Eid Mubarak!

Panoramic photo I made of the skyscrapers along the Corniche

Today marks the official end of Ramadan, which means we can finally eat in public and that stores will start opening at regular hours. To commemorate the end of Ramadan, the country is going to celebrate Eid al-Fitr for three days. So since it's kind of a celebratory time I'm not going to bore you about how we still don't have the internet after now three weeks despite the fact that they apparently send someone on almost a daily basis (though they never seem to make it to our door). We did get the bill taken care of and they waived the whole thing--installation fees and all--so perhaps we do have something to celebrate. At the very least, going out and doing something fun would get our minds off of how much we'd like to be emailing friends back home. If that wasn't enough reason to get out and have some fun, the school gave me a week and a half off for Eid, so we figured it's high time we took our rental car out and saw some of the city.

Oyster with pearl fountain along the Corniche, with skyscrapers in the background

The Corniche


After church on Friday we drove over to the Corniche, which is a lovely crescent shaped seaside promenade. On the north end are the ever-rising skyscrapers of the West Bay district (I know, directions are confusing) and on the south end is the city center, filled with crowded shops and markets. We first went to the north side and took pictures of the skyscrapers. Well, you can't really call them skyscrapers just yet since they're almost all under construction. Looking out, it looks like a tornado hit the town as most of the buildings are missing windows. The waters of the gulf were lovely though. Overall there were a few families around, no more, so we really got to enjoy the scenery by ourselves.

Dhow fishing boats along the south end of the Corniche

Then we drove over to the south end of the Corniche near the city center and there wasn't a family to be found. Instead, the place was crowded with Indian men. No women. Lyssa felt a bit out of place. There is a nice fountain there in the shape of an oyster (pearl diving used to drive the economy here) as well as several dhows which are Qatari-style fishing boats. I commented to Lyssa how I really like places with good views. In Budapest nothing beats standing on Gellért hill and seeing the castle, parliament, the chain bridge, and Szent István's basilica all at once. In Pittsburgh, you can't beat the view from Mt. Washington, seeing the confluence of the three rivers, and looking down on the skyscrapers. Looking along the Corniche and seeing new and old Doha separated by the choppy waters of the Persian Gulf may not be as epic as those, but is still an awesome sight to behold.

Qatari flags at sunset along the Corniche

Souq Waqif and the City Center

I've been complaining now to Lyssa for sometime that I wanted to go to the souqs, which is Arabic for market. Finally Monday morning we got up early enough to visit Souq Waqif (which means Old Souq) and wander around its maze-like corridors for an hour or so. It's a really neat experience.

A very pregnant Lyssa at Souq Waqif

Basically there are tons of little shops scattered all around, several selling really fine textiles, others aromatic spices, still others gold and jewelry, and then others that sold pretty much everything else you could need around the house (or elsewhere as well, we saw a giant pot that we could both easily fit into together). Supposedly somewhere else in the market they also sell falcons, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I would have taken a lot more pictures, but people are pretty paranoid here about having their picture taken, even if it's at a distance, and since the place is full of people I couldn't get many off.


After about an hour of walking in circles and starting to sweat we decided to get going. Somehow I convinced Lyssa to first go over across the street to check out the old city clock tower, which uses those cool Arab numerals instead of Western ones. We also got a good view of the Corniche and Grand Mosque from there.

Clock tower with the minaret of the Grand Mosque in the rear

The End of Ramadan
We went out to eat the last night of Ramadan at this Middle Eastern restaurant called Saraj located inside the Villaggio. I know malls back home typically don't have nice sit-down restaurants, but here they do. The atmosphere was very nice and they started by giving us both a very tasty bowl of split-pea soup. This is usually one of my favorites, but the texture this time was so wonderful--just slightly abrasive. The rest of the meal was good, but nothing to write home about (though clearly, I just did). We've yet to find any restaurants here that just knock us off our socks, which is a bit sad since we found so many in Pittsburgh. But what should I expect? After all, it's still in mall. Despite the fine decor and excellent soup, I could see McDonalds from where I was sitting.