On my first morning in Doha, Qatar, I stepped into the restaurant at the Radisson Blu for my complimentary breakfast. My flight had been delayed, and Qatar Airways had very kindly compensated me for the night at a hotel in the country's capital.
Breakfast at the hotel was delicious. There was, of course, no bacon nor pork sausage. Qatar is an Islamic country, after all, and pork is not allowed.
Instead, I had a wonderful halal breakfast of bread, cheese, eggs, and ful medames.
Ful medames is a traditional Arabic dish which dates back thousands of years, perhaps to Ptolemaic Egypt, though historical accounts vary, and consists of stewed fava beans served with tomatoes, onions, herbs and spices, and a sliver of lemon. The dish is traditionally prepared in large communal pots, sometimes simmering overnight in stone cauldrons buried in hot ashes. Over centuries, it has evolved into a national Arabic comfort food. The flavor is earthy and rich and is a super filling way to start the morning.
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| ful medemes |
I wasn't going to have a ton of time in Qatar, and I wanted to make the most of it. For my first full day in the country, I decided to book a private morning city tour. Just after breakfast, my tour guide arrived at my hotel. I hopped into the passenger seat of his car, and we took off on our tour.
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| Al Wahda Arches |
In Qatar, like in the nearby UAE, the population is almost entirely made out of expats and foreign workers. In fact, only around 10% of the population of Qatar are actually Qatari citizens. Before the discovery of oil and the development of modern Qatar, this region of the Arabian Peninsula was too sparsely populated to be able to support the modern state.
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| Katara Cultural Village |
Our tour began around 7am and was to last for three hours. The plan was to finish and be back at the hotel before the heat of the day really struck. Even in the early morning, it was hot, and temperatures were expected to be up to 120 degrees F by the afternoon. In Qatar, construction and outdoor labor stops around this time, and most work is done overnight. During the day, people tend to mostly stay indoors, and the city doesn't really become busy until the sun has gone down. You have to adopt a very different lifestyle if you want to live out in the desert.
We began our tour at the Katara Cultural Village, a commercial complex built in 2010 during the Doha Tribeca Film Festival to teach about and promote Qatari culture to visitors.
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| the Great Katara Blue Mosque |
The Blue Mosque was constructed by famous Turkish architect Zainab Fadil Oglu and incorporates designs and influences from different eras and regions of the Islamic world. Its opening coincided with the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and it quickly became one of the city's most popular attractions with foreign visitors due to its beauty and unique design.
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| the Katara Mosque minarette |
A small office outside of the mosque's entrance offers pamphlets and informed guides who can explain to visitors about the mosque and Islam as a way to promote cross-cultural and interfaith understanding.
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| the Blue Mosque |
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| inside the Blue Mosque |
Outside of the mosque stood two unusual structures that looked like clay termite mounds with sticks poking out of them, reminding me of the game KerPlunk.
"What do you think those are?", my guide, Sam, quizzed me. I had no idea.
It turned out that they were traditional Qatari pigeon towers.
In the past, these pigeon towers were used, unsurprisingly, to house hundreds of pigeons in order to farm their droppings for fertilizer, feathers for pillows and mattresses, and eggs and meat for food. Pigeons were an incredibly important part of early modern Qatari life.
The ones built at the Cultural Village are modern replicas designed to teach about Qatar's history and culture.
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| Qatari pigeon towers |
Beautiful mosques I've visited and written about:
- The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: Hagia Sofia
- The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: The Pink Mosque of Putrajaya
- The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: Masjid Negara - the National Mosque of Malaysia
- The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: Masjid Jamek
- The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: Masjid Saifee
- The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: Songkhla
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| exploring the Cultural Village |
The Cultural Village also housed a small art museum, which was currently hosting an exhibition featuring children's paintings with the theme of Qatari culture.
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| an art museum in the Cultural Village |
Next, we visited a small museum dedicated to Qatar's pearl industry.
Before the discovery of oil in 1939, Qatar's main (and really only) industry was pearl diving.
Divers would sail out on wooden dhow boats, diving down into the water weighed down by stones in order to gather as many pearl-bearing oysters as they could. It was challenging, dangerous work, and the divers were often away from home for weeks, if not months, at a time. Pearls were the poor desert country's only export, and life was extremely hard.
Everything changed with the discovery of oil, when Qatar, almost literally overnight, became one of the richest countries in the world. Today, only one shipyard still constructs dhows, and the ones used today are mostly used for cruises and tourist purposes.
Pearls remain an important symbol of Qatar, and an oyster with a pearl even shows up on their banknotes.
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| the Katara Amphitheatre |
We walked out onto the central stage, and I was astounded by the acoustics. My guide had me clap my hands, and it was incredible how the sound echoed back at me.
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| the amphlitheater soundstage |
The entire open-air street, featuring shops, restaurants, outdoor cafes, and places to sit and socialize, was air-conditioned, with cool air blowing up from grates on the ground.
This was the most incredible display of wealth that I think I have ever seen. It was early in the morning on a workday, no less, so there weren't really any people out and about, yet the city was spending who knows how much money to fully air-condition an entire outdoor shopping street.
I have to admit, it would be nice to sit down on the open-air patios of one of the cafes for a cup of coffee with friends in the pleasant weather. It felt like being in a European city, not in the middle of the desert on the Arabian peninsula!
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| an air-conditioned shopping street |
Back in the car, we drove on to Pearl Island, a newer development and the first place in Qatar where foreigners were permitted to buy and own property. It's a luxurious artificial island with the yacht-filled Porto Arabia marina in the center of a ring of fancy condos and hotels.
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| Pearl Island |
Pearl Island has been developed to be a sort of "Venice of the Middle East", with an extensive system of canals where tourists and residents can get around by taking "Water Taxis", small, covered motorboats, from pier to pier.
Unlike most of Doha, where buildings are all painted a uniform desert sand color, the buildings at the Pearl Island are all painted in various shades of pink, yellow, orange, red, and blue, making for a bright, colorful, very pleasant place to live. Although, again, I never would have thought that I was in the Middle East if you had dropped me here in a game of GeoGuessr!
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| canals in Lusali |
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| the Raffles and Fairmont |
The building is multi-use, and is home to shops, movie theaters, restaurants, and other entertainment venues as well as two luxury hotels: the Raffles and the Fairmont.
The design of the building is meant to symbolize stylized crossed scimitars, a traditional symbol of the Middle East region.
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| Qatar's most iconic hotel building |
Back in Doha, we drove to park near the Governmental Palace, home to the Amiri Diwan of the State of Qatar, the administrative office and official workplace of the Emir of Qatar (the ruling monarch) as well as that of the Prime Minister.
The building was originally the 18th century Al Bidda Fort. After the withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire, it was used ceremonially until independence from the United Kingdom in 1971.
An iconic sight at the Amiri Diwan is the Palace Guard, who patrol the surprisingly lush, green grounds on camelback.
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| Amiri Diwan (the governmental palace) |
We walked past the palace to Soul Waquif, the Old Market of Doha.
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| entering the old market |
The first thing that we encountered as we stepped inside the market was a street filled with falconry shops. Falconry is one of the national sports of Qatar, and a falcon with good pedigree can cost many thousands of dollars.
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| falconry is one of the national sports of Qatar |
The falcon is the national bird of Qatar, and a symbol of the country. In the past, nomadic Bedouin tribes used trained falcons to hunt prey for food, and the incredibly smart bird was honored as a key to survival in the harsh desert environment.
The market is also home to one of the world's most premier falcon hospitals.
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| Qatar's famous falconry hospital |
Souk Waqif dates back to the 19th century. The name literally means "Standing Market", because the original market was built on the banks of a dry riverbed at the coast, which would fill up with water at high tide, forcing traders to stand. Fishermen, merchants, and pearl divers met at the market to trade not only their goods and wares, but also information, knowledge, and news. It doesn't seem like a great location to me, but what do I know? I guess it was built in a prime location to be convenient to people coming in by boat.
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| Souk Waqif |
In the 1960s, a land reclamation project moved the coastline out, and the market, which still keeps its original name, no longer stands above the water.
In 2003, much of the original market was sadly destroyed in a fire, but it was rebuilt with funding by Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifah al Thani and his wife Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. The new market was rebuilt to keep with the design of traditional Qatari architecture.
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| shops beginning to open for the day |
My guide led me into a small, airconditioned room near the entrance to the market. This was the Majlis. A Majlis is a traditional sitting room common in Arabian homes and public spaces. These rooms are typically set up with couches, chairs, and comfortable cushions placed around the walls of the rooms.
An attendant served us small cups of traditional cardamom coffee and dates while my guide explained the culture of the Majlis to me.
Hospitality is a key aspect of Middle Eastern culture, and it's the goal of a host to make a guest as comfortable as possible. In a traditional Muslim household, it's not appropriate for men outside of the family to see a woman without wearing her head covering. If friends happen to drop by, they will be received in the Majlis so that the women of the house can stay relaxed and comfortable in their home without worry if they don't feel like covering their heads.
It's a place to host friends and visitors for visits, conversation, and coffee, and is designed to be as comfortable as possible.
Interestingly, the word Majlis is also used in a number of countries - including Malaysia, Indonesia, Cyprus, Azerbeijan, Turkey, and many more - to refer to their national assembly. It makes sense, as the word is used to describe a sort of meeting place.
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| a rest house inside the market |
Refreshed, we set out through the market, admiring the spices, textiles, home goods, clothing, and other items for sale.
It was a bit of a surprise to me. I had expected Souk Waqif to be something like the markets that I had toured in nearby Dubai - fun to see to experience a bit of the culture and learn about the history - but crowded, touristy, and a little stressful with merchants shouting out to you to have a look at their wares. This was completely the opposite.
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| spices for sale at Souk Waqif |
It was quiet, calm, and very peaceful inside the shaded market, and I noticed lots of people buying everyday items. Yes, Qatar has plenty of supermarkets, shopping malls, and luxury stores, but it seems as if some people still do their day-to-day shopping at the old market.
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| a shop at the old market |
After exploring the market for a while, my guide led me to another Majlis to cool off with another cup of cardamom coffee. Here, I was greeted by an older Qatari man who shook my hand and welcomed me to his country. He asked me if I wanted to play a game with him, and of course I said yes! This turned out to be one of my best experiences in Doha.
We sat down to play a traditional Qatari game called Dama, popular as a pastime in a Majlis, which turned out to be a bit like Checkers.
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| a game of Dama |
However, there are several major differences between the two games. In Dama, pieces can move one square forward or side to side laterally, but never backwards (until they reach the other player's first row and get kinged). A king can move any number of unoccupied squares in a straight line, like a rook in chess. Dama Kings can capture across any number of squares in a direct line as long as there is exactly one enemy piece in the path and an empty space beyond it, which this differs from Checkers, where pieces must jump directly adjacent pieces.
You must always tell your opponent when you are moving a piece into a position in which they may capture it because when given the chance to jump another piece, the player must take the chance and is required to capture the maximum number of opponent pieces as possible. This allows for interesting strategies in which players sacrifice their pieces to force their opponents into risky moves and positions.
It was so much fun! Of course, the gentleman beat me easily.
He asked where I was from, and when I told him that I came from the United States, his eyes lit up. He had studied aeronautical engineering in Florida, he told me. After chatting for a while, it turned out that he had studied abroad and graduated from Florida Institute of Technology, the very same school where my wife's dad studied. It really is a very small world.
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| wandering through the old market |
One of the market's more unusual landmarks is the "Golden Thumb", which is exactly what it sounds like.
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| the Golden Thumb |
The statue, jutting out from the ground outside of a cafe in Souk Waqif, was designed by French artist César Baldaccini and commemorates Qatar’s victory in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. From what I understand, one of the players gave a big "thumbs up" when Qatar won (their first major victory in an international competition and a huge point of pride for the country), and it became a bit of a meme and a symbol of Qatari pride.
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| FIFA World Cup Countdown Clock |
Sports are clearly a big deal in Qatar. Qatar is a rich country, but a small one. By square milage, it's slightly smaller than the US State of Connecticut (about 100 miles north to south and about 50 miles east to west). The country, despite its oil wealth and very public regional alliance with the United States, has not historically projected very much soft power.
That's changing recently, especially after hosting the World Cup a few years back.
Qatar, to its credit, seems to realize that oil is a finite resource that simply won't last forever. While nearby Dubai and Abu Dhabi are building and building like the future is certain, Qatar seems to be investing more heavily in attracting tourists to their much smaller country. That's why things like hosting the World Cup or offering free stopovers are so important. The country is trying to build a future for itself that isn't completely dependent on oil, and I really respect that.
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| walking along the coast |
Our tour ended with a walk along the bay. The sun was high in the sky now, and it was getting hotter. Most people, my guide told me, wouldn't start coming out until late afternoon or early evening, and it was time for me, as well, to return to my hotel to cool down.
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| traditional Qatari boats |
I had a really great time!
In the past, I never was very fond of tours, preferring to explore more independently. Recently, I've sort of changed my mind about that (to an extent). With a limited amount of time, a tour, especially a private tour like I got in Doha, really is the best way to have a crash-course introduction to a city.
I have to say, even though I had never really considered visiting Qatar before, I might like to go back again sometime in the future. I've seen a lot, but there's still more to explore. If I can manage another stopover next time, I just might take it.
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| looking towards downtown |
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