Browsing at Souq Waqif

The souq has become a regular haunt for us. Apparently, it used to be a trading area for the Bedouin. Nowadays, it's a venue for everyone - local Qatari's who buy clothing, Arabic incense, spices, and perfumes. Ex-pats and tourists join in; bargaining for carpets, scarves and beads.

There are a myriad of stores and stalls selling all sorts of wares: pots so big you could fit a person inside, tailors ready with tape measures and pins to outfit you for any and all occasions, fabric stores with hundreds of bolts of fabric, even pet stores that sell budgies and rabbits. It's like walking in a maze, just a labyrinth of alleyways and corridors - some dark and sombre, some packed tightly with people, and always the aroma of spices and incense.




The buildings are designed in typical Arabic architectural style: geometric designs, arches, niches and iwans - with high ceilings and tiled floors. We love to walk with no purpose in mind, and then having the pleasure of discovering a new stall, unique item, or a previously undetected passageway.


After our stroll, usually as dusk approaches, we sit down at one of the many coffee shops and restaurants for a relaxing drink or meal: coffee, or my new favourite: a concoction of lemon juice and crushed mint leaves, that looks questionable, but tastes fabulous. The atmosphere is comfortable, but exotic. There are shisha's being smoked (water pipes with flavoured tobacco or fruits), authentic arabian cuisine to be eaten - it really is a popular social meeting point.


And always a stint of people watching - trying to discern what language people are speaking or where they originate. The souq is a place where east and west merge in a very comfortable fashion. My favourite person - the 'wheelbarrow boy' as he is called. Although he is usually an old man, dressed in traditional wear, ready and willing to trundle your purchases to your vehicle.

Ma'a salaamah till next time.