I can't decide which souq is better, the souq Waqif or souq Al Wakra. May be we can not compare the two,though the fact remains that souq Al Wakra is not totally bustling with stores to shop but has plenty of restaurants and cafe's. And the biggest plus is that it has a beach. I know, beach so close to city with water so clean and good will definitely give an edge to a place .Recently we visited Al Wakra souq. It is quite different from souq wakif. First of all it has not established itself as a shopping destination ( wholesale or retail); second, I guess it has more cafe's and restaurants then stores, third and the most important one is that it has a beach, A beach! :D Souq Al Wakra is slowing emerging as a favored destination for one and all. It is beautifully landscaped and gives you a feel of life that our ancestors must have lived. It is designed such that you feel like you have come to a very old village with wooden logs and walls that look like they are made up of mud and sand and the rough texture vouch for its authenticity. The whole beauty of that place lie in its rustic design and feel. Back home we have an ancestral house so i can totally understand and relate to it. It some how reminds me of 'home'.
It has a birds market with beautiful birds of all sizes. They are all so adorable and breathtakingly beautiful. You can adopt fishes, tortoise, lizards( like iguana and chameleon ), cute cats and dogs. They are all up for sale. There is a store called 'aqua art', I have never ever seen more beautiful designed and kept aquariums. They have even sting rays. Other fishes being the most common clown fish, we all know it as 'Nemo' , gold fishes, Siamese fighters, yellow tangs. They also have koi fishes and an amazing collection of live corals and sea plants. We were mesmerized and was convinced that we needed a fish tank, but soon we realized that our kids are too little to let the tank and fishes alone. So sadly we moved forward.
Souq Al Wakra also has an amazing sword market, one must check it out. Apart from that it has a carpet market, falcon market and spice market. The spice market is not fully occupied, there are hardly few stores now. After looking around and a bit of shopping we moved towards the sea side. Ahhhh.... it was beautiful. On one side it is bustling with restaurants and cafe's and on the other side it was the ocean. The sand was so clean and felt great on feet. The reason is that they are maintaining it so well plus BBQ is not allowed. We love to play in the sand, make castles or draw or whatever. You can go for a swim as well. Since it's quite cold now, we stayed away from the water and were too happy to play in the sand. But that did not stop us from getting our feet wet. It was chilling, but fun. It was nice to sit under the umbrella on the beach chaises that has been set up for public use for free. Just lying there in total bliss and watching the evening pass by is a beautiful experience on its own. There are so many good restaurants around that it is difficult to choose one from the other. After much thought we chose a lovely place to have a nice quite dinner before hitting back home.
It was a totally a different experience of shopping and relaxing at a same place.SOuq Al Wakra have definitely got itself on the top 10 spots in our list. So with that I say goodbye for now.
