Souq Waqif, the heart of local shopping
Souq Waqif has a Disneyland feel to it, with its bright and colorful little train that amuses children, its maze of alleys and galleries: everything is neat, not a piece of paper on the ground, souvenir stores alternating with restaurants and cafes. It attracts tourists of course, but Souq Waqif is really a very popular authentic Qatari shopping heart, which comes alive from late afternoon, especially on weekends. It's easy to find souvenirs and gifts in this maze of local stores. It is frequented by families living in Doha, a cosmopolitan heart of the city where all nationalities meet. Qataris don't make much of anything themselves anymore, except the art of maintaining tradition. Thus, among the trades that have disappeared from local life, embroidery was practiced by women until the advent of oil. The technique of an-naqdah consists of sewing gold and silver thread embroidery on abayas and scarves. You can find them in Souq Waqif, in some dedicated stores. Similarly, handmade jewelry is one of the oldest crafts in Qatar. Today, designers create high quality jewelry, while jewelers and jewelers are grouped in the Gold Souq next to Souq Waqif. You can find some beautiful objects in the second-hand shops or objects in the boutiques, which are actually rather Turkish. Pottery, earthenware, bags, colored lamps... the items are well made and affordable, we want to buy everything! Other items are rather made in the Middle East: colorful handmade Iranian and Syrian carpets, splendid. Do not hesitate to bargain up to 30% of the price in general. There are some crazy items: gold swords, whose price will be kept secret, solid gold jewelry, richly embroidered wedding clothes, traditional carpets.... But you can also do some simple shopping on the spice, incense, perfume, candy, fabric and clothing markets... a real pleasure.
Enchanting spices and perfumes to glean
If you like to cook, don't hesitate to bring back spices sold by weight in big burlap bags to better let your senses choose. You will find, among others, turmeric, saffron, curry, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, ginger, coriander, mint, oregano, but also candied lemons, rosebuds and hibiscus tea. Dried fruits, each more beautiful than the last, are displayed in small wicker baskets: pineapples, papayas, mangoes, figs, grapes, apricots, prunes and bananas. Seeds of all kinds bring colors ranging from emerald green to intense black. Pistachios, pecans, almonds and pine nuts are just waiting to be crunched or carefully packed to be put in the suitcase. Candy stores offer tempting pistachio nougats and other Arabic sweets.
The art of perfumery is an integral part of Arab Muslim culture. For over 5,000 years, traditional "noses" have been composing heady tones of jasmine, amber, musk and oud. The Souq Waqif is full of stores with windows decorated with beautiful crystal bottles, where you can be tempted to buy small vials for a few riyals. Of course you can smell all the compositions before. Another interesting purchase is incense and a nice burner. The two most popular scents incorporated in Qatari home incense are oud (agarwood) and bukhoor. Oud is a naturally scented incense wood, bukhoor is a mixture of different fragrances and incenses. You can also buy directly oud oil, known for its ayurvedic virtues.
A henna tattoo, a beauty classic
You have to do it the last night at Souq Waqif before going home: the henna tattoo! Once your tan is perfected, if you like this oriental lace that stays on your arm and fingers, don't deprive yourself. This ephemeral tattoo with natural brown dye is used in the Arab world to decorate hands and feet with arabesques, especially on festive days to make yourself beautiful. The women who officiate at the Souq Waqif (near the pancake and street food stands), are of a bluffing precision and speed. The patterns are proposed on notebooks with their price, it's clear and neat. An ephemeral souvenir to bring back on your arm, which requires 20 minutes of drying on the spot and 1 hour before washing to print the pattern well.
Shopping, XXL mall version
New shopping malls are opened every year. American-style malls with ever more daring architecture: giant, undulating, delirious... sometimes with amusement parks inside. Fun for the whole family and plenty of reasons to spend your riyals. The Al Hazm Mall frequented by Qataris is an architectural madness inspired by the sumptuous decorations of Milan in the 19th century, with marble everywhere, luxury stores... This one, you can just visit it if you can't afford to buy anything. The Mall of Qatar, the largest, has 500 stores and 100 restaurants to get lost in an excessive commercial abundance. The Villaggio Mall, with its inner canal, is full of crazy Venetian gondolas in the middle of 200 stores. The Doha Festival City, with an amusement park and an artificial snow park for children, is a shopping immensity. The Katara Plaza, a mix of elegant French and Italian neoclassical style, is home to Galeries Lafayette. Printemps will open in September 2022 in the Doha Oasis, a futuristic complex that will include an amusement park, a 4D cinema and a bowling alley... plenty of fun to be had in between shopping. France is very much in vogue in Doha, as another new shopping mall called Place Vendôme will open very soon in Lusail. It replicates the iconic Parisian jewelry and luxury square in a stunning Haussmannian setting. Nothing is too luxurious, too big and too crazy for Qatar, which is building Disney-like dream worlds in these new temples of consumption andentertainment.
