Doha is a city gearing up for the 2022 FIFA world cup, so while it may not appear to be a big tourist destination just yet, there are a couple quite magnificent attractions in this city of Pearls.
Firstly is the Souq Waqif, which I have already waxed lyrical on in an alternative post, but it turned out to be our go to for dinners. We dined there two nights out of the three that we were here, with our last night being a superb Indian restaurant called Gymkhana.
The Katara Beach and Katara Cultural Village is a sprawling area of restaurants, cafes, art galleries, and houses a number of beautiful Mosques, an Opera House, an Amphitheatre and a Drama centre. At the time we were there, it was a bustle of activity as they were setting up for their national day (18 December) and the Youth Film Festival was in full swing. I recommend the Al-Jazeera Cafe, good food, great service and a really interesting space to just explore. Its not the main Al-Jazeera centre in Qatar, however there is news related activity going on there, which creates its own vibe.
The Katara beach is pretty, and I can imagine busy during the warmer months, of interest is that there is a charge of 50QAR per person to go onto the beach, and technically you are not allowed to take photos. We snapped a few shots before we were made aware of the no photo rule, however no one seemed particularly concerned as it was pretty much deserted while we were there,
The Museum of Islamic Art (or as it is also known, MIA) is a simply beautiful building designed by I.M Pei drawing influence from ancient Islamic Architecture, most notably the Ibn Tulun Mosque in Egypt. The soaring ceiling, and the geometric shapes were pure heaven for me – and while the art work spanning 1400 years of Islamic culture were beautiful, I kept finding myself back in the main area gazing in awe at the beauty of this building.
Kiwi Roamer, the less intrepid traveler 