We were getting ready to leave, and were out on the side of the mosque near the parking lot, where we started, and I was amazed at how the sky had changed in a few short hours, from brilliantly blue to a lot of high clouds, although still very pretty.

The Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque can accommodate up to 40,000 worshippers, has four minarets, more than 80 domes and 1,000 pillars holding it all up. The interior has elements from Turkey, Morocco and the Taj Mahal exhibited in marble, gold, semi-precious stones, crystals and ceramics. It hosts the world’s largest Persian carpet, which took 2.000 artisans two years to complete and seven gold-plated crystal chandeliers. (Summary from Lonely Planet’s “Oman, UAE & Arabian Peninsula”)

Reflections posted earlier: