DUBAI

In the shadow of the world's tallest skyscrapers, centuries-old neighbourhoods and intimate cultural experiences can be found in this Emirati city - reminding visitors of its humbler roots

- HAZEL PLUSH

In a place of superlatives - highest, biggest, priciest - why settle for simple pleasures? Dubai has long been seen as a fun-loving, unabashedly ambitious city, often overshadowing the UAE's more seriousminded capital of Abu Dhabi. It's a place where you can swim above clouds in 360-degree infinity pools or quaff cocktails in billowing beach cabanas, and it's this 'City of Gold' most travellers come for. A winter sun utopia, it dazzles with opulence and novelty, from the soaring architecture and dancing fountains of Downtown to Jumeirah's luxury hotels and the Marina's million-pound yachts.

It may seem like it all rose fully formed, mirage-like, from the surrounding dunes; indeed, it only took a generation for this improbable desert metropolis to spring from the ground after the 1960s a feat fuelled by new oil-funded wealth. But the city's roots stretch deeper, and to far humbler beginnings.

Sipping chai from a street vendor's vat and inhaling spices in a warren of souks: these are the joys of 'Old Dubai', in its northernmost reaches. In the 16th century, this once impoverished port became a pearl-trading hub and attracted a global diaspora around its Creek, a natural harbour splicing the disticts of Deira and Bur Dubai. Merchants from across the Middle East and beyond brought recipes and traditions to this medley of markets and mosques. Today, the scent of slow-roasted lamb still wafts from Afghani restaurants, sewing machines thrum in Pakistani tailor shops and heaps of Omani frankincense are swapped for a few dirhams - the deal sealed with a shukran, the Arabic for 'thank you'.