DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – After a week in the Epcot-esque cities of the Emirates, today we explored a theme more familiar to GlobeGators readers: Actual History

For historic architecture, Dubai has really only one option: The Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House. And a fascinating option it was, as it showed how far the emirate has come within a generation. Grandfather of the current ruler, Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum lived in this traditional house at the mouth of Dubai Creek in the early half of the twentieth century. The house, spacious for its time, consists of two floors around a sand courtyard, and today exhibits photos of what life in a hot, dusty fishing village was like in those days, when pearl divers scoured the seabed with only a noseclip for gear, and This week, we’ve driven by the family’s current homes – plural – palatial estates gated off from the public, peacocks wandering the grounds, guards at the front drive by the collection of luxury vehicles. The scale of Dubai’s growth is difficult to fathom even for visitors in the thick of the metropolis. Comparing the sheikhs’ old and new homes breaks it down to a level a brain can handle.