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Didn't realize it before, but I googled Baku and you're right. Looks stunning
Dubai looks nice and pretty on the postcards, but seems like a city that has horrible things hiding underneath. A place where laws are stuck centuries behind. I'd much rather go to Istanbul or Beirut or Jerusalem before ever stepping foot in UAE
Yep, Baku is stunningly beautiful and virtually no Americans that I've talked to have heard about it...not sure about Europeans. I'm living next to Fountain Square and close to the Caspian Sea, it's beautiful, comfortable and very inexpensive to boot.
I used to go to Dubai when I was working in Kuwait and Dubai is much more normalized and tolerant of western culture such as allowing you to buy (very expensive) alcohol than is Kuwait. I'll say if you're going to work in the Middle East, Dubai is the only place to be and Abu Dhabi second.
Last edited by Tall Traveler; 07-22-2018 at 11:31 AM..
Yep, Baku is stunningly beautiful and virtually no Americans that I've talked to have heard about it...not sure about Europeans.
Baku is not hugely known but is somewhat known. It was host to the European Games as well as the Eurovision song contest after all. People know its on the Caspian.
Europeans in general have a wider concept of the world at large even if they are small anecdotes in many cases.
Just the buildings. OP only said most beautiful city in the Middle East so that's not exactly a super high bar. I just googled the countries encompassed by the term "middle East" and certainly Turkey, Lebanon, and Iran have more beautiful areas though none has the interesting architecture of Dubai that I'm aware of. I'm currently in Baku, Azerbaijan and if Azerbaijan would have been included as part of the Middle East Baku would have easily won this contest.
There are middle eastern cities with an oriental look that are more beautiful than Dubai.
Perhaps if we talked about the skyline?
Dubai is a cookie cutter city, absolutely nothing spectacular about it. It is like someone having a car collection and having just the atypical super car exotics in it; interesting but "yawn".
Dubai is a cookie cutter city, absolutely nothing spectacular about it. It is like someone having a car collection and having just the atypical super car exotics in it; interesting but "yawn".
It is a type of beauty too, but not everyone's taste.
NYC used to be a "cookie cutter city" too, compared to European capitals.
I think that Sana'a is probably one of the more beautiful middle eastern cities, does anyone know if it's still standing, there is currently a civil war in Yemen.
Dubai is also a very pretty city from a manmade point of view, its skyline truly is impressive. One of my favorite skylines on Earth, probably in my Top 3. However, Haifa is a gorgeous setting and the city itself seems to be built in an above average manner aesthetically. I would go with Haifa as top dog.
I would actually say that Dubai compares favorably against Tel-Aviv and Doha, all three can make an argument over the others in one manner or the other.
I have only been to one Middle Eastern city (Doha), so I'm no expert on the area. From what I have seen in pictures and online, Sana'a is the most beautiful. Honorable mention to Muscat and Istanbul.
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