Qatar - Christmas

Tuesday 24th - Qatar being an Islamic country means they don't celebrate Christmas, but because the majority of expats probably do, and the Qataris embrace other cultures, you can find displays of Christmas lights and decorations in shopping centres, streets, etc., and Karina had even visited a Christmas market a week or two before we arrived.

Karina and I had already started the preparations for the Christmas Eve dinner, by making the desserts and preparing all we needed to make the Portuguese Codfish with cream.

At lunch-time we ate outside by the villa's shared pool. It was winter in Qatar, but the day temperatures were usually around 24C, (sometimes windy), cooler at night between 14 and 19C, requiring a light cardigan.

After a light lunch, Jose and I joined our son in law Thomas on a trip to the Mall of Qatar in the city centre to go to Carrefour (a French supermarket) for some last minute goodies for the Christmas meals.

I was impressed with the supermarket, the huge variety of fresh products, (mostly imported), with the amount of cheeses on offer (I could live on those alone, lol), the ready made food - a delicious hummus and baba ganoush, that Thomas bought as dips, the variety of nuts and dried fruit... and then the over 50 cashiers working.

Mall of Qatar

Nuts and more nuts

Dried fruit - lots of varieties of dates

Cheeses galore

When we left the shopping centre I spotted this building with a sign for the Doha Marathon on the 17th January. I took a photo as Karina was going to run 10km with a friend in her first ever marathon. 

As Europeans we celebrate Christmas Eve with a late dinner, then exchange gifts at midnight (if we can keep awake that long 😏). It would just be the 7 of us for dinner, which consisted of Creamed Cod fish, and a leg of lamb with turmeric rice, which had been delivered just before dinner.

Leg of lamb with turmeric rice

                   

According to Thomas, as per French tradition we should have 13 desserts - I don't think we managed that...but I made Rabanadas (Portuguese French toast), Rice pudding, Milk flan, and then we had fruits, nuts and 2 boxes of delicious Arabian sweets that were consumed in a flash, they were so addictive!

Various desserts

A family selfie before opening the gifts- L to R - Jose, I, Karina, her brother in law B, Thomas, the father in law M and the little niece J.

                                

A t-shirt Karina received for Christmas

          

Wednesday 25th - Karina was having friends over for Christmas lunch - a South African couple they had met years before when they all lived and worked in Amsterdam, who now have two young kids and have been living in Doha for a couple of years.

But before lunch, Karina sent us all out for a drive and we went for a walk around The Pearl island.

 The Pearl Qatar Mosque - which we didn't get to visit

Nr 2 Porto Arabia - one of the buildings at The Pearl

Around the Pearl marina

In all the gardens in Doha I found Bougainvillea in various colours (with no thorns). I don't know what the secret to flowering is, as I have 2 and I get half a dozen flowers only!

                                   

Jose and I at the Pearl marina

I thought this was a funny sign for a shop opening in 2025 (Inshallah = God willing)

Saw these somewhere in Doha

On the way home, views of the Crescent tower.

Shortly after we got home Karina's friends arrived, the kids were given their Christmas presents and then we sat down to lunch and ate all the leftovers from dinner. M brought a cake which was added to the dessert table.

Coffee and liqueurs were had outside by the pool while the kids swam. 

Photo from Karina's first floor of the pool area and the lagoon

The sun set at around 5pm and I went to the beach just a few metres from the pool to photograph the sunset.

At karina's beach/lagoon to the right you can see the two towers in The Pearl

Thursday 26th -  After lunch the family took 2 Ubers to the city to see the Islamic Cultural Centre (Abdullah Bin Zaid Al Mahmoud Islamic Cultural Center). 

It's situated just across from Souq Waqif and it's a striking hexagonal building with a spiral tower, a replica of the Great Mosque of Al-Mutawwakil in Samarra, Iraq. 

Entry is free and here you find a lot of guides who are happy to explain to you the basic of the Islamic religion, give you reading material in various languages, as well as offer you a coffee.  We got all of them, but I had to decline the coffee as I don't drink coffee.

Islamic Cultural Centre - photo taken from the Souq

Islamic Cultural Centre. Notice the palm leaf street lights?

We came across a young man who asked our nationalities and although he couldn't speak Portuguese (English was good enough for us) he spoke fluent French which came handy to explain things to Thomas Dad and brother. He also spoke fluent German as he had lived in Germany many years. 

We found him to be quite "worldly" for such a young man, as when he asked if we were born in Portugal and I replied I was born in Mozambique, he was even aware of problems in Mozambique after the recent elections and knew that there is also a small African Muslim community there.

We enjoyed reading about the early Muslim contributions to medicine, astronomy, mathematics, engineering ...

  

An interesting article about women and Islam = same rights. But sadly not all Islamic countries follow that. In Qatar they encourage women to have an active work life and their rights are protected in the workplace, with equal pay, flexible work, protection against discrimination, encouraging women to apply for leadership positions, etc. They even have a couple of women in government positions. I was pleased to hear that Qatar has managed to balance culture and religion and embrace modern values.

                   

Then it was time to walk to Old Doha Port just 3,8km away.

                               Islamic Art Museum on the Corniche across from the Mosque

We crossed the MIA (Museum of Islamic art) park, where lots of families were having picnics, children playing on the lawns, etc...



We crossed the street into another park close to Doha's Old Port - the Box Park, a development built with brightly coloured containers, apparently one of Doha's most popular areas for instagrammers 😎.

An art installation across from Box park

Karina and Jose at the Old Doha Port sign

The containers have been refurbished into cafes and restaurants and from the first floor outdoor seating area you get views over Stadium 974, a temporary venue erected for the 2022 World Cup, made with 974 shipping containers, which can be dismantled and re-used elsewhere. The number 974 is also a reference to Qatar's international phone code.

The park has a number of walking/running tracks which are made of bouncy material which makes it easier on the knees.

There are also food trucks in the car park from where you can order coffee and snacks.

The stadium in the distance

Smiley face on a container

Stadium 974 - the container stadium

We didn't stop at the Box park, and soon we reached the picturesque pastel coloured complex with cobbled streets of Old Doha Port in the Mina District. Here you can spot docked cruise shipsm, visit a modern fish market, as well as sit down and enjoy a bite to eat at the many restaurants and cafes, browse the shops, as well as enjoy street art.

Me in front of one of the murals by Spanish artist Lula Goce

                      

We found an empty table at one of the cafes on the esplanade, and believe or not it was called "Santa Nata", and had the famous Portuguese Pasteis de Nata (Custard tarts). 

As we sat there we spotted two strange vehicles on the water, the second one being a modified car (it was a bit far for a good photo).

One of the cruise ships in the port

After coffee and cake we walked around, and I took photos of all the murals I came across (From a youtube video of the area, I noticed I've missed 2 which were in the first street where we didn't go).

Another mural that I'll post soon

                  

It was getting dark by the time we left and here at the end of the street you can see the city centre buildings across the bay. 

I loved all we saw and the long walk that allowed us to experience what you don't get to experience if travelling from one area to another by car.

The lights were on and the city buildings were getting illuminated too

Our route on the 26th from the Islamic Cultural centre to Old Doha Port

Please also check Tom's blog for other signs from around the world. Thank you