Seeing more of Doha

I had rather a disturbed night as a tickly cough I'd brought away with me decided to get somewhat persistent. Consequently Chris also had a disturbed night! But we were up at a reasonable time and after a smallish breakfast walked down the road to the Qatar National Museum.

The Qatar National Museum

Our main reason for visiting this museum, as with the Islamic Art museum yesterday, was the architecture. The striking building was inspired by the shape of the desert roses found in the Qatari desert. The museum opened in 2019 and was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel who was inspired by the desert rose crystal. The design also reflects the Bedouin traditions of Qatar.

We spent quite a lot of time taking photos from various angles, especially in the large central courtyard. On closer inspection I realised it is more like a collection of buildings attached to each other, just as desert roses often cluster together. They are grouped around an internal courtyard. The interlocking discs create cavities which protect visitors from the heat of the city. The shapes are different from every angle but always eye-catching.

I was also taken with the sculpture titled Flag of Glory by Ahmed Al Bahrani. This symbolises the nation’s strength and unity. A cluster of bronze hands grips the 20 metre tall flag-pole in the courtyard flying the Qatari flag.

The museum's café is located in the courtyard, and the sight of a proper espresso machine lured us in. We ordered our coffees and decided to sit inside. It was great fun to have our macchiatos delivered by a friendly and courteous robot!

As we had such a short stay in Doha we opted not to go inside the museum as we wanted to get a taster of several different parts of the city. So we took the Metro to the Katara Cultural Village. The Metro is easy to use and it cost us just six QAR for a day pass, not much over £1. But you need to be aware that there are three categories of carriage: Standard, Family, and Gold Club. The latter cost more, and the Family carriages are designated for women travelling alone as well as families with children. So if like us you are travelling as a couple you will need to use the Standard carriages. There are three lines and all the trains are driverless.

Katara Cultural Village

Katara Cultural Village was constructed on reclaimed land along Doha’s coastline as a centre for culture and the arts. It takes its name from the original one for this region, Catara, the first record of which appears in Ptolemy’s Geography, written c. 150 A.D.

Katara was apparently designed to resemble a traditional Qatari village, with low sandstone buildings. But I found it to be a rather strange mix of styles: classical Greece and Rome meet Middle Eastern with a touch of Portugal (mosaic pavements) and other cultures thrown in.

It’s a great place to explore if you like public art, as there are lots of sculptures and murals dotted around. There are also some high-end shops (Galleries Lafayette) and a variety of cafés and restaurants, most of them along the colonnaded High Street. This has sculptures in Murano glass which reminded me a little of the work of Chihuly, and another, ‘Building Bridges’ by Lorenzo Quinn. The latter features six pairs of massive hands intended to symbolise universal values: friendship, love, hope, wisdom, faith, and help.

The complex is also home to several museums and galleries. We considered visiting the Centre for Photography but it was closed for the weekend it seemed. I was curious about the dhow museum but didn't press it as I knew Chris would be bored.

Instead we simply wandered around taking photos of the architecture and art. Some pieces of art had plaques describing them while others I later found information about online.

Gandhi’s Three Monkeys

This is a three-part sculpture by Subodh Gupta, consisting of three heads. One wears a gas mask, one is a soldier and the third wears a terrorist hood. They are constructed from cooking instruments, used pails, traditional Indian lunch boxes and glass bowls. They are intended to be a take on the famous Three Wise Monkeys: ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’, while also making a statement about war and peace.

Praise to the Alphabet

This bronze sculpture by Rezo Khasia (top left below) takes the form of a tree, symbolising life and eternity and displays the 33 letters of the Gregorian alphabet. The other sculptures included below are ones I haven’t been able to trace any information on.

Murals

Among the murals were several that were created to mark the World Cup held here in 2022, celebrating the ties between Qatar and some of the competing countries. They included ‘Birds Game’ by Mexican artist, Eva Bracamontes.

I also really liked the painting of Kaya which marked last year’s Katara International Horse Festival, although it was at a difficult angle for photography.

In an open area near the sea we discovered an amazing staircase which was a big draw for (presumably) Instagram shots.

Mosque and surroundings

There is also an attractive mosque with an elegant minaret, covered in turquoise and gold mosaic tiles. It was designed by Turkey’s Zeynep Fadilloglu, believed to be the first female architect to specialise in mosques.

Next to the mosque is a group of traditional Islamic pigeon towers. These not only provide housing to thousands of pigeons, they have also been designed to collect the pigeon droppings, to be used as fertilizer on local farms.

After a while spent wandering around and taking photos we retired to a café with a shady terrace. There we enjoyed excellent ‘Fruity Bowls’: yoghurt gelato with fresh seasonal fruit (pineapple, kiwi, strawberry, raspberry).

West Bay

After a few more photos, including the beautiful stained glass food hall, we took the Metro part of the way back, alighting near the convention centre in West Bay, DECC. We wanted to get some photos of the skyscrapers we'd seen from the dhow yesterday, which we did, and also had a short walk along part of the Corniche.

We returned to the station and caught the train back to Souk Waqif and from there walked back to the hotel. We needed to do a bit of packing ready for our flight to Colombo tomorrow and also organise a transfer to the airport.

Parisa

In the evening we went back to Souk Waqif to eat in the recommended Parisa restaurant.

The setting is fabulous and the food was good, especially the meatballs we shared as one of the starters. I also liked my hibiscus mocktail. But it was expensive compared to the previous night and the food not really any better, while the service was polite but too rushed (e.g. our mains arrived before we'd finished our starters). We felt they were too eager to turn tables; we were probably in there for less than an hour which isn't the sort of relaxed dinner experience we enjoy when on holiday.

After the meal we strolled around the souk for a while, soaking up the atmosphere, before going back to the hotel to finish packing and have an early night.