Markets, Doha

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Qatar got the 2nd largest mall in the world. It is a very westernized mall. you can find any of the stores that you will find in US here at the "City Center Mall" as well as the local stores. It also has an Ice Skating ring in the middle of it. Good buys are the Camel bones boxs and paintings. All are original and handmade. It's very detailed in drawing. Also you can find some Arabic's perfumes.

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Finding the Souq Waqif has been one of the highlights of my visits to Doha. It's basically the old style Souqs, restored to their original beauty.

A few years ago, these souqs were decaying and had become quite cheesy, with plenty of neon signs and aluminum doorframes. At this time, a facelift is nearly complete. Metal is replaced with wood, and age-old building methods are being used to construct new extrernal walls from rough stone, and ceilings from palm leaves, bamboo and rope, all to create a rustic look that would have prevailed 100 years ago.

The most traditional of the souqs, it is a maze of narrow alleyways filled with small shops, with goods piled high to the ceilings and spilling out onto the pavement covering a wide area, and with separate sections selling perfumes and traditional forms of Qatari national dress, luggage, tools, general hardware and gardening equipment, kitchenware, spices, incense, sweets, rice, nuts, dried fruits and falcons. yes, falcons!

It's pretty much impossible to avoid this place, an immense, powerfully air-conditioned monument to Western chain store shopping. The mall is huge, everything's very new and shiny, there's an ice rink, you can get your car washed while you shop, but when all is said and done it is a shopping mall!

As you enter the city, you can see these two swords welcome you into the heart of the busy commercial community that awaits you.

The downtown area offers many shops and more traditional stores than the commercial ones you can see near the harbor areas (such as the Carrefoure mall).

Open markets and bartering are some of the things you can still expect here.

Built in the 1880's during the reign of Sheik Abdullah bin Qassim al-Thani and later as a fort during Turkish occupation, the fort now stands in the middle of one of the shopping districts downtown. The 19th century extrior is fitted with turret and small watch tower in a slightly Moorish style. The exterior has some traditional designs in the plaster/gypsum that covers the exterior and the door is also uniquely carved. The fort is closed on Saturdays and is usually open by 9am, with no entrance fee.

UPDATE: They have decided to move the front door to the back. I guess the view is better back there. There is quite a bit of construction going on at the moment and there is no telling when it will open back up again. But at least it still stands in its original spot.

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This place had been reconstructed and it is really nice to walk through. There are so many spices, sweets, dates, clothes etc to buy.

Old Souq is a traditional market where you can buy the local's clothes. Also, there's fruit, Camel, fish, chicken Market near by.

Doha's many souks (covered markets) are the place to go for pretty much anything you might want to buy. Here's VTer BraveCat examining the childrens' wear on offer...