18 Dec 2019 - Cruise Day 8 (Doha): Katara Cultural Village

We were supposed to visit the Katara Cultural Village, an elegant complex filled with theatres, galleries and structures for entertainment and cultural events that reinterprets the region's architectural heritage in an innovative way.  However, due to the delay caused by the traffic jam, we only had time for a quick toilet break.

While the driver was trying to find a place to stop, we passed by several beautiful structures along the way.

As we walked towards the restrooms, we passed by Katara Mosque.

Beside the mosque is the Pigeon Towers, which are pretty interesting.

It’s cylindrical and constructed of unfired mud brick, lime plaster and gypsum. The towers range from 10 to 22 meters in diameter and stand 18 or more meters high, and could house up to 14,000 pigeons.

Managed to take a nice shot with the beautiful sky before returning to our bus.

After the short toilet break, we were back in the massive traffic jam.

The tour guide and the driver tried to bring us to the capital's most glamorous district: The Pearl-Qatar, a vast complex built on an artificial island featuring high residential buildings and luxury villas, famous hotels and luxury shopping malls, international designer boutiques, cafés and restaurants.  However by the time we were out of the traffic jam, it was already very late and he had to skip it.  Instead we drove along La Corniche, an amazing waterfront winding along the large bay overlooked by the city and flanked by alternating old and modern buildings.

While driving back to the cruise terminal, we were once again caught in another traffic jam.  By the time we were back on our ship, it was about 7pm.

Due to the unhappiness and feedback from some of the passenger about this shore excursion, Costa gave all of us a 20% refund.

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