Jan 3rd - Jan 13th - Doha, Qatar

We were excited to travel to Qatar with Paul's mother Pat.  Pat had worked in Doha between 1982 and 1986, and apparently a lot had changed!  What Pat called a small city that you knew your way around is now a modern metropolis of dramatic skyscrapers, modern malls, and road works!  Even the old souq (market area) has been refurbished into a clean and charming district with pristine public restrooms aplenty.

Traveling from England meant we had to spend the first two nights in a quarantine hotel.  It was actually quite fun as fortunately we had two large connecting rooms so were able to get together to play cards when not eating or walking our daily 10,000 steps.  Notwithstanding, it was great to be 'free'.  Road works everywhere as Qatar races to be finished for the 2022 FIFA World Cup she is hosting later this year.  Despite the controversy, Qatar has made impressive progress preparing for this huge tournament with new stadiums, accommodation, and roadways.  The roadway improvements are everywhere making walking around rather challenging.

 

We began in the older part of the city, the Souq Waqif.  The original souq area has been abandoned and rebuilt in traditional style with modern pavements and public restrooms; coffee shops and restaurants. Near to our hotel was a Falcon Hospital and field of camels so the roots of the culture were very present. The Museum of Qatar is an excellent source of information and helped me appreciate this unique country.

  

Our next area to explore was not here when Pat lived here - West Bay.  It is an extensive area of modern skyscrapers (and more road works) and upscale shopping malls.  The only building that existed was The Sheraton hotel.  For nostalgic reasons we decided to stay at the Sheraton - set in lush landscaped gardens with beach and pool areas to relax. It was a good choice given the intense urbanization now surrounding it.

No visit to the Middle East would be complete without visiting the sand dunes.....wow....a lot of sand! Some Qataris still spend their winters in camps in the desert (albeit now with modern conveniences).

 

An even more recent addition to Doha is an area called 'The Pearl'.  Reclaimed land, named after Qatar's original natural resource (now the economy is based on oil).  This area oozes wealth.  Marinas packed full of luxury boats, housing that would be quite at home in Europe or the States.

Our next stop - Tanzania, and yet another required PCR test.  The crisis of testing is the world over.  We took a cab to a drive through testing site, six hours in the car in line to be told we needed a Qatar cell phone (which we don't have) in order to receive the results; our driver saved the day (allowing us to use his). Swabbed and thankfully our negative results were returned in time.

It has been a fascinating trip and one made even more special being able to revisit Pat's home for four years (even if it looks nothing like it anymore!)