DOHA
What can you see in one day?
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We got to Qatar thanks to the stop of our MSC Virtuosa cruise ship. We enter the bay of the city of Doha and the first thing that meets us is the island-resort "Banana island Resort", which attracts with its beaches and villas on the water.
Just a few minutes later, the capital of Qatar appeared on the horizon. More precisely, we saw a futuristic panorama of skyscrapers in the business district of Doha, which is called West Bay.
As we got closer, we could see the construction of a new stadium right on the shore. There was less than a year left before the World Cup in Qatar, so the whole of Doha was a construction site where work was in full swing. Knowing the high level of ambition of the Qatari sheikhs, we were confident that by November 2022 they would complete all the facilities.
The Doha cruise terminal was also still unfinished, so guests of the city were temporarily received in a tent. Due to the huge piles of construction waste near the terminal, individual travel into the city was prohibited. It was possible to see the capital of Qatar only as part of an organized group.
One of the striking attractions of Doha is the Corniche, where it is pleasant to stroll and admire the view of the skyscrapers of the West Bay area. But at this time, landscaping work was being carried out there, so we simply photographed the pier for the old Qatari boats, which these days take tourists around in the city’s bay.
The first stop was an ethnographic village. This is a local “Skansen” - an ancient settlement collected by ethnographers. Analogue of the Kyiv museum "Pirogovo". The main exhibit is the Pigeon Towers, where many pigeons still live. The classic tower could accommodate up to 10,000 pigeons. The guides told us that the towers were used to collect pigeon dung, which is a quality fertilizer for crops. But “evil tongues” say that such towers provided village residents with the opportunity to easily obtain tasty pigeon meat.
In the center of the ethnographic village there is an amphitheater where various artists often perform. We didn’t see them that day, but we took a photograph of the round stage made of polished marble.
There are fountains at the edge of the amphitheater. From there you can enjoy views of the bay, as well as the luxury Marriot and Intercontinental hotels.
We were very surprised that Qatar turned out to be incredibly green. We were very impressed by the lush vegetation in the park, because, as a rule, the countries of the Persian Gulf are associated with deserts and sand dunes.
This amount of greenery is not always the case even in Mediterranean countries. One can only imagine how much time and money local authorities invest to achieve such a degree of greening of the city.
The location we visited next is called the Pearl of Qatar. This is an artificial island that was planned, filled, and then, by building canals, they turned the area into the Venice of Qatar.
We don’t know how much it costs to buy or rent a square meter of housing in this area, but as an example, we can tell you that on the ground floor of the house on the right in the photo there is a Ferrari car store.
Then we went to the local shopping center. This is what Qatari luxury looks like!
In the courtyards of this housing complex, residents park their boats and yachts. Why not? It's very convenient.😊
Lovely patio. Don't you think?
We walked along the piers and took pictures of parked yachts. Local residents looked at us warily from their terraces. For some reason I thought about how it would sound in Arabic to shout: “Boy, get away from the car!”
Photos in the interiors of “Qatari Venice” were a must.
It took us 20 minutes by bus to get to the most unusual place on our excursion. It's called "Falcon Market".
In the middle of the square square, there are several wooden shields on which falcons sat.
Each falcon has its own mood and character. Some of them are calm, while others have a lot of emotions and an explosive character.
Keeping such freedom-loving birds in captivity seems somehow unnatural in our culture. But if you look at it from the other side, we don’t care enough about these birds here to build hospitals specifically for them. And in Qatar there are such hospitals!
When we left the market, we met a father and son. The boy's feathered pet was sitting on his arm.
We asked the boy to pose with his falcon. At first he was shy, but then he agreed and we took some colorful pictures.
Concluding the story about this unusual market in Doha, we want to show you the very hospital for falcons that we wrote about earlier. I will express my opinion that not every reader has a nearby hospital for people of the same level.
It is impossible to be in Doha without visiting the main market of the city, Souq Waqif. It was completely renovated in 2006 and is now a very popular tourist spot in the city. Here we come out onto a large walking square in front of the market.
The market buildings imitate the ancient method of construction, when logs of different lengths and thicknesses were laid between floors.
Qatar was very proud that the next World Cup would be held in their country. Photos of ruling family sheikhs with the FIFA Gold Cup in the background are very popular in Doha. And in the Souq Waqif market, the most popular attraction is the golden finger. It is not surprising, but this object is also a football landmark. It was installed in 2019 in honor of the victory of the Qatar national team at the Asian Cup.
We walked along the main street of the market. Before visiting Qatar, we read on the Internet about the harsh Muslim customs of the inhabitants. But in reality nothing like that was found there. European-looking girls in short shorts sat in the cafe and felt absolutely calm. The people of Doha were open and welcoming to us. Perhaps the most common emotion we encountered was curiosity. They looked at us with great curiosity, and we did not interfere with this. 😊
The Souq Waqif market is called traditional for a reason. Here you will find all the traditional products that are made in Qatar.
Flocks of pigeons circle over the square, looking for tasty treats.
Qatar is a hot country, so caring citizens organized a fountain for the birds in the form of an ancient well. Blue-winged birds happily frolic in the streams of water.
To see how oil money transforms the country, I’ll show you a photo of the same market taken 50 years ago. The picture shows this very Souq Waqif in Doha.
To assess the level of openness of the country, which was preparing to host the main football event in the world, we asked the smiling mounted police to take a joint photo. They responded kindly to this. And this is how the photo turned out.
Each pair of mounted policemen was followed by a worker with a broom and dustpan. He followed the authorities to ensure that the streets remained clean after their mounted raids. This man removed all the “traces” that the horses left behind. We were wondering how, according to the instructions, this employee should act in the event of a pursuit of a criminal? Does he need to run at horse speed in this case?
We took photographs of the police and continued our exploration of the capital of Qatar.
After a walk through the market, we headed to the West Bay area, the panorama of which symbolizes Doha in all the guidebooks of the world.
On the way, we met a herd of camels with guides. Camels in Qatar are surrounded by warm care and probably compete with falcons in this regard. The camel beauty contests here are so popular that they attract huge numbers of spectators. The victory of one or another camel is so important for fans that rumors regularly leak to the press about plastic surgery or “beauty injections” for animals, which camel owners do not disdain, so that their pupil receives a prize.
Among the many construction sites in Doha, we were able to see the symbol of Qatar - an Arabian oryx with a torch. This saber-horned antelope is depicted everywhere here. And even on the logo of one of the best airlines in the world, Qatar Airways.
The West Bay area is Doha's business district. The offices of the most influential companies in Qatar and the largest companies in the world are concentrated here.
Our main conclusion from visiting the West Bay area is that watching skyscrapers is much more interesting from afar. Up close they don't look so fascinating. So we returned to the ship and took a photo of the evening panorama of West Bay from the bay side.
Summarizing our one-day visit to Qatar, we can conclude that we would be happy to come here again. If you liked our report, then share it with your friends. And if we can do something better in the next article, then tell us in the comments. And be sure to travel!
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