The Islamic Art Museum was fantastic, four stories of galleries and a fifth floor restaurant. The first gallery we went into was all about food and how spices from all over the world spread and influenced different cultures. Since Qatar was on the spice trail it is only appropriate that this story is told here. Some unique items in the gallery included small containers with spices inside that people could lean over and smell. There were also video screens that showed different folks cooking diches that are specifically tied to the region that they are in. The one I watched through to the completion was the making of baklava, so interesting. We made it through the next four floors of galleries and then ate a snack at the lover level cafe. We really enjoyed browsing through all the galleries. Once we headed back to the hotel we ate dinner at the Brazilian restaurant in the hotel lobby.
Very large buildings in Doha
A sidewheeler
Very complicated
fighting camels
The national museum
A field of flags
We are here and it is hot
Hazy day
A 1500 year old plate!
This map is from 600 AD. North points downward so right middle is Spain and right bottom is England
This is a close up of the Persian Gulf
Another old map
Spices that were available for sniffing
A thousand year old urn
Illustrated books
Gold leaf
The first illustration of a hot pepper fresh over from the new world
Cow and calf
A feast with the Sultan, all of the dishes were made of paper mache and were created by art students
The sultan knew how to dress to impress
A ceramic flask
A series of fancy spoons
Went to a Sultan Party, all the big turbans were there
Blue hares, before it was trandy
A carved jade cup and a jewel encrusted spoon
Nice flasks
There were videos showing cooks making dishes from all over the world
The museum is quite large
A grand staircase and a circular hoop like those found in mosques
The skylight!
Tall tall windows
So tall
More great tilework
The green is intense
An alms bowl
Just a few bangles
Jewel encrusted swords
A fun video of animated paintings
The blue and gold is quite striking
Fish fishy
This dagger means business
They preferred their stones to remain in a rough cut state, a series of diamonds and emeralds
A falcon
Calligraphy gone wild
A weird sea beastie
Texan belt buckles have nothing on these belt buckles
A lone figure
Gold threads was used on this textile
These doors are exquisite
A blue glass flask
Decorative tile work
The size of this turban is huge
Fancy turtle shell spoons
Put that in your pipe and smoke it
A German ax head
An ivory backgammon set
Whoaaaa, Wilbur
The Oryx, a symbol of Qatar
From a Quran written entirely with gold lettering
More diamonds and emeralds
One of the oldest Quran fragments written within a decade of the death of the prophet
Jet lagged visitors
A tasty salad
Some lamb meatballs
Back at the hotel
To the Brazilian restaurant with octopus
Beef too
A nice set up
Extra dirty one might say a filthy martini
A fine wine from Chile
A fine lady from USA
A happy hour from the salad bar
A set of appetizers from the restaurant
Taking the elevator back to the room
It has been 3 years and 93 days since we began our Migration
