A Day in Doha

مرحبا!

Last weekend, I had the unique, exciting opportunity to fly to دولة قطر‎ (The State of Qatar) and spend a full day in its illustrious, modern capital: الدوحة‎ (Doha). Courtesy of everyone's favorite reference, Wikipedia, here is a brief overview of the country:

"Located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula ... Qatar has been ruled as an absolute and hereditary emirate by the Al Thani family since the mid-19th century. Formerly one of the poorest Persian Gulf states, the mainly barren country was noted mainly for pearl hunting. It was a British protectorate until it gained independence in 1971. Since then, it has become one of the region's wealthiest states due to its enormous oil and natural gas revenues. Beginning in 1992, Qatar has built intimate military ties with the United States, and is now the location of U.S. Central Command’s Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center.

Qatar tops the list of the world's richest countries by Forbes. In 2010, Qatar had the world's highest GDP per capita, while the economy grew by 19%, the fastest in the world. The main drivers for this rapid growth are attributed to ongoing increases in production and exports of liquefied natural gas, oil, petrochemicals, and related industries. Qatar has the highest human development in the Arab World. In 2009, Qatar was the United States’ fifth-largest export market in the Middle East (after the UAE, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt).

With a small citizen population of fewer than 250,000 people, foreign workers outnumber native Qataris. Foreign expatriates come mainly from other Arab nations (20% of population), the Indian subcontinent (India 24.5%, Nepal 13%, Pakistan 7%, Sri Lanka 5%), Southeast Asia (Philippines 10%), and other countries (5%)"

As you can see, Qatar is quite similar in many characteristics to the United Arab Emirates--so similar, in fact, that at one point in time it was actually a part of the union called the Trucial States that preceded the forming of the UAE. Bahrain was also originally a member of this coalition; however both Qatar and Bahrain ultimately resigned and formed their own independent states due to regional conflicts with the Emirates.

Now that you know a little more about the country, I'd like to take you on a whirlwind tour of Doha, its largest city and seat of government.

Souq Waqif

After a 45 minute flight from Sharjah, myself, two professors, and about 10 other AUS students took cabs from the main airport to Souq Waqif--a traditional open air marketplace that's a favorite destination for both tourists and residents alike. The marketplace has been in use for over a hundred years; however it recently underwent a restorative facelift. As one of the professors put it, its authenticity was remodeled in an effort to look more authentic. Kinda ironic, isn't it? The end result is that portions of the souq resemble a movie set, but despite these embellishments, the area still retains much of its historical significance and architectural charm. Here's a picture of what one of the main thoroughfares looks like today:

In the above image, you'll notice an abundance of outdoor cafes lining the pedestrian avenue. Our group ate both breakfast (a lovely meal of Lebonese pastries and mezze) and lunch (Iraqi style mixed grills) along this corridor. You might also notice a peculiar spiral structure rising up above the souq in the distance. Here's a better shot:

Here's another shot of it lit up at night:

This building, based on the many Arab minarets built in the style of the famous Great Mosque of Samarra (located in Samarra, Iraq), houses FANAR, the Qatar Islamic Cultural Center. Due to time constraints, we were unfortunately unable to visit this landmark, but it was still a neat sight to behold from the exterior.

The Corniche

From the souq, we walked a short distance past FANAR to the Corniche for our next stop, the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA). Along the way, we had an excellent view of the Doha skyline and its gorgeous modern skyscrapers. Here's a great HD shot of the city in the daytime sourced from the web:

At night, these buildings look even more spectacular, as seen here:

The Museum of Islamic Art

The main reason for my visit to Doha was to visit this landmark--an amazing collection of Islamic art and antiquities spanning many centuries and cultures throughout the Muslim world. What makes this site extra special, in my opinion, is that even the building itself is a form of art. From its many-layered exterior geometry, built to resemble the Alhambra, to its stunning industrial interior, MIA is a great example of classical architectural elements merged with modern materials and ingenuity.
 
Here's a shot I took of the exterior:

And the interior:

And now for some of the coolest exhibits I saw inside ...

^ Yes, those are real.

 

Well, that's about it for today's post. I hope you enjoyed the taste of what Doha has to offer. I definitely want to return to Qatar someday to see the sights I missed, perhaps in 2022 when they host the FIFA World Cup :)

Until next time, thanks for reading!

مع السلامة

~MH