Before heading to my first stop in Europe which is Berlin, I decided to check out the city of Doha which is where I had a 12-hour layover. I decided to avail the service of Discover Qatar in partnership with the Qatar Airways. Since I had to leave the airport, I do need to apply for a transit visa but Qatar Airways took care of it for me. I just had to pay a minimal QAR 75 which is more or less P1,000.00 only.
I’ve to admit, I was actually a bit tired when I landed in Doha in the wee hours of the morning – I loved the airport by the way. There’s not a lot of people then and it’s humongous. I had to wait for 4 more hours, though, before I was contacted by the staff of Discover Qatar. The whole tour was about 2.45 hours and it was just very quick if I’m being honest. I remembered seeing the famous “Pigeon Towers” in front of “Katara Mosque” or the blue Mosque. It’s very fascinating!
The Pigeon Towers
We also went to The Pearl-Qatar which is a man-made island that houses luxury residential estates and commercial attractions. It got its name from being one of Qatar’s previous major pearl diving sites. The tour guides allowed us an hour to stroll along Souq Waqif and Souq Al Wakrah. It was very interesting but unfortunately for me, I was just so tired and sleepy but I don’t want to stay in the busy so I just checked out some of the stores but I felt like I’m just about to crash then. My favorite would have to be the Dhow Harbour where you can actually see the skyscrapers from afar.
Part of The Pearl
The face of the current Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Qatar National Bank.
Dhow Harbour
It was nevertheless a very fascinating quick tour. I wished I had more time to actually see more of Doha because I was really impressed with its infrastructures left and right. It’s so modern but you can see how they’re able to preserved their culture and their history. I’d really love to take a longer trip here, or perhaps a vacation someday.
P.S.
This was supposed to be posted right about a week after my last day in Europe to share my trip but when I got home in the Philippines, there was the Taal Volcano eruption and the Covid19 was already starting to spread all around. If only I could turn back time.
PADDYLAST INC. 