October 2019
In the late 19th century the Sheikh of Dubai gave generous incentives to traders. In the pre-oil days, most of the city's income derived from being a port on the Persian Gulf and pearl diving. One group of traders were from Bastak, Iran. Their foreign enclave in Bur Dubai became known as Bastakiya. For those of you who may think the British royals are worthless leeches on the United Kingdom's tax paying citizens:
In the 1980s half of the Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood village was destroyed to make way for the development of a new office complex. The remaining houses were mostly used as warehouses or accommodation for foreign laborers. In 1989, the Dubai Municipality directed that the remaining parts of Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood were to be demolished. Rayner Otter, a British architect, came to the area and made extensive renovation in the house where he was staying. Rayner started a campaign to preserve the area and wrote a letter to Prince Charles, who was scheduled to visit Dubai that year. On his arrival, Prince Charles asked to visit Al Fahidi Historical Neighborhood and explored the whole area with Rayner Otter. During his visit the Prince suggested that Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood should be preserved and the demolition was canceled.
(Wikipedia)
Chalk one up for King Charles (back when he was a prince). Were it not for his intervention, Bastakiya would not exist.
I discovered the neighborhood via a guidebook with MWK on my first trip to Dubai. I visited it a few more times over the years with other guests who were traveling through the area. I liked it for being something old in the midst of the mostly modern city, but always found the place to be soulless, too. I am not sure if it was just the absence of greenery or the "too-well-kept-up" nature of the buildings, but Bastakiya lacked something. I mostly returned to show others "old buildings" in Dubai, but never because I was drawn to return. The smaller (and less maintained) Al Muharraq [see: Muharraq] section of Bahrain seemed so much more genuine. Souk Waqaf in Doha was not original, but was livelier in all its tourist fakeness [see: Souk Waqaf]. Bastakiya was missing something even if I routinely recommended it to others.
Nonetheless, for anyone passing through Dubai who wants a sense of the past, Bastakiya and the Spice Souq are really the only parts of the city left that are old and somewhat original. That says it all about Dubai, to be honest. I am happy some of the past was saved from the wrecking ball, but I believe that the now famous Emirate, pre-oil didn't have all that much to preserve anyway. Their premier historical neighborhood is, after all, an expat enclave.