I was disappointed how long it took me to get through the airport, but once I did I was easily able to board the gorgeous metro and make my way to the Souq Waqif metro station. From here it was a short walk to my hotel, the Central Inn, where I checked in around 20:00.
It is my first time in Doha and my flight is around 8:00 tomorrow, so with only a few hours, I decided the obvious thing to do was stay in the neighbourhood and explore Souq Waqif. As far as I understand, unlike so many of the ancient or nearly-ancient Middle Eastern souks I have visited, Doha's Souq Waqif is made up largely of buildings less than twenty years old. The location was at one time on the coast and therefore a centre of trade, but after land reclamation projects placed it a kilometre from the shore the area fell into neglect and a serious fire destroyed most of what was left of the neighbourhood in 2003.
Anyway, now it is thriving and clearly a very popular destination on a Friday evening.
I was lucky to find a one seat table on an outdoor patio and eat some dinner while I watched the crowds of tourists, expats, and locals eating, shopping, enjoying shisha and tea, and so on.
I was enjoying myself so much I decided to prolong my meal with a banana milkshake for dessert.
After dinner I took about an hour to meander on my way back towards the hotel.
I was amused to see a Canadian coffee company, Second Cup, represented amongst the Souq Waqif's businesses!
It was a quick visit to Doha and I will be eager to come back and see more, but I felt lucky to have gotten to enjoy the souq at least, more or less as "bonus" on my way home.
No comments:
Post a Comment