One thing I love about living in Abu Dhabi is the abundance of family/kids-friendly places that residents and tourists can visit. For FREE. There are also lots of events happening around the city all the time, one just needs to be resourceful enough to find out where and when.
Anyway, over the last UAE National Day weekend, we decided to check out the Corniche first before going to Al Mamsha, Saadiyat Island. We ended up at a park near the Sofitel Hotel at the Sheikh Khalifa Energy Complex. While I've been in the area several times, I was surprised to find that there is something like this in this park...
Well, the hubs said he is familiar with the place -- he used to inline skate here with his friends years ago.
We were amazed at how big the place was. The central mast or the gnomon is a towering 15-meter height. Its shadow cast on the hour face or the floor of the plaza and tells the local suntime.
The hour face (floor) has lots of lines and numbers across it.
There are also the general directions - N / S / E / W -- which honestly confused me because if I am right, the sun does not set in the direction pointing to S. 🤓
Or I could just not know my directions. LMAO.
Apart from the numbers that I suppose correspond to the hours of the clock (1-12), there are also three significant lines across the face of the sundial.
The line passing through the gnomon is the equinox line. The spherical shadow will cross this at the Spring Equinox on March 21st.
Above it (photo below) is a curved line, where the spherical shadow would center at the Winter Solstice on December 21st.
Another curved line below the equinox line is the Summer Solstice.
I am so tempted to come back on these dates (at least the Winter Solstice) to find out if this is true. 😅
Apparently, there is also a night dial that indicates the time by projecting a laser beam from the tip of the mast to the hour face.
Perhaps another reason to come back here at another time.
While the sundial is the highlight of this park, the cool shade provided by the towering skyscrapers nearby makes it a great place for just chilling and having some fun chit-chats with family/friends while sitting at the benches scattered around.
There is also a kids play area (which is under renovation at the time of our visit).
Further down, there are more lush green and shady areas perfect for picnics.
It is also very near the parking lot, which admittedly can be full during weekdays since there are office buildings nearby, but weekends are fine, I reckon.
No car? No problem. There is also a taxi lay-by nearby.
We had lots of fun when we came here. The kids decided to get on their rollerblades and enjoyed practicing around the sundial. Many times I did not look, for I might have a heart attack.
We need to plan the next visit. Hmmm.. Winter Solstice, maybe?
