in
2007, it is the third-largest mosque in the world and the most-visited site in Abu Dhabi. It can accommodate more than 40,000 worshippers and features the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet and seven gold and crystal chandeliers (lit with LED lights, for a modern twist). Just five minutes from the mosque
is the soon-to-be-opened Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal. With dramatic views of the mosque on one side and waterfront views on the other, the 532- room hotel provides another luxury option close to ADNEC. It is the first Ritz property in Abu Dhabi, with three signature restaurants, private villas, and 23,484 square feet of event space. From the Ritz, we headed to the
city center and the opulent Emirates Palace, known for its gold-dusted cap- puccino and gold-bar-dispensing ATM. The hotel is a top tourist site, but also includes 394 guest rooms and suites and conference facilities. We toured the auditorium and a 2,400-person ball- room, as well as a decadent suite that is available for $15,000 per night. A mere 15 minutes from Emirates
Palaces — but a world away — is the beachfront Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi on
Saadiyat Island. (Abu Dhabi city is actu- ally an island, and the emirate is made up of 200 natural islands, one of which is Saadiyat.) Saadiyat is currently a quiet resort area with protected white- sand beaches, high-end hotels, and golf courses, but soon it will be the site of Cultural District, the world’s larg- est concentration of premier cultural institutions, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum, the Sheikh Zayed National Museum, and a performing-arts center. Picking up the pace (literally), our
last stop was the Yas Marina Circuit on nearby Yas Island. Home to the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the track offers planners a unique venue for a variety of events, including trackside team-building exer- cises and a racing school.