Since I own a Nespresso Coffee machine I hardly drink any other coffees unless I am out there for shopping and have the urge for a cup of coffee. Said this, shopping is not very high in my priorities but the other day I visited Ibn Battuta Mall, one of the larger and themed malls in Dubai. Walking through the Chinese pavilion, Persian and Indian I reached the Arabian court and in the middle of all was a Starbucks Café, one of the most impressive settings for a SB I have seen around the world! High up was the huge dome, all tiled in Arabian handy craft, lid by the largest Egyptian lantern ever seen.
I must have sat there for hours, just relaxing and watching shoppers go by.

The Ibn Battuta Mall is a large shopping mall on the Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai close to Interchange 6 for Jebel Ali Village. It is named after famous traveller and explorer Ibn Battuta. This project was completed by the Nakheel Properties group in early 2005. The names of the six courts of the mall are named after the countries to which Ibn Battuta travelled.

Linking shopping and circulation areas, all the major outlets found in almost all of the shopping malls elsewhere in Dubai and the Middle East are represented. Géant, a large French supermarket chain has a store here. The mall is an example of one of the many ambitious projects by Nakheel Properties in Dubai.

Australian retail giant Myer has announced that it will have a store completed by 2010

Ibn Battuta Mall boasts the only IMAX theatre in the country and also offers a 21-screen Cinema Megaplex, located in the China Court. There are two large food courts, located at both ends (Andalusia and China) of the mall, as well as several coffee shops, scattered throughout the mall.

The mall features exhibits of ancient technological inventions, especially from the Middle East. These include as a centrepiece a modern full-size working reproduction of an elephant clock, an Islamic invention consisting of a water-powered clock in the form of an elephant.

Ibn Battuta Mall