A short stint in Saudi (and QR Doha Stopover)

All this Doha talk makes me sad
You will just have to go back!
QR are a great airline and it’s so easy to build a stopover via the QR Stopover packages or by just leaving yourself a day or two spare.
We always like to stay at least 2 nights in Doha to break up any trip but have stayed longer in Qatar to have a look around.
I personally think 2 nights in Doha is enough to see most of the sights
 
You will just have to go back!
QR are a great airline and it’s so easy to build a stopover via the QR Stopover packages or by just leaving yourself a day or two spare.
We always like to stay at least 2 nights in Doha to break up any trip but have stayed longer in Qatar to have a look around.
I personally think 2 nights in Doha is enough to see most of the sights
I’m mainly being a scallywag, but I would definitely like to check it out next time.
 
The place I looked at early on under the Stopover deal was Sealine Beach Resort.


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From where I could take a tour to the 'inland sea' - the large inlet to its south. But after an initial response, they stopped replying to e-mails. I might try again next time. In the meantime, I arrived at the Mondrian Doha.

I instantly recognised the place - its from the set of Absolutely Fabulous, where Edina and Patsy stayed at a place designed by their assistant, Bubbles (I'm being facetious there, but it easily could have been). Much of the below will be a repeat of my rant in the Accor ... Elite thread.

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Lobby area. All of this stuff is just plastic moulding.

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The staircase is plastic and doesn't go anywhere

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Cafe area

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At check-in, they at first didn't recognise the Qatar Stopover package and tried to charge me, with a regular check-out time. That was sorted, and I managed to have my Accor membership # put in. That was a plus.
 
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The place I looked at early on under the Stopover deal was Sealine Beach Resort.


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From where I could take a tour to the 'inland sea' - the large inlet to its south. But after an initial response, they stopped replying to e-mails. I might try again next time. In the meantime, I arrived at the Mondrian Doha.

I instantly recognised the place - its from the set of Absolutely Fabulous, where Edina and Patsy stayed at a place designed by their assistant, Bubbles. Much of the below will be a repeat of my rant in the Accor ... Elite thread.

View attachment 497369 View attachment 497367

Lobby area. All of this stuff is just plastic moulding.

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The staircase is plastic and doesn't go anywhere

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View attachment 497382


Spa area

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At check-in, they at first didn't recognise the Qatar Stopover package and tried to charge me, with a regular check-out time. That was sorted, and I managed to have my Accor membership # put in. That was a plus.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry looking at the lobby. But then, you know it was in Ab Fab ... hmmmmm
 
Room. It was on the lowermost floor - sort of expected that I'd get the coughpiest room for this heavily discounted package - but it was the structural failings of the room that made it so bad. Very white, which is a theme of the hotel.

In this pic, note the aircon vent along the wall and the desk underneath. The lowest setting of the aircon still sent out a noisy arctic gale and sitting at the desk underneath wasn't survivable - you'd freeze to death.

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Windows were small. This is the view when I arrived, and the next morning (condensation)

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Bathroom - with a chandelier, of course. When I used the shower, there was a startlingly loud banging of the pipes behind the wall for most of the time the water was on.

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A closer look at the bath - the biggest I've ever seen (my carryon case, for scale). But check out how close it is to the bedroom carpet - the smallest splash will see the carpet wet and a major heave would have it soaked for a couple of metres.

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I won't go into the complexity of the light control panels. There was one in the room and one each side of the bed. They didn't seem to talk to each other ..

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Ah. And now the coup de gras. The pool. I was looking forward to not doing much in Doha - I have a book to review and thought some time by the pool would be nice. Not here. Its on the roof, but entirely enclosed by mostly opaque glass. And being enclosed, it stunk of chlorine.

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Even the outside wall is too high to see over. So no views at all, even from here.

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The night I arrived, I had dinner at the restaurant, where of course they had no idea about the Accor welcome drink and the wait-people just stood about gossiping in a corner. I stood up to leave and was almost out before someone noticed.

Stupidest hotel ever. Thank God I only paid abt A$150/night for it and I was able to spend some time walking around Doha rather than doing my book review!
 
One good thing from the coughpy hotel and lack of pool was that I went out for a couple of long walks. Its been about 8 years or so since I visited Doha, so well worth it. Nice sunny day, about mid 20s I guess.

First was into town using the metro, which was about 15 mins walk way. A day pass cost about A$1

The Mondrian with two adjacent buildings.

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From the Souq Waqif station, past the Abdullah Bin Zaid Al Mahmoud Islamic Cultural Center

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and towards the Museum of Islamic Art. There is an Afghanistan exhibition on, which made a re-visit worth while. Many items lent by the Smithsonian.

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A silver drinking vessel from the 4th century

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Left, 'Timur [Tamerlane] celebrating his conquest of Delhi' , 15th century; Right 'The parrot's judgement' 15th century

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Left: 'Humayun visits his tomb[in Lahore]', 16th century; R section of the Qur'an, 13th century;

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Left: Portion of a stucco panel, Iran, 12th century. Right: Commentary on the 'Canon of Medicine' 15th century

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That last item recalled to me my visit to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, where there was a statue of ibn Sina, a Tajik and the compiler of the five volumes of the Canon in the 11th century.

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I eyed off the Mondrian (because Accor) but decided against it in favour of being closer to the souq and other areas. Shame it isn't that great. I'm keen on visiting the museum though! Your photos are fantastic!
 
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Lastly, the ceiling of the atrium of the museum

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Then past the flag plaza

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And on to my next destination the Qatar National Museum. Like the Guggenheim in Bilbao, I wanted to visit not so much for the collections, as the building. Unfortunately it was getting towards late afternoon, and the sun angle didn't show it off best.

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Its modelled on a 'desert rose' crystal, but really its modelled on crystals of gypsum!

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