January 20: Doha, Qatar
This was actually our second trip to
Doha, having stopped there for a couple of days on a trip to Australia in
2012. Doha, the capital of Qatar, is probably on a par with Dubai in terms of wealth and spectacular architecture.
For our day in port, we booked a day tour with a local company, and were joined by a couple of other passengers from the ship, Patricia and Kaity.
Our first stop was the older part of town, which contains a few buildings from the early 1900's and
Souq Waqif (lower right of the map), the main marketplace in the city.
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| An early 19th century building |
The souq contains (among other things), a horse market, a camel market, and a falcon market.
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| Horse market at the souq |
The souq also contains a few small, but elegant hotels.
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| Lobby of one of the hotels in the souq |
One of the highlights was a visit to the Souq Waqif Falcon Hospital, where the locals take their falcons (worth about $30,000 each) for medical care. I have seen a number of human hospitals around the world that were less well equipped.
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| Falcon Hospital Directory |
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| In the waiting room |
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| Checking in |
From the hospital, we went to the main part of the souq, where most of the markets and restaurants are.
Near the souq is the
Museum of Islamic Art, probably the best museum of its type in the world.
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| Outside of the museum |
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| View through the lobby with central Doha in the background |
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| Museum lobby |
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| Exhibit room in the museum |
From the museum there are excellent views of the city center (right middle of the map).
After leaving the museum, we drove to the city center to see it up close.
From the city center, we headed north to the
Katara Cultural Center.
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| A beach at the Katara Cultural Center |
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| A building at the Katara Cultural Center |
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| Pigeon towers at Katara |
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| Katara Mosque |
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| Shopping mall under construction at Katara |
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| One of the mall entrances |
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| Do not adjust your set--these buildings are real |
From Katara, we headed to
The Pearl, an artificial island containing huge collections of condos, housing, and malls. First we went to the visitors center, where they had a full-scale model of the island.
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| Model of The Pearl |
The shopping in The Pearl was very high end, with lots of luxury auto dealerships.
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| In the garage of the Rolls-Royce dealership |
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| This watch sells for about $250,000 |
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| At the Ferrari dealership |
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| Brenda and our guide George, who was from the Philippines |
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| Part of the harbor at The Pearl |
From the Pearl, we headed to the
Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque, also known as the Grand Mosque. It's not quite as impressive as the mosque in Abu Dhabi, but imposing nevertheless.
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| Mosque rules include "maintaining smell good" |
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| Exterior of the mosque |
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| Courtyard of the mosque |
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| Main prayer hall |
As in all mosques, women had to wear a chador, but the ones they gave out here were much more fashionable that the one in Abu Dhabi.
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| View of central Doha from the mosque |
From the mosque, we headed out to the western part of Doha
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| Typical low-rise housing in Doha |
We stopped at the Villagio Mall for a late lunch. The mall was reminiscent of the mall at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, with the ceilings painted to look like open sky.
Next to the mall was the Khalifa International Stadium, one of the locales for the 2022 World Cup.
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| Khalifa International Stadium |
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| Tower, arena, and stadium |
From there we drove back to the ship, passing by an area where construction workers lived. Not quite to the standards of the rest of Doha, but nevertheless pleasant.
From the ship, I got a few shots of Doha after dark.
