A short stop in Doha

9 October 2009; Friday Dubai - Doha - Milan From the Ibis in Dubai to the airport at 4 in the morning is only 5 minutes by road, it could be over an hour at peak times. An hour's flight and we land in Doha, we have a stop of about 6 hours and so we take the chance to visit the city. At customs we pay the entry visa 100 QR each (18 eur), we get a map of the city and find a friendly taxi driver who for about 60 QR (12 eur) drives us on a panoramic tour of the city. He belongs to the company of blue taxis that operate at the airport and which we later discover are owned by the president of Qatar. We start from the Corniche, with the Islamic museum (unfortunately closed as it's Friday), the diplomatic district with its futuristic skyscrapers. The crisis is felt here too and all the building sites have been suspended, most of the Asian workers unemployed or repatriated.

We then reach the famous zigzag skyscraper that seems built to defy the laws of gravity. We pass beside the president's residence, the tennis court where the Doha tournament will be held in a few weeks. A pleasant surprise is the old souq, completely restored, but which keeps its traditional charm, with its themed quarters. The central street lined with bars, small restaurants and craft shops and then the alleys of spices, fabrics, pots and pans, ending in the area reserved for small animals, mainly pigeons, parakeets, but also cats and rabbits. Here you can find the most incredible pigeons, with curly feathers, with majestic necks, real rarities. Back to the airport and boarding for the flight to Milan.

Some veiled girls, as soon as they're on the plane, get rid of their veil and black tunic and reappear in jeans and a t-shirt, completely Westernised, this too is the contrast of these countries.