A Plane to Spain

[OZDUCK]

The museum is in a gorgeous building, designed by I. M. Pei who also designed the glass pyramid at the Louvre, and contains some absolutely superb works of art. The "Islamic" term seems to be used fairly loosely. It appears to cover anything that was at one time in the areas ruled by the old Islamic empires rather than necessarily being produced there. As an added bonus it is free to visit .

There is a small and pretty expensive, like most things in Doha, cafe in the hall. Upstairs there is a very expensive restaurant - run by Alain Ducasse.

The main hall







Now for some of the artworks. They range from architectural details to jewellery.

My personal favourite. A jewelled falcon from India Circa 1640 - made from gold, enamel, rubies, emeralds,diamonds, sapphires and onyx. The photos don't do it full justice.





Gold, precious stones and enamel inlaid dagger and scabbard





Beautifully decorated glassware - Mamluk Enamelled Glass Bucket - mid 14th Century - Egypt or Syria.



A mid 19th century game set from India -Gold, diamonds, emeralds,rubies and sapphires



19th century Faberge box. Gold,enamel, diamonds, emerald and pearls

 

[OZDUCK]

Some more from the museum

There was a variety of brass astrolabes and other navigational instruments. Most were from before the 15th century.





Ottoman Empire era armour for both horse and rider - Turkey 15/16th century





War mask - steel inlaid with gold 15th century



For when you are a bit tired at looking at all the beauty around you and want to sit down with a cup of coffee. Of course, you will need a coffee cup holder so you don't burn your sensitive fingers. Probably Switzerland 19th century - diamond and ruby-set gold



This just a small selection of the collection. If you are in Doha you absolutely should visit this museum.

Towards the end of our viewing it started to drizzle and then we had the full works . Thunder, lightning and heavy rain. Doha's average rainfall is 78 mm we got 60 mm in about three hours and the city was spectacularly unable to cope. For a start we were trapped inside the museum for about two hours in the hope it would stop. There was no covered way to the main road from the museum and only taxis that were dropping people off came up the driveway,and the were far more people than taxis.


The forecourt was awash and a worker was fully employed to try to keep it from flooding in.





This was about 14:30

 

[OZDUCK]

The rain finally reduced to a light drizzle so we walked to the main road to get a taxi but there was such a gridlock that we decide that was a waste of time. Initially we intended to catch a taxi once the traffic cleared however by the time it was moving we were already wet and halfway home so we kept walking. We had wanted to have a bit of a walk along the Corniche and this meant we were able to walk its entire length - we probably walked about 9 km.The temperature had dropped to about 24 C so it was quite pleasant walking. The locals seemed amused by the stupid foreigners walking in the rain.



there are parking areas along the Corniche and these had turned into lakes.



There were a few others enjoying the rain. The sea wall has very few drains so the walkway was often under water and we had to walk on the wall itself. The grassed areas were completely sodden and the cars that were moving sent waves across them.



These fountains of water were caused by the rainwater being trapped in this area and then gushing over the seawall and shooting up through a few holes.



This is all trapped rainwater.



Your kids could play in the playground and have swimming lessons at the same time.



By the time we got back to our hotel everything except for our shoes were dry. This is the traffic a few hours after the rain stopped.



We went to the airport about 6 hours after the rain had stopped and a number of roads were still flooded.

The trouble with our stopover was that we had 2 nights accommodation but our flight wasn't until 02:25 on the third night. The hotel let us have a very late checkout - 18:00 and after wandering around the attached shopping centre for a while we left for the airport at about 21:00. There was no trouble booking in and we spent the next few hours waiting in the Al Mourjan J lounge. This is certainly the biggest J lounge I have been and it was very well set up. To make our late departure even later the airport tug broke down and had to have another tug attached to push us out.

A couple of sights familiar to many of you.

The lounge was very quite when we first got there and didn't get busy until about midnight.





As an aside I am not sure about how the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 will go. There are lots of poster, signs etc around but it seems only skin deep.For example this is the countdown clock and mascot on the Corniche. It is derelict and unloved with nothing appearing to work.

 

[OZDUCK]

Now our trip seems to be really over as this the final installment.

We were on an A380 which was very comfortable but for the first time in my life I felt sick on board a plane. We had been up for over 24 hours by this time and our mealtimes had been distorted by being trapped in the museum, the late departure etc. I was feeling sleepy so I tried my CPAP machine but as usual I was unable to sleep on a plane.

When my breakfast came,about three hours out of Perth I had a few bites and suddenly felt very ill. I had to apologise and send the breakfast back and request a glass of ginger ale which settled my stomach down after a half hour or so. Apart from the tiredness & disrupted eating we had been "trapped" in the top of a cloud bank for three or four hours and though the turbulence wasn't bad it was still hours of jolting and all the blinds were drawn. I was ok by the time we got into Perth but I really didn't get a chance to enjoy this leg.

Sunrise with the "candlelight" meal service reflected.



More sunrise over the clouds



Crossing a lot of nothingness



My wife enjoyed her food





Our first sight of Australia for a month



For a quick summary of our trip

- Scoot performed their job fine, but I would not use them again until their departure times from Perth improved. Booking our flights via Singapore again saved us a lot of money.

- Qatar Airways were really good. All four crews we had were friendly and efficient, the food was good and their own planes very well set-up. The LATAM flights were a bit of a letdown as the hard product was poorer than QR own planes. Conversely, though all the crews were good, the cabin crew on these legs were excellent. Talking to them they didn't like the LATAM planes either and were a bit apologetic about them. The J lounges in Singapore & Barcelona are adequate but their home base lounge in at Doha Airport was very good.

We had a great time in Spain. The weather was better than we thought it would be - which was a relief after the atrocious weather Ireland supplied last year. Most people were friendly - Bilbao occasionally had a bit of an edge. Prices were pretty much what we expected. It is not a budget holiday but not outrageous if you plan your meals properly. English was not a problem in the bigger cities but outside them it felt a bit like France in the 1970's. Speaking of which, in most of the northern cities a working knowledge of French would be very useful.

- The pickpockets in Barcelona put me off it a bit but my wife really loved the city. It certainly has some great places to visit and I would go back again - but even more cautiously.

- Zaragoza was a very nice place to visit and is clean and attractive. However,I wouldn't go back unless I was using it as a touring base.

- San Sebastian was beautiful and had great food. But you would have to be careful to avoid any of the major festival times as even in shoulder season it was very busy.

- Even though I have said a few things about Bilbao we still enjoyed our time there. It has lovely areas and is well situated to use as a base to explore more of the Basque region.

- Segovia is simply a beautiful city but on weekends it is crowded.

- I really enjoyed Salamanca. It has an amazing number of historical sights and we barely scratched its surface in the three days we were there.

- Toledo is another beautiful place with much left for us to see. Because of the steep and cobbled streets it was probably the hardest place to get around.

- Madrid, as I have said before, I don't think we did it justice this time. It is a huge, busy city with much to see.

Doha was an interesting stopover, especially with the special rates are offered by QR.The highlight was our museum visit. English was spoken by almost everyone we interacted with but I think they were almost all "guest workers". It is just as expensive as you would expect - for example a, biggish, meal in a shopping centre food hall cost about $30. I also wouldn't be rushing back here but maybe a nights sleep would be useful on a long trip.

Now the question is where to in 2019? Roll-on the specials.

 

[ellen10]

I have really enjoyed your travels and pictures. Lots of ideas and notes for our visit to Spain next year.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[OZDUCK]

I have really enjoyed your travels and pictures. Lots of ideas and notes for our visit to Spain next year.
Thanks for sharing.

Thanks - I hope you enjoy your trip.

 

[JohnM]

I've travelled extensively in Spain in years gone by. It's a great place.

I have to say @OZDUCK's TR nailed it .

 

[OZDUCK]

I've travelled extensively in Spain in years gone by. It's a great place.

I have to say @OZDUCK's TR nailed it .

Thanks JohnM, glad you liked it.

 

[craven morehead]

Many thanks for the TR @OZDUCK this was one of those TR's where I hadn't been to any of the places (well except SIN) before so great to experience. Cheers CM

 

[OZDUCK]

Many thanks for the TR @OZDUCK this was one of those TR's where I hadn't been to any of the places (well except SIN) before so great to experience. Cheers CM

Thanks craven morehead - it is always nice to receive feedback.

 

[LadyC]

Finally caught up with your report. Thanks for posting - Spain is such a beautiful and delicious place to visit.

 

[JohnK]

Very nice trip report @OZDUCK with lovely photos. Thanks for sharing.

 

[amaroo]

Very remiss of me not posting a TR thank you much earlier. Another @OZDUCK stunner!

Timing is everything as we are currently holed up in Salamanca about to drive to Madrid..... as mentioned up thread - your TR is majorly responsible for that!

 

[OZDUCK]

Very remiss of me not posting a TR thank you much earlier. Another @OZDUCK stunner!

Timing is everything as we are currently holed up in Salamanca about to drive to Madrid..... as mentioned up thread - your TR is majorly responsible for that!

Glad that you enjoyed it. As I said in your thread, you are certainly selling Portugal to me.