Yesterday the hotel arranged for Faisal to drive us to the Al Zubarah Fort and Archeological Site about 100 kilometers from the city. The roads are amazingly good, traffic after rush-hour non-existent but there isn’t much to see. A thriving pearl fishing center in the 17th and 18th Centuries, Al Zubarah became Qatar’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017, but it still has some issues to work out. We two and Faisal were the only visitors but we had to wait nearly two hours to take the guided tour of the archeological site. During the down-time we ate lunch and watched a well-done video explaining the Al Zubarah story. Most impressive was the factoid that only one out of five thousand oysters produced a pearl! If they had only known that a dozen on the half-shell at Grand Central Oyster Bar in NYC are going for $20!
Al Zubarah is a huge area mostly surrounded by limestone walls dotted with crumbling guard towers to protect the wealthy pearl merchants from marauding pirates. Some of the buildings must have been palatial with 40 or more rooms. I can’t imagine working as an archeologist at Al Zubarah. It would be daunting—an endless job like Sisyphus and his rock.
We had planned on visiting the National Museum of Qatar today to see some artifacts from Al Zubarah, only to learn it’s closed on Tuesday. Oh well, only two of its galleries are open and bits and pieces from the 18th Century can’t be very interesting he said, echoing Aesop’s fox and the grapes.
Instead we wandered around the massive Souk Waqif. In addition to stalls selling “many things you do not need,” textiles, ornate abayas, pots, pans, stoves and more, Waqif Souq has a an entire section devoted to falcons and falconry. Evolved from Bedouin survival hunting into a modern sport symbolizing Arab heritage, pride and status, falconry has been a cultural tradition for 5000 years. In addition to the hoods, jesses, leashes, gloves, mews and other paraphernalia of falconry, the Falcon Souk sells birds; from tiny kestrels to coveted peregrines and giant gyrfalcons. There is even a government-funded hospital for treating falcons.
Nearby we found the stables where the horses and camels Connie had seen on display on her early morning walk. It was refreshing to see well-treated camels with simple hobbles to keep them in check, rather than the cruel way they were treated at the Camel Market in Buraidah.
And speaking of birds . . . we hiked to Al Bidda Park where Connie had a tip on some recent sightings of Masked Shrikes. And, yes, we saw one—even got photos. Along with the seven she bagged in Saudi, her total now is 6466 and the last eight were free!
