Doha Weather

Temperatures are rising in Doha as many people leave for cooler climes to escape the intense heat.



The hottest weather in Qatar is between June and September.

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Qatar Football: The Italian Opera

by Wanderer

They came, they saw, and they left us completely in awe.

AC Milan, on their second trip to Doha in 110 years, did what only a few others before them have managed to do in Qatar – bring together an excited, chanting, colourful crowd to a sporting event. The game was well contested by Al Sadd and the final result, 2-1 in favour of the Italians, was just.

Doha Asian Games scenes?

In scenes reminiscent of the Doha Asian Games football final between Qatar and Iraq, the Al Sadd Stadium filled almost to capacity with star-struck fans of the Italian giants. The flow of love for Al Sadd’s outgoing captain Jaffal Rashid was not any less. The raving chants and the beating drums reverberated throughout the venue, modelled along the lines of Manchester United’s home stadium.

Enter the teams

The players from the two teams filed into the field for a 30-minute training session amid catcalls and standing ovations. They obliged the crowd with deft passes and lavish waves of hands. Beckham, ever the perfect gentleman, was the most interactive of the players. And then finally, the moment of truth arrived.

Slow start

With two of their biggest Brazilian stars – Kaka and Ronaldinho – on the bench, the Italians started slowly. They took time to establish their rhythm. When they did, it was more like a slowly building up opera rather than the team’s more familiar ‘instant rock-and-roll’. David Beckham produced some magical moments up front while Paolo Maldini took care of their defensive needs.

Pato, Mohammad Golam and Luca Antonini…

The trio made the farewell game memorable. Brazilian sensation Pato struck in the 16th minute, just as Al Sadd were settling down. He instantly made the game come alive. The first goal inspired the fans to try out several attempts at a Mexican wave, which never materialised.
Mohammed Golam pulled his club level in the 36th, if only for under a minute. Luca Antonini scored the winning goal of the day soon after.

No mean feat

The Italians may have taken the game easy, but their failure to score a third goal, in 53 minutes, speaks volumes about Al Sadd’s resilience. They played with heart and ended the game with their heads held high. Al Sadd were initially intimidated, but they gradually caught on. Although they tried hard, an equaliser was not in their stars.

Football is the winner

AC Milan may have won on paper, but the real winner was the beautiful game. It kept its audience spellbound for almost 95 minutes in a scenario begging to be replicated. The game was enough proof that good matches attracted big crowds. It should act as an eye opener for local authorities. If it succeeds in doing so, then one can safely call the AC Milan game one of the most important football matches in recent memory.

Also see:

Qatar Football
Our Guide to the English Brazil Football Friendly in Doha
An Assessment of the English and Brazilian Football Teams Set to Meet in Qatar

Game Highlights

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The Pearl Qatar

For our latest article Shabina Khatri spent two days interviewing marketing staff, employees and potential customers at The Pearl-Qatar. She found a mixture of results, from visitors overawed by the huge artificial island built on the former pearl diving grounds to engineers worried about the delays in the construction.

Also see:

Qatar Property |Buying Property in Qatar | Qatar Property Sites

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Aspire park

A pleasant place to spend some time away from the crowded Doha roads is Aspire Park. Hidden away behind Villagio, it is a surpisingly large and green park, complete with children's play area, football piches, greenery and trees.


To get to the tower just head up the road between Villagio and Hyatt Plaza and press the button on the gate - the gate will then open automatically. Alternatively park in Villagio and walk round to the back of the mall.

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Family Picnic

Doha can be a hectic place in the week, full of roaring cars with blaring horns and frustrated drivers with blazing tempers. But on Friday mornings peace falls, and families like this one can gather together to enjoy a moment of peace in a city which, despite its location in the desert, is suprisingly green.

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Doha Skyline

The Doha Skyline as pictured from the Intercontinental Beach. Click on the image for the full size.


Also see: Qatar Images

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Qatar Back Street

A backstreet in Doha, Qatar.

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Qatar Cats

Eid Mubarrak!

It is Eid today in Qatar, the end of the month of fasting, and like much of the population we have been out visiting friends.

While out I spotted some of Qatar's many cats, and snapped the pictures above and. Many of these are feral, and are normally tolerated by the local population. While disliking dogs, which they see as dirty, many Muslims like cats, perhaps because Mohammed himself was supposed to have been fond of them.

Liking doesn't always extend to taking care of them, and many scrounge a living from dustbins and occasional handouts.

Cats can breed fast. According to Feralcat.com, two breeding cats can, in theory at least, lead to an increase of 420,000 in the cat population. Fortunately, the Qatar government, in conjunction with the Qatar Cat Coalition, has a programme of capturing, neuturing and releasing them.

There are lots of abandoned pets in Qatar. If you are an animal lover you might want to check out the Qatar Animal Welfare Society, also known as QAWS.

Also see Qatar Pets: Essential Information for people looking to bring pets to Qatar

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Souq Waqif Back Streets

The back streets of Souq Waqif, before the Ramadan bustle.

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Doha's Industrial Area

The Industrial Area in Qatar

This is the industrial area; a drab and dreary district on the edge of Doha, where all the industry, garages and factories that might spoil the beautification of Doha has been placed. We visited it one Friday morning, a rare interval of peace in the area's hectic week. At busy times - which is most of the time - queues back up for half a kilometre along the wall, an unpleasant bullying mass of pickup trucks, tractors and giant lorries which often grind great holes into the roads. At present it is in better condition, although that will not be much consolation to the man who died after his car fell into one of the holes. For much of the year it is dusty, a dust that gets into your throat and your lungs, but on the rare occasions it rains there are floods - at such times, it is best to study the movements of the cars in front of you to avoid those holes.

It's not just heavy industry which is removed from Doha. As more and more cheap accommodation has been mowed down in Qatar, many of the poorer sections of the population have been forced, through lack of accommodation in the center, to remove themselves from below the eyes of the rich and to join the factory workers who live here.

If you live here, chances are that at some point you will be forced to visit the Industrial area - and, despite or perhaps because of the contrast with the more modern areas of Doha, it makes a fascinating visit, if not always a very pleasant one.

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Cranes

Cranes reach into the sunset in this Doha evening.

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Shelters

Although Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world (if not the richest country in the world) not everyone can afford a luxurious place to relax, as these pictures of worker's shelters from Doha's industrial area show.

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Dinosaur house

I have been watching this building on Wholesale Market Street come up for the last few months- I have always wondered what it was: a museum, maybe, or a fancy restaurant. Today I decided it was finally ready to shoot. After I had taken the photograph some men wandered out of the house - painters, it turned out. We communicated in broken Arabic and English - a museum? I asked. No, a villa, was the reply.

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The Old Shoe-Seller

I am in the process of adding some old photographs to the website. I was particularly intrigued by the image of a shoe-seller and repairer below, not because it showed how much some things had changed, but because it showed how little had changed for some people.



Just for comparison's sake, here is an image of a shoe-seller pictured today in the Sofatel area close to Souq Waqif.



You can see more pictures of Doha, both in the past and in the present, on the Doha section of our website.

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Doha Movie: The Remake

We weren't very happy with quality of our last movie on You Tube so we uploaded it to Vimeo, and got substantially better quality in return. the You Tube version should be quicker to load, though, so we have left the original Doha Drive movie below.

Doha Drive 2 from qatar visitor on Vimeo.

Also see our detailed Doha page, complete with articles, images, movies and sounds.






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Doha Movie

Update: Watch this in better quality, and with clearer subtitles in Doha Movie: the Remake

In our latest movie we take a drive along Doha's Corniche, taking in some of the sights to the sound of the haunting Doudouk, an Arabian wind instrument.

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Qatar Beaches: The smallest beach in Qatar?

This tiny beach can be found on Doha's Corniche, by the former jetty and close to the Sheraton Hotel. Unfortunately, swimming is not allowed on the Corniche, but children always seems to enjoy a paddle and a pad in the sand.


Also see:

Beaches in Doha (on the forum)

Qatar Beaches: Al Khor

At the beach: Qatar Style

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At the Typists in Sofatel, Doha

Today I was down in the Sofatel area - the area around the Mercure (formerly the Sofatel). We couldn't help noticing the difference between this grimier and grottier area of town - which has been marked for demolition - which is a stark contrast to much of the newer and remodeled Doha.


However, there is a reason people go this area. Not just because of the myriad of small computer shops hidden away below the basement of the Mercure - which contain products you can't find anywhere else in Doha - but also because of the humble but immensely valuable typist shop.



These gentlemen not only type up your documents, they also have an encyclopedic knowledge of Qatar's beaurocracy. They are able to tell you what docyments you need - and what documents you don't need despite having been told you do need - where to go and what to do. They also keep copies of the forms for you to use for free.



All for the cost of a miserly five riyals. And they refused my tip!

Also see: Qatar Visas and our Doha Guide

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Museum of the Islamic Arts, Qatar: Opening dates

For several years Qatar has been scouring the globe for treasures, snapping up what it wanted, when it wanted, at a total cost of well over one billion dollars. This included buying the Jenkin's Venus for almost eight million dollars, the highest price ever paid at any auction for a single antiquity.

As a result of this spending spree, Qatar has amassed a huge array of treasures, collecting everything from Fauberge eggs to classic cars.

Ultimately, Qatar plans to house these exhibits in a series of five museums across the Corniche. The first of these, the imposing Musuem of the Islamic Arts, is now ready to be opened. A soft “opening” is planned for 22nd March, ahead of a grand opening on November 22nd.

The Islamic Museum was designed by world famous architect I. M. Pei. Pei, who also designed the Louvre in Paris, was tempted out of retirement at the age of 88 to design the Islamic museum. The result now sits on its own Island off the Corniche.

Also see our website article: The Museum of the Islamic Arts, Qatar

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The Ritz Carlton Sharq Village and Spa: Cigar Bar

Location: Ras Abu Aboud Road, between the Oasis Hotel and Doha Club

For a change of venue we decided to try a night out at the Cigar Bar in Doha's Ritz Carlton Sharq Village and Spa. This is one of Doha's newest hotels - only completed this year - and probably also the most luxurious.

We weren't even sure if we'd be allowed in, but we were greeted with the utmost politeness at the entrance and then escorted to the bar.

Don't expect a buzzing night out here - besides being small (but luxurious), we were the only people there. This is a place to relax, and to watch strange tropical fish flit about in their brightly coloured aquariums. Or you can do as we did, and sit outside and admire the hotels superb fifteen thousand metre pool.

Afterwards, take the opportunity for a stroll round the hotel's fifteen courtyards, or walk along the private beach and admire the lights reclecting from the port. The only thing likely to disturb your piece is planes - unfortunately the hotel is located in the flight path of Doha Airport, although that should change when the airport is relocated next year.

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