Souq Al Wakra

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.

Al Jassasiya Beach

Al Jassasiya Beach

         

It is one of the beaches in Qatar that promises crystal clear water. Al Jassasiya beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in Qatar. This beach is far less crowded and on the weekdays you may not find more then few souls. My experience with this beach was overwhelming. We went in mid December, the water was really cold and the forecast said it might rain. But I wanted to go irrespective of all the facts. And trust me, it was totally worth it.

Al Jassaiya is about 90kms and it should take 1 hour or so. There are quite a few petrol stations on the way so you can fuel up, freshen up and pick up some snack. Please make sure you follow map as the roads are quite confusing. A 4*4 is recommended as you need to drive off roads as there are none. Other cars may or may not go. 

We reached Al Jassasiya beach by lunch time, it was beautiful and not too cold. So we got the opportunity to sit and have our beach lunch. Having lunch with an ocean view is something I want to do everyday, but that can happen in another parallel universe. Anyways, so after that we got busy in building sand castles with the kids. The sand was clean { clean as in no coal from BBQ’s}, and I like that.  After that we went on to explore the beach and found some amazing shells, sea stones and dry corals.
Sun was shining high so the water also didn’t feel quite cold, but it was for a swim.  The water was clean, clear, and turquoise. The view looked right out of a beautiful poster. It was picture perfect. And a sight to behold.

As the forecast said it will rain that day, the cloud started to form by the evening over  the ocean and in the distance we could see that it was raining. Clouds formation above was mesmerizing. Soon the rainbow was visible and my son was rejoiced as he had never seen a rainbow before. And to add to his excitement, another rainbow came up and his excitement doubled. It was the most beautiful site we have ever seen, it was picturesque. All of us sat there enchanted for God knows how long.
Hot steaming tea was all we need then, and I did pack it in my picnic basket, yepiii. After that we decided that it was best to head home as it will start raining anytime soon. So with eyes full of bewitching surroundings and a heart with hope to come back soon we said farewell.

Facalities:

Restrooms : this beach has nothing, so you have to go to a nearest petrol station. You might have to go about 10-15 kms for it.

Shops : there are no shops around, so carry enough water and food.

Trash cans : there are some trash cans here and there to throw the garbage in.

Best time to visit this beach is around November and February/March. Rest of the time it’s either very hot so not a good idea as there aren’t any shade around or it’s too cold.




Photo Credit : Tauseef Ali

Fuwairit Beach and Jebel Fuwairit Beach

Fuwairit Beach

Jebel Fuwairit

Jebel Fuwairit

Fuwairit Beach

Qatar is my home for almost 4 years now and I can’t help feeling bad as I haven’t been to fuwairit beach until recently. When I first saw the beach, I was gobsmacked. I was like ‘why on earth we never came here?’  This beach is Mauritius. Now when I say Mauritius, we all know we are talking about clean turquoise water and that’s what fuwairit beach offers you. I have seen a lot of beaches in Qatar, trust me this beach beats them all. It’s a dream beach of all the people living in Qatar. After we visited fuwairit, I absolutely refused to go to any other beach is Qatar. Name a beach in Qatar apart from fuwairit and one or two beaches {which I will talk about later sometime}, my answer will be a straight on the face “NO” {yes, in shouty capitals}. I completely refuse to go to any other beach. How can I go to any other beach which is offering murky, weedy, stony and brownish water then to a serene blue-green paradise?

Fuwairit is basically divided in 3 parts. One is the fuwairit beach, two- jebel fuwairit and three- extended part of fuwairit. We go to jebel fuwairit and the other part as it is less crowded. The main part of the beach is mostly crowded so we go past them to the other side which is far less crowded.

Jabel fuwairit is a must visit. It’s best for running if you are going early. And hardly few people are there if you love peace. It’s hilly and the view is spectacular. Once we went to jebel fuwairit before dawn. Watching sunrise from jebel juwairit’s small hills was the best experience ever. The changing colour of the sky and water was spellbinding. And it’s awesome for clicking  pictures. And we went crazy clicking pictures. After all the crazy photo bombing we sat on a lovely hill overlooking the ocean and ate a small breakfast we packed with steaming hot tea.  Ahhh… the best breakfast ever. And I want to do it again and again and again.  

Note that this part of the beach is hill side so only stones and hills next to water, so it’s not very kids friendly. For the kids to have one awesome time we moved to the other side of jebel where kids can play in sand and water. You can also see little silver fishes swimming in the shallow water. I once went on a mission to catch some but offcourse they are faster in water ;) I can’t catch them bare hands and I had no intention of hurting and hooking them with a fishing rod which I did not have anyways.

Sunrise from Jebel Fuwarait

How to get there: 
So fuwairit beach is about 100 km or so. So it will take about an hour. People living all around Doha should reach in 1 or 1 and half hours max. The road is a bit tricky, but God bless Google, we have Google Maps. So navigate and get there.

Best time to visit: 
The best time to go to beaches in Qatar is before winter starts { mostly by November} and right after winter ends {mostly by February}. Rest of the time either it’s too hot or it’s too cold.

Facilities:

No restrooms:  there is a petrol station nearby that you can use.

No Garbage cans: So please take back all your trash.

No stores: there is nothing on the beach so get enough food and water.

So plan accordingly and take everything you will need.

I have read a lot about fuwairit on different blogs, all say the beach is very clean no garbage what so ever. But I found a lot of garbage in jebel fuwairit. So it is a myth buster here. But one must keep in mind that it is fairly clean so please, please carry the trash back, don’t throw garbage in a corner or anywhere. Please let’s keep this place beautiful for ourselves if not for anyone else.


Photo Credit : Tauseef ali