The College of the North Atlantic arranged a bus tour for it's new employees to see some of the sites Doha has to offer on Saturday, September 4th. Our regular buses to the campus picked us up at the accommodations and took us to the campus where we all boarded other buses provided by the tour company. And then we were off on our 3 hour tour of the city on what (at the time) seemed like the hottest day in recorded history. Thank Allah for air conditioning.
Along the drive several sites were pointed out like the Aspire Center for Sports Training and Rehabilitation. This location has some really cool style architecture. Quite interesting!
The first stop on the tour was the camel market where you can purchase camels for 1 of many reasons. Camels provide provide meat for eating and milk for drinking. They are also used for racing and desert transportation (although I think that is less common now that the 4-wheel drive vehicles can go into the desert). Depending on what you want to use the camel for will determine the price but generally the starting price for any camel is about QR5000.
There were also several colours of camels which I didn't know. There is the traditional camel coloured camel (like a sand or beige colour). There were some that were a lighter colour, almost a white or maybe cream colour and then a darker brown/black colour. The camels at this market seemed very sedate, like they were resigned to their fate. And there was no spitting!
The next stop on our 3-hour tour was at the Fruit and Veggie Market where you could haggle to get the best price for almost any fruit and vegetable you could find. There was lots of selection provided by many different vendors. Some of the selection looked really great but then there was some that I can't imagine anyone would buy as it looked like it was starting to turn. Next to this market was also the fish market. We didn't explore that market but we did see some people going to their cars with boxes with big fish hanging out.
On our way to the main souq, known as the Old Souq or Souq Waqif, we had the opportunity to take some pictures of Mosques, which can be recognized by the tall minaret with the cresent at the top and also by the (usually) round wall which faces Mecca in the east.
We only had a very short time at Souq Waqif and in the hot sun I am sure that everyone was quite happy about that. The Souq is a maze of alleyways with hundreds of small shops and stalls selling a vast variety of items ranging from tourist trash to handmade furniture. If you are looking for something unique...this may well be the place.
Our next stop was the Museum of Islamic Art next to the Dhow Harbour. (The Dhow Harbour being where all the Dhow's depart from for boat tours of the harbour). Here we only had 30 minutes to explore which is definitely not enough. We all split up and everyone decided what they most wanted to see. For me it was the history section which is on level 2. Unfortunately we only got through 2 rooms and it was time to go. This is a site that we will return to and explore in depth with lots of pictures.
Finally, we drove through downtown, known as West Bay, where they have some pretty strange shaped buildings. Again, pretty cool looking architecture.
The last stop on the tour was an area called the Pearl. It is a marina based living area with condos and townhouses. This is the only area of Doha where ex-pats are permitted to purchase property. Condos in this area start at approximately QR2,000,000 (about $280,000CAD). This section of town also has some pretty swank shops including Salvatore Ferragamo and Hermes. There is even Rolls Royce and Ferrari dealerships there.
At this point we ended our tour by getting bused back to the campus and then back home again. Overall it was a nice morning where we got to see some things that we might never see without the tour. For pictures of all the places described here, click here.
Along the drive several sites were pointed out like the Aspire Center for Sports Training and Rehabilitation. This location has some really cool style architecture. Quite interesting!
The first stop on the tour was the camel market where you can purchase camels for 1 of many reasons. Camels provide provide meat for eating and milk for drinking. They are also used for racing and desert transportation (although I think that is less common now that the 4-wheel drive vehicles can go into the desert). Depending on what you want to use the camel for will determine the price but generally the starting price for any camel is about QR5000.
There were also several colours of camels which I didn't know. There is the traditional camel coloured camel (like a sand or beige colour). There were some that were a lighter colour, almost a white or maybe cream colour and then a darker brown/black colour. The camels at this market seemed very sedate, like they were resigned to their fate. And there was no spitting!
The next stop on our 3-hour tour was at the Fruit and Veggie Market where you could haggle to get the best price for almost any fruit and vegetable you could find. There was lots of selection provided by many different vendors. Some of the selection looked really great but then there was some that I can't imagine anyone would buy as it looked like it was starting to turn. Next to this market was also the fish market. We didn't explore that market but we did see some people going to their cars with boxes with big fish hanging out.
On our way to the main souq, known as the Old Souq or Souq Waqif, we had the opportunity to take some pictures of Mosques, which can be recognized by the tall minaret with the cresent at the top and also by the (usually) round wall which faces Mecca in the east.
We only had a very short time at Souq Waqif and in the hot sun I am sure that everyone was quite happy about that. The Souq is a maze of alleyways with hundreds of small shops and stalls selling a vast variety of items ranging from tourist trash to handmade furniture. If you are looking for something unique...this may well be the place.
Our next stop was the Museum of Islamic Art next to the Dhow Harbour. (The Dhow Harbour being where all the Dhow's depart from for boat tours of the harbour). Here we only had 30 minutes to explore which is definitely not enough. We all split up and everyone decided what they most wanted to see. For me it was the history section which is on level 2. Unfortunately we only got through 2 rooms and it was time to go. This is a site that we will return to and explore in depth with lots of pictures.
Finally, we drove through downtown, known as West Bay, where they have some pretty strange shaped buildings. Again, pretty cool looking architecture.
The last stop on the tour was an area called the Pearl. It is a marina based living area with condos and townhouses. This is the only area of Doha where ex-pats are permitted to purchase property. Condos in this area start at approximately QR2,000,000 (about $280,000CAD). This section of town also has some pretty swank shops including Salvatore Ferragamo and Hermes. There is even Rolls Royce and Ferrari dealerships there.
At this point we ended our tour by getting bused back to the campus and then back home again. Overall it was a nice morning where we got to see some things that we might never see without the tour. For pictures of all the places described here, click here.
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