Qatar - Souq Waqif and the Corniche (Part 3)

Monday -  23rd December 

Our first visit of the day was to Souq Waqif, a traditional market in Doha which is popular with locals and tourists alike. The market buildings have been cleverly redeveloped to look like a 19th-century souq, complete with mud-rendered shops and exposed timber beams, as well as some authentic and exquisitely restored original Qatari buildings.

The souq sells spices, jewellery, perfumes, essential oils, carpets, glass ornaments, handicrafts, souvenirs, Arabian lamps, fabrics and traditional garments...

                   

There was also an area with small animals in cages - lots of birds, rabbits, chickens and I even saw 2 sugar gliders. I didn't enjoy the cacophony of the hundreds of birds, I think they should be free and I found some of the cages were too small for the animal. I do hope those caged animals aren't kept outside during their horrid Summer heat!!  (I didn't take a photo of that)

There's also a Gold Souq nearby, that sells gold, silver and pearl jewellery, but we didn't visit it.

Once again although we were in a market, the place was spotless with lots of staff sweeping and mopping the floors.

We had lunch outdoors just around the corner from the Souq, at Damasca One, a Syrian restaurant.   Thomas ordered a variety of entrees (mezze) and I couldn't stop eating the best humus and the best baba ganoush ever! For mains he ordered lamb, quite traditional in Qatar (but I don't eat lamb) , chicken and sausages. It was all amazing!

The inside of the restaurant

After lunch we moved to Al Aker Sweets around the corner for coffee and Middle Eastern pastries. Middle Eastern sweets tend to be very, very rich and sweet, with honey and nuts.

This strange sculpture "Le pouce" (the thumb) was created in bronze in 2019 by French artist César Baldaccini to mark Qatar's biggest sporting success - the Asia Cup football victory - and it stands in the middle of Souq Waqif.

Jose and I at the gigantic thumb

We then crossed the road to see the Falcon Souq, which offers an insight into the traditional art of falconry. Falcons are highly honoured and celebrated as the national bird of Qatar.

Here they sell falconry accessories such as hoods for the bird's eyes, cuffs, falconer glovers, feathered lures to train birds, perches...

There is also a Falcon Hospital built with state of the art medical incubators and surgery units...

Falcons wear hoods to keep them calm and get them used to their surroundings and falconer

Next to the souq was a park full of camels that were tied up. Karina says that she's seen them parading in front of the nearby Seif palace government building.

Someone was brushing one of the camels

We crossed to the Corniche on the other side of the multi car lanes, via the underground pass. The Corniche is a crescent shaped 7km long promenade along Doha Bay, with spectacular views of the city's skyline. 

Doha's skyline from across the road before crossing to the Corniche

We started at the Dhow harbour, where you can see hundreds of the traditional fishing boats. Some of them do sunset tours.

The Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) is also at the end of the Corniche, but we didn't visit it.

Museum of Islamic Art

The happy trio with the city buildings behind us

It was always hazy, which could be the desert sand

While oil and gas has made Qatar rank highest in per capita income in the world, prior to its discovery in 1939 pearling was one of Qatar’s primary revenue streams.

In the Persian Gulf's waters, divers used to put their lives at risk to discover these treasures, with swimmers free-diving up to 30 metres (100 feet). They were then quickly hauled to the surface to dump their oysters before making more dives. To find one nice pearl, hundreds or thousands of oysters might have been needed.

Thanks to the discovery of oil and due to the introduction of cheap imitation pearls, pearl diving was discontinued.

This giant pearl monument is built in honour of that tradition. Also to honour the pearl industry, the luxury artificial island called ‘The Pearl’ was built on one of the nation’s major pearl-diving sites. (which I wrote about in my previous post)

Monument to the Pearl industry

Walking along we arrived at the monuments erected for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The sun was going down, the city lights were coming on and it was time to call 2 Ubers to drive us home for dinner.

Sun setting behind the mosque minaret