Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood (Al Bastakiya)

In front of you is the oldest neighbourhood Dubai still has. For decades it was called Al Bastakiya; today its official name is the Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood. Walk slowly: these alleys, the sikkas, were deliberately laid out narrow so that the shadow of one wall always fell across the next.

1Merchants from Persia

The old name recalls Bastak, a district in southern Persia. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sheikh Maktoum bin Hasher turned Dubai into a low-tax port just as the Persian coast was raising its duties. Many families trading in cloth, pearls and spices crossed the Gulf and built their homes here on the model they knew from home: a central courtyard, thick walls of coral stone and gypsum, and beams of mangrove wood and teak.

2Air conditioning without electricity

The towers you see on the rooftops are called barjeel. Open on all four sides, they channel any breeze blowing in from the sea down into the house, keeping the room below cooler in summer.

In the 1980s part of the neighbourhood was knocked down, and the rest was earmarked for demolition.

The story goes that a campaign by residents and architects, including the British architect Rayner Otter and backed by the then Prince Charles, changed the municipality’s mind. Full restoration began in the mid-2000s, and today the houses are home to museums, galleries and cafés.

3What to look for

• The wind towers: count how many you can see from a single corner.
• The coral walls, where the plaster has fallen away to reveal the irregular stones.
• The carved wooden doors, with their knockers and iron studs.