Monday, Aug. 27

            It was a butt-ugly day today. Cloudy, intermittent downpours, low clouds and it didn’t get any warmer than 56 degrees. Table Mountain was closed, socked in with clouds. Reminded us of Wellington in New Zealand.  But…. they do need the rain here. 

            We thought it was an excellent day to visit the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art, which is a 10-minute walk from our place, on the V&A Waterfront (Victoria & Albert) so took off around 10 a.m. and dodged rain showers.

            The Zeitz MOCAA was superb. It is a public, not-for-profit museum that collects, preserves, researches and exhibits 21^st-century art from Africa and its Diaspora. It also hosts international exhibitions, develops and supports educational and enrichment programs. The building also houses centers for art education, performing arts, photography and the moving image (film). It also has a costume institute and a curatorial training program. It is the largest contemporary art museum in Africa, and it opened in September of 2017. It is a “platform for Africans to tell their own stories.”

            The building itself is a work of art. It is in a converted grain silo overlooking the Atlantic on the V&A waterfront, an area that was regenerated 30 years ago for retail, real estate and tourism on the remnants of two dilapidated 19^th-century harbor basins (Victoria & Albert). The silos themselves were built over coal sheds that once supplied steamships, which, in turn, according to theGuardian, were funded by capital from slave compensation after abolition (the owners were compensated, not the slaves).

            The £28m museum’s architect was Thomas Heatherwick, an Englishman, and its patron is German Jochen Zeitz, former CEO of Puma) and the executive director is South African (all three are white men). The museum has been hailed as Africa’s answer to the Tate Modern in London.

            And it is spectacular.  The original architecture of cement silos is there, but in the atrium the silos have been cut away in graceful, huge arcs, forming a cathedral-like interior.  The elevator, built into the shafts, are visible, running up in two of the silos. 

            There are 100 galleries spread over nine floors with a boutique hotel at the top, and its focus of 21^st-century work from Africa and the diaspora is centered around the private collection of Zeitz.

            You can read about how Zeitz built the world’s biggest museum of African art at this site: https://robbreport.com/shelter/art-collectibles/jochen-zeitz-built-world-biggest-museum-african-art-eg17-2727999/

The atrium features a flying dragon by South African artist Nicholas Hlobo, and it is totally awesome. The permanent collection featured several artists (you can read about the artists at this site: https://zeitzmocaa.museum/art-artists/

            One of my favorites was Jody Paulsen’s “Here to Stay” and William Kentridge’s 15-minute film that was projected on six panels in a diorama entitled “More Sweetly Play the Dance.” Glenn Ligon’s work was interesting as was Cyrus Kabiru’s masks. And there two pieces by Chris Ofili, an artist who became controversial in 1999 when his painting The Holy Virgin of Mary was exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum. The mixed-media painting depicts a black Madonna decorated with elephant manure, and it drew the ire of then New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The museum, which is supported by public funding, later sued Giuliani after he threatened to freeze its budget allocation. I often showed the work to students in my Mass Media Law class when we discuss freedom of speech and freedom of expression since Giuliani, as mayor, represented the government and what he attempted to do was censor Ofili’s work.

            The piece sold at Christie’s in London in 2015 for $4.6 million. The selling price was a record for Ofili, whose previous auction record was 1.9 million pounds.

            We spent at least four hours in the museum, punctuated with a lunch on the top floor that looked over the harbor and back to Table Mountain.

            Then we wandered the waterfront. It’s pretty much like any other waterfront we’ve visited, and it’s a tourist trap. Since we can’t purchase anything until after we do the 18-day safari, we were safe. 

At 6:30 p.m., we trundled down the street a bit to Gold Restaurant and participated in another touristy thing but the food was worth it. It was all African food from around the continent. We started with the most delicious tomato soup I’ve ever eaten from Zanzibar with Nigerian corn pot bread, followed by some street foods including a South African fish cake, a Moroccan lamb phyllo cigar, an Ethiopian iab, a Zambian Kondolo ball and a Kenyan Irio Patty. 

The main course included Congo chicken, Zanzibar vegetable pilau, Namibian venison pot, Tanzanian mchica w’Nazi and Nigerian corn and beans. The most delicious was the Tanzanian mchica w/nazi, which was spinach, ground nuts and coconut milk. 

Then we finished with Cape Malay boeber, a milk pudding to die for, and a Cape Malay Karamonk biscuit.

Throughout the evening, performers sang and danced. Oh, we got there early and participated in a drumming lesson on a djembe.

The side view of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (MOCAA)

Beth had to try out this thing that spins like a top. They were around the front entrance to the museum.

This is the atrium of the museum with the flying dragon by South African artist Nicholas Hlobo. It was very cathedral like.

This is a piece titled "Here to Stay" by Jody Paulsen, 2015. Blow it up and look at it closely.

This is part of the six-panel diorama that featured a film by William Kentridge. This is the beginning, in which Africans move through the panels, followed by the colonial band, below. The film depicted colonization, the AIDS crisis and the indomitable African culture that survived it all.

This is Blue Steps (Fall From Grace) by Chris Ofili, 2011.

This is "The Jetty" by Julien Sinzogan, 2010. Look at it carefully.

This is looking out one of the windows on the top floor of the museum.

This is Lion's Head and Signal Hill.

Yep, that's Table Mountain. It was closed today because of "averse" weather. :)

This is the Old Clock Tower, an icon of of the old Cape Town harbor. It was the original Port Captain's Office built in 1882. The pointed Gothic windows surrounds the structure with a clock, imported from Edinburgh, as its main feature. The red walls are the same color as they were in the 1800s, having been carefully. matched to scraping of the original paint.

The evening concluded with supper and entertainment at the Gold Restaurant (photo by Beth).

Aug. 25-26

     It was a travel day Saturday - we were at the Doha airport by 5:15 a.m., took off for Johannesburg at 7 a.m. for an eight-hour flight, arriving in Johannesburg around 3:30 pm. Had a nice young man, a porter, in the Johannesburg airport walk us outside so I could smoke then he took us to our gate for our 5 p.m. flight to Cape Town. We arrived around 7:15 p.m., found a cab and went to our VRBO in the De Waterkant district.
     A day and 10,000 miles makes quite the difference. The temperature in Doha when we left at 7AM was around 90 degrees, and it was around 60 degrees and raining when we arrived in Cape Town. I prefer the 60 degrees and rain.
     One observation: having spent time in Doha and seeing the rather extravagant infrastructure - I was surprised when we ended up taking a bus from our terminal gate out to the tarmac to board our plane. :
     When we arrived in Cape Town, it was the same thing - we deplaned and took a bus to the terminal, and it was pouring down rain - and it was chilly!
     There were only two glitches: the ATM machine indicated that our PIN number was too short so we couldn't get any South African rands. Thank goodness, the cabbie took American dollars although we suspect we kind of got ripped off, considering it was $40 in American money (about R320) when, according to information in our VRBO, a cab should have cost only around R180. Oh well, we were tired and just wanted to get to our apartment.
     The other glitch: our electrical converters don't fit the outlets so our host dropped some off early this afternoon that we can borrow to keep our electronics powered up.
We were delighted to find coffee and milk in the apartment Saturday, which meant we didn't have to go out to find a grocery store after arriving around 8 p.m.
     It was chilly Sunday morning!- about 49 degrees. The sun came out briefly, and it felt so good, but the clouds moved in. The high was supposed to be 52 F with rain throughout the day. From our balcony, if you strain a little, you can get a glimpse pf a portion of Table Mountain.
     After a couple cups of coffee Sunday morning, we ate a hearty breakfast in the hotel (our apartment is in a hotel) then walked maybe a half block to the grocery store. Before we took off, we used the ATM in the hotel lobby, and it worked. We now have South African Rands in our wallets.
     The grocery store was familiar so we didn't encounter any difficulties except there were several men, panhandlers, outside the store begging for groceries. There really is no graceful way to say no without feeling a ping of guilt; if we gave groceries to everyone who asks for them - well - it's a difficult situation anywhere.
     We hung around the apartment after getting groceries until Jonathan, our host, stopped by to drop off some converters and make sure we knew how to do the TV (the batteries in the remote needed replacing).
     He told us briefly that the building in which we're currently residing was built on the grave of slaves, and there was a memorial down the street so after he left, we took a brief walk to the Prestwich Memorial. It's an interesting history, and you can read about it here: http://www.archivalplatform.org/blog/entry/prestwich_place/
     I suspect we'll learn more about it when we're on our Transcending History tour with Lucy later this week.
     Showers were intermittent all day, and Jonathan said it was the coldest day of the year in Cape Town. Apparently, there was some snow on Table Mountain. It probably didn't get warmer than 50 degrees or so.
     The coffee shop wasn't open at the memorial site so we stopped into the Cubano, a café/bar near our place. We had some African beer (Beth had a cocktail) and visited with a young man from Zimbabwe (the bartender) who has been in Cape Town for eight years. He was very friendly and advised us to visit the Great Zimbabwe, which are extensive stone ruins of an African Iron Age city - the largest of more than 150 major stone ruins scattered across the countries of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Unfortunately, we aren't visiting them as it is a four-hour jeep ride from where we'll be, and it's $1,200 each.
     We returned to our apartment and watched news before making supper. There was a piece about the intersectional women's march, "My Body, Not Your Crime Scene." August is womxn's month and on Aug. 1, women and gender non-conforming people (GNC) from all sectors of South Africa shut down the country in protest against gender-based violence. Apparently, South Africa is leading with five times the global average of femicide. According to a GoGetFunding website, #TheTotalShutdown, "sixty three years after the historical Women's March of 1956, womxn of all backgrounds in South Africa find themselves with very little to celebrate in the face of a growing epidemic of gender-based violence and femicide."
     We watched a portion of the news reports about the installation of the new Zimbabwe president, which is an interesting situation. Apparently, Emmerson Mnangagwa was a henchman for Robert Mugabe, his predecessor, and there are questions about a fair election. You can read about it at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-zimbabwe-election-inauguration/zimbabwes-president-takes-oath-amid-u-s-censure-over-vote-idUSKCN1LB090
     We also learned from the news here about Louisiana's proposed bill that would criminalize activists protesting pipelines. It's a trend that started in Oklahoma when the governor signed a bill to stiffen penalties for interfering with pipeline projects and other "critical infrastructure." The law imposes punishments of up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines - and up to $1 million for any organization "found to be a conspirator." Do we hear about these laws to criminalize protests in the U.S.?
     As in New Zealand, the news here relays information about the U.S., and we learn more about what's happening in the U.S. than we do reading the U.S. media. There were several interesting editorials in the Sunday Times about Trump's recent comments about South Africa. There are no white farmers being killed in South Africa, and there is not land being taken from white farmers. South Africa is contemplating land reform which includes expropriation of land without compensation, which can be tricky but several editorials indicated that it would work, if handled properly.
     We ate a familiar supper to end the evening - pork chops, fried taters and corn on the cob (which was tough, and we had to resist comparing it to the delicious sweet corn we get in Wisconsin). (Beth says: this was a balance to the delicious, but less familiar, food we've been enjoying.)
We've got plans to go to the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art that just opened last year, and an evening at Africa Gold Restaurant - it is a totally tourist thing. We're participating in a drumming workshop from 6:30 to 7 p.m., then we eat a traditional African "feast" while being entertained. The evening includes praise singing to welcome us, Mali puppetry and dancing to the rhythms of the marimba percussion and djembe drums. Although it's a touristy thing - it sounds like fun!
   

Good morning Cape Town! We got up around 7:30 a.m., and this is what we saw from our balcony in our apartment at Rockwell.

This is what we see from our balcony when it's not raining. The black clouds, well, those were moving toward us with rain.

A rainbow from our balcony, after intermittent showers all day.

The end of the evening - a full moon from our balcony, marking our first day in Cape Town. We've got a little more than a week before we take off for more adventures!

Friday, Aug. 24

We got up early today so we could visit the Wholesale Market before we went to breakfast in the compound with Maria’s colleagues.

The Wholesale Market is the largest fresh vegetable and fruit market in Doha, a hub for all fruits and vegetables coming into Doha. It is a very traditional market and a good place to buy produce from all over the world. There were several vegetables and fruits with which we were not familiar.

There are three main areas to the Central Market – the Wholesale Market, the Kilo Market and the Fish Market, and it is where local restaurateurs and businesses come to bid and haggle for bulk purchases of fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs. The open-air Wholesale Market is covered by one enormous roof and is divided into two main sections for imported and local goods.

We didn’t stay long – Maria bought some vegetables and fruits then we visited a small shop in the plant souq where there was everything garden, indoor and outdoor plants.

On the way back to the compound, we stopped at a Turkish sweet shop for munchies in the afternoon.

At 10 a.m., we traipsed across the compound to a couple’s home to have breakfast with several of Maria’s colleagues. The husband is Turkish, and his wife is French, and they were lovely hosts. The food was to die for – we had everything from phyllo stuffed with cheese or spinach, fried cheese, Turkish bread, a couple of different scrambled egg dishes, a variety of cheeses. It was awesome – and he provided us some Turkish coffee after we finished the meal. We ate, visited and took off to spend some time in the pool.

The remainder of the afternoon was devoted to doing my blog and posting it along with photographs.

We got a Uber to take us to the InterContintinental hotel for happy hour. Met a really nice Canadian who is working with a large private education system and visited with Maria’s colleagues.

I went home early; Beth and Maria went to Souq Waqif for one last shopping trip. 

It was a great send-off, and we’re grateful to Maria for hosting us for three days in Doha!

We have to be at the airport around 4 a.m. tomorrow (Saturday) for the next portion of our trip. We fly a little over nine hours to Johannesburg, where we have about a two-hour layover then on to Cape Town. We’ll land in Cape Town around 7:10 p.m., find a taxi and get to our apartment in the de Waterkant district. The temperature is expected to be around 58 degrees, and it will be raining – quite the contrast!

Sunday is devoted to checking out the landscape – grocery store, etc.

At the vegetable market.

These guys wanted their picture taken. Aren't they cute?

A box of Turkish sweet delights.

Breakfast with Maria's colleagues.

The sun setting over a portion of Doha, taken from the roof of Maria's compound.

A man at his vegetable stand in the Wholesale Market.

Thursday, Aug. 23

We slept in today and didn't get out of the house until nearly noon. We helped Maria move a cabinet to her classroom, and got a tour of the American School at Doha. The school has a large campus and includes preschool through 12th grade. Maria is one of the art teachers who works with preschool through second grade. The portion of the school in which she teaches is newly refurbished, and it is very bright and welcoming. She has a nice classroom and usually has about 15 students at one time.

We visited with some of her colleagues and walked back to the vehicle through the hallways of the school. It looks pretty much like any American school.

Then we headed out to Education City but before we got to Education Village, we drove through the Aspire Aone and Aspire Park. It is  - once again - a HUGE sports complex that also features Doha's popular shopping malls - the Villaggio and Hyatt plaza. The park itself is a massive green area that is a nice contrast to the characteristic surrounding desert landscape. The Aspire Zone is considered the ultimate sporting destination of the Middle East and rose to international prominence through successful staging of the 2006 Asian Games. The Torch Tower served as a giant torch for those games and is 300 metres in height. It's pretty impressive, and has a swimming pool that juts from it about 20 stories high.

The complex is 88 hectares and offers all the possible amenities as well as space to any sport (I saw at least two large indoor soccer stadiums, for instance, and there is a 1.6 km jogging track that surrounds the park). Aspire Zone is able to provide space to the sporting demands ranging from hosting major international events to coaching camps and conferences to pre-competition camps, training and research, injury diagnosis and treatment as well as rehabilitation.

Then we were on to Education City, located in Al Rayyan City on the outshirts of Doha. Education City covers 14 sqkm (5.4 square miles) and houses educational facilities from school age to research level and branch campuses of some of the world's major universities including Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar School of Arts, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Northwestern University in Qatar, HEC Paris and Hamad Bin Khalifa University. Among the research facilities is RAND-Qatar Policy Institute.

Apparently the presence of American universities with campuses in Education City has been the subject of ongoing criticism of whether it is appropriate to maintain a campus in Qatar, given the alleged Qatari links to state-sponsored terrorism, the lack of freedom of speech in Qatar and Qatar's absolute monarchy.

It is an interesting debate because in Qatar, the monarchy has absolute authority over all aspects of life including its strict adherence to Sharia Law. There also are strict censorship laws that at times have spilled over into Education City, despite the countries' stated claims that the institutions in Qatar have total academic and intellectual freedoms.

What I find interesting and something of which I am aware when taking photos is the potential for harassment and intimidation I might encounter. An article I read indicated that Northwestern students have said they face challenges due to the lack of First Amendment rights protecting the media, and they say they have been harassed and intimidated when trying to capture images that would be considered routine or non-offensive in the U.S. And I had to laugh a little when some faculty members said of the situation that it teaches students persistence and creativity in overcoming obstacles to report a story. :)

Education City also houses the Qatar National Library. We stopped, had some refreshments then visited the Heritage Center in the library. The library is another massive structure that was designed by OMA and was constructed in 2017 with an area of 45000.00 m2. From Architectural Record in April of 2018: "There's no mistaking that the new Qatar National Library was designed by the Rotterdam office of OMA. Like a lot of OMA's built work, it is slightly odd, slightly off-putting, but impossible to ignore. And the building quite literally borrows from earlier OMA projects, most conspicuously from the Casa da Musica in port, Portugal with its unusual crystalline geometry and large swaths of corrugated glass, and inside, from the Bilbliotheque Alexis de Tocqueville in Caen, France.

It is unusual - it actually felt like you were entering into some kind of space ship. :)

The library is a project of the Qatar Foundation and has three main functions: the National Library, the University and Research Library and a state-of-the-art Metropolitan Public Library. The Public Library houses over a million books and space for thousands of readers. Books are both in Arabic and English.

The heritage collection is in the center of the library in a six-meter-deep excavated-like space, clad in beige travertine. It houses valuable texts and manuscripts related to the Arab-Islamic civilization. There were some intriguing artifacts displayed in the area including really old maps, atlases and globes as well as some really old Arabic printed materials such as books, journals, magazines and newspapers. The most interesting portion for me was a selection of early photography. Something I did not know: an Arab, Ibn al-Haytham (known in the west as Alhazen) describe and built the first camera obscura. In his Book of Optics, written in Cairo between 1012 and 1021, Ibn al-Haytham used the term "Al-Bayt al-Muthlim," translated into English as "dark room." The camera obscura is significant in the history of optics, photography and the history of art. If it interests you, you can learn more at http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?id=2414

We called it a day around 4 p.m. and headed back to the compound, where we laid low until we got hungry then ventured over to Al Shami Home to eat. It featured Middle Eastern, Lebanese and Halal food, and it was buffet style, all-you-can eat!  We enjoyed the evening tasting everything on the buffet and having some simply delicious deserts before we smoked some mint-lemon shisha. It was the convivial evening!

Then we returned to Maria's apartment to watch some Arabic television so I could get a sense of what it featured. It was pretty standard fare - movies, soap operas, news - but it all was Arabic, of course, so we didn't understand a thing. There are at least three news stations on the cable Maria gets: CNN, MSNBC and FOX. :)

Maria in her classroom, ready to rock'n'roll!

This is a pearl sculpture that pays homage to the pearl industry in Qatar. Pearl diving was one of Qatar’s main industries until the early 1940s, when oil replaced it.  After being the major industry of the area for thousands of years, pearl diving was a decaying profession by the 1930s, after the introduction of Japanese cultured pearls and the Great Depression made pearl diving unprofitable. Even though pearling is no longer a thriving industry, it remains a beloved part of Qatari culture.

This it the front entrance of the Qatar National Library that resembles, I think, a spaceship.

This the wing of the Qatar National Library, which is to the right in the photo above.

A woman in hijab heads toward the stacks of books available in the Qatar National Library.

Me, Maria and Beth in Al Shami Home smoking shisha in a hookah in Al Shami Home.

Me smoking mint-lemon shisha in a hookah at Al Shami Home after supper and desert.

August 22

We got a good night's rest before tackling the heat again on Wednesday. Took our time drinking coffee and met a friend of Maria's before we took off to Al-Wakrah, just south of Doha. It originally was a small fishing and pearling village but has evolved into a big town with a population of more than 80,000. It is considered the second-largest city of Qatar. It was one of the proposed venues for the 2022 World Cup, an honor Doha was awarded instead.

Speaking of the 2022 World Cup, we could see on the horizon several soccer stadiums being built on our way to Al-Wakrah as well as a commuter train. The Mail online reports that Qatar's development plans include building up the tourism infrastructure (including the Silver Pearl, a £1billion hotel construction), building and renovating 12 state-of-the-art stadiums, a £1billion off-shore hotel resort, and also in development is Lusail, a £28.8billion metropolis to be built from scratch nine miles from Doha's city centre. It's noticeable, as there are cranes and everywhere. Doha, apparently, wants to be the tourist destination of the future.

We didn't venture anywhere except to the Al Wakrah Souq, a district that includes a beach for families only and several shops and restaurants along the shore of the Persian Gulf. There were plenty of security people around but there were few others around, as Maria said most of the activity occurs at night. I read several Trip Advisor comments about people being escorted from the beach while being told not to photograph on the beach but from only the pavement. That didn't happen to us. We did, in fact, walk down to the shore and put our feet in the Persian Golf after breakfast.

We visited a small fish market before going to breakfast, and at least two groups of men wanted their photographs taken, so I obliged.

We ate at Easair Café along the shoreline, and it was an authentic Qatar breakfast that included Sheksoka, Foul red beans, labna, House Capatti (potato), assorted bread and Karak.
Sheksoka also is spelled Shakshouka. It is made of tomatoes, peppers, spices and eggs. It had a very tomatoy taste. The Foul red beans, or Ful medames, were awesome. The dish is cooked fava beans served with vegetable oil, cumin and with parsley, garlic, onion, lemon juice, chili pepper as optional. The labna reminded me of tzatziki as it was yogurt, cucumber and fresh herbs. We ate it with our paratha. The House Capatti came out after we had consumed everything else but it was worth the wait. It actually was a chapti stuffed with some potatoes with turmeric. We drank Karak, which was different but good. It's a type of tea that is different from other known conventional teas. The word Karak means multiplier or heavy tea. It comes from the Indian language, "Urdu." It is a combination of black tea, condensed or evaporated milk, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom.

After brekkie, we headed for the Museum of Islamic Art. Located on the southern end of Doha Bay, the museum is noted for its vast collection of Islamic art spanning 1,300 years. It opened in 2008 and was designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning Chinese American architect I.M. Pei with an interior designed by jean-Michel Wilmotte. While it maintains a style typical of Pei's work, the building incorporates elements that can be seen in ancient Middle Eastern structures - especially in the breezeway and the open area that overlooks the bay.

As for its collection, we saw some beautiful (and prized) examples of Arabic calligraphy - my favorite - some early Islamic books, ceramics, glass, jewelry, metalwork, miniatures (there was a miniature Qur'an) and textiles. It was well worth the visit.

Then we headed home and straight to the pool, which was SO refreshing after being in and out of the heat all day. It actually cooled my body enough that it didn't feel like 100 degrees afterward. Ha!
We took a nap,

Maria was kind enough to have supper then we took off again to the Katara district north of the city, where the Cultural Village Foundation sponsored a Celebration of Eid Al Adha. It was very, very hot but that didn't keep throngs of folks from the plaza area where a band was playing and fireworks were scheduled for later in the evening. Katara is an artists' colony or cultural village, and it featured several galleries of local artists. The feature (or gem, as the Katara website describes it) of Katara is the Coliseum or amphitheater. According to the website, it is a crafted balance between the classical Greek theatre concept and the everlasting Islamic features. And it is huge with 3,275 sqm. It seats 5,000. Completed in 2008, it apparently is set to host some of the most spectacular world-class events in Doha. A beautiful fountain affronts the back end of the amphitheater through which you look to the plaza and bay in the distance.

We sat in the amphitheater for a while before viewing some of the local artwork then we headed back to Maria's compound but we drove by the State Grand Mosque, which was lit up so we decided to stop to take pictures. We couldn't go into the mosque, as it was closed, and we were told that we couldn't visit and go inside until September, as it was "booked," so we won't get an opportunity to go inside. The building is absolutely beautiful, and it, too, is huge (as I'm learning is a Qatar characteristic since it's an oil-rich nation).

Established in 2011, the mosque was renamed Imam Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahab Mosque, named after the reformist, pioneer and Muslim theologian of the 18th century. It is the largest in Qatar. It is built over 19,550 sqm on three levels with an area of 175,000 sqm, fitting more than 30,000 worshippers for prayers.

It is the most prominent mosque in the country, not only because of its size but also because it brings some of the leading Islamic scholars to Qatar to give lectures and perform prayers, especially Friday prayers and Tarawih (non-obligatory extra evening prayers) during Ramadan. Every Thursday, a public lecture occurs after the evening prayers.

As many as 28 large domes cover the central hall while 65 domes cover the outer quadrangle - totaling 93 domes. The mihrab contains two domes; the mihrab is a semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the Qibla, which is the direction of the Ka'aba in mecca and the direction that Muslims should face when praying.

The mosque features a mix of both traditional Arabic and modern architecture, preserving some of the traditional Islamic architectural elements. It quite impressive, especially in the dark when everything is lit.

We then went back to the compound to join Maria's colleagues that live on the same floor for a party. The party was very pleasant, all were expats: a Brit from Essex, a couple who moved from Madison, a woman from Sheboygan who knew one of Beth's students in the theatre program and a woman from New Zealand who teaches theatre at the American School in Doha. It was a lively and energetic group, and we had some great discussions.

After a shower, we got to bed just before the haunting hour, way past our bedtime. :)

An old doh boat used for "decoration," I suppose, on the beach in Al Wakrah Souq where we had a traditional Qatari breakfast.

These men were eating lunch in the Fish Market and wanted their photographs taken.

These men were working in a Fish Market shop, and they also wanted their photograph taken.

Me, Beth and Maria in Easair Cafe in Al Wakrah Souq where we ate a traditional Qatari breakfast.

The Museum of Islamic Art.

A folio of the Qur'an in Kofic script that is ink and gelatin print on parchment, 9th century near East or North Africa. One of the many artifacts displayed in the Museum of Islamic Art.

A Qatari checking his cell phone on one of the plaza areas of the Museum of Islamic Art.

What you see in the Museum of Islamic Art as you enter.

A doh boat in Doha Bay. Portraits of the Amir are all over Doha, apparently erected to signal support for the Amir after the Saudis imposed a blockade. I saw a building that housed the Qatar National Printing Press, which I suspect prints these banners and other propaganda, considering its an absolute monarchy.

The Doha skyline from the beautiful arches of the breeze-way in the Museum of Islamic Art.

This is, I think, the main entrance to the amphitheater in the Katara district. You can see the homage to Greek architecture but with an Islamic flair in the main doorway.

I believe these are the steps to the entrance of the Qatar Swimming Association in Katara that houses facilities for swimming, diving and water polo.

It is SO hot and humid here that this is what happens when you've briefly visited an air-conditioned gallery and emerge into the heat. It was so hot that all I needed to do was stand, and the sweat rolled down my rather portly body. :)

A minaret in Katara with the moon shining.

The State Grand Mosque.

The main entrance to the State Grand Mosque.

The fountain in from to front of the amphitheater in Katara.

Tuesday, Aug. 21

The worst thing about traveling is getting there but the first leg of our trip was good, although long. We had a seven-hour layover in Chicago but spent only about four hours there. Our buddy Doug picked us up, and we had delightful lunch with him. We boarded the plane around 6:30 p.m. for a 13-hour direct flight to Doha, Qatar. It wasn’t bad. Qatar Airways takes care of you, and leg room is pretty ample.

What was interesting was tracking our route, as we flew over Sweden, the tip of Greenland, Istanbul, Budapest and Bucharest. We saw the Tigress River. We flew over Baghdad, Fallujah and Basrah. We flew over Kuwait. We’re not far from Bahrain and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Those are names and places with which I am familiar only through the news, and it was interesting to view from the air and think about the continued fighting and deaths occurring in some of those places. It’s sobering because it no longer is “something that happens somewhere else,” if you know what I mean.

We arrived in Doha around 4 p.m. Doha time – it was about 8 a.m. our time. We had no difficulty at all getting through immigration and our friend Maria picked us up. She lives in a compound provided by the school where she teaches, the American School of Doha. She has a beautiful apartment that is air-conditioned, thank goodness, as it is HOT and HUMID. I will never again complain about the weather in the States. On our way to the compound, we saw the city skyline (which is beautiful) and a couple of palaces in which the Royal Family live. The current Amir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who became the eighth Amir of Qatar in 2013 after his father’s abdication. The palaces are huge, and the Royal Family even has its own airport.

Doha is the capital of Qatar, and it is a young city but a very rich city. Doha’s population is near 1.5 million and is located on the coast of the Persian Gulf in the east of the country. Its wealth comes from oil.

Qatar played a significant role in the 1991 Gulf War but, more recently, is the target for a blockade by several nations and lead by Saudi Arabia. In June 2017, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut off diplomatic relationswith Qatar, citing the country’s alleged support of groups they considered to be extremist. Just last week, Turkey officials said Qatar pledged$15 billion of direct investments for Turkey as it struggles with a currency crisis.

There are tons of minarets throughout the landscape, and we heard the evening call to prayer from the apartment balcony. Of course, this is a Muslim country and devout Muslims prayer five times a day. The five daily prayer times are called salat and are among the most important obligations of the Islamic faith. You can read more about the daily prayer times and what they mean at https://www.thoughtco.com/islamic-prayer-timings-2003811

It is Eid al-Fitr, an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. So everyone is gone on holiday, and Maria is reveling in the fact that there is little traffic although there are tons of “workers,” mostly men, who are on holiday and enjoying their time in the beautiful parks in the city. You don’t see many women amongst them. There are sacrifices, and I just read in Qatar Day that in excess of 3,600 sheep and also 45 camels and bovines “were relinquished” at the slaughterhouses in the Central Market on the primary day of Eid Al Adha. 

After we visited and showered, we took off for supper. We went to Souq Waqif (“the standing market”, a marketplace located in the district of Al Souq – the heart of Doha. Not all the vendors were open but we got a sense of what is offered at the marketplace – traditional garments, lots of spices, handicrafts and, of course, souvenirs. It is also home to dozens of restaurants – from Lebanese to the Persian restaurant at which we ate – and Shisha lounges. Shisha tobacco is a molasses-based tobacco concoction smoked in a hookah. Maria and I intend to smoke some Shisha sometime during our stay here.

We ate at Parisa. The cuisine was Middle Eastern and Persian. The décor was Persian, and it was beautiful with a fountain in the middle. We had a delicious meal. You can see the restaurant’s decor at http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/qatar/sharq-village/dining/parisa-souq-waqif?utm_source=tripadvisor&utm_medium=referral

It was a warm evening; well, it actually was hot. Maria tells us the weather is mild… as I type at 9 a.m., the temp is 99 Fahrenheit with a feel-real of or heat index of 109. And we’re getting ready to go on our first excursion. I cannot wear shorts (unless they cover my knees) so I’m going to don my safari pants …. And off we go!

Us in the Persian restaurant, Parisa, in the Souq Waqif district.

From Maria's balcony in her compound. Everything is offered within the compound including a restaurant, grocery store and laundry.

One week to go!

We will be on a plane one week from today to begin our adventure! We fly to Chicago, have lunch with our buddy Doug, then we're on a 13-hour direct flight to Doha, Qatar, where we'll spend four days with our friend Maria, who teaches in Doha.

We spoke with her today and here's some of the activities we're planning: a visit to the Museum of Islamic Art, a visit to one - possibly two - mosques, a visit to a local market, a trip through the desert to the Khor Al Adaid inland sea, maybe a camel ride and maybe some dune-bashing. In a TripAdvisor forum, it is suggested that dune-bashing is not suitable for people with pains and health issues. Hmmmm. Here's a video if you wish to see what we possibly might do regarding dune-bashing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwwJ89YpI88.   WOOHOO!

We leave Doha on Saturday and fly to Cape Town with a brief layover in Johannesburg. Then on to other adventures. What we've got planned so far: a tour Tuesday morning with Uthando, a non-profit organization that is a unique model of traveling philanthropy and responsible tourism. We'll learn a lot about South Africa history, the legacy of apartheid, etc. but the core focus of the tour is visiting interesting, innovative and inspiring community development projects where we'll get to interact with the locals driving the projects as well as those benefitting from the projects.

We are participating in a Bo-Kaap Cooking Tour in which we will visit a market in Bo-Kaap to shop then learn the life, food and culture of the Cape Malay's in Bo-Kaap while getting a hands-on, practical lesson on how to cook like a real Cape Malay 'Auntie." We'll learn how to fold Samoosa's and mix Masala for that perfect pot of Cape Malay Curry. Yummy.

On Thursday, we're joining Lucy for her Transcending History Tour. It is site specific so we'll be visiting sites and hearing about slave emancipation in Cape Town, Doman from the Goringhaiqua 1600’s Cape Town and slave wash houses. We expect to hear stories that are not included in the "official" narratives and timelines.

Then on Friday, we're off to Robben Island on a ferry to visit the museum and participate in a tour given by former political prisoners. Of course, Robben Island was where Nelson Mandala was imprisoned after having been given a life sentence in 1964 when he was convicted of plotting to sabotage the South African government. He spent 27 years in prison, and he was released officially from the Victor-Verster Prison in Paarl. We'll see the cell in which he was imprisoned on Robben Island.

That's all we've got booked for Cape Town right now. We definitely will take the aerial cableway to the top of Table Mountain, visit the District 6 museum and Africa's largest contemporary art museum that opened in the fall of 2017.

We leave Cape Town in a vehicle rental on Sept. 3 to go to Simon's Town, situated on the eastern portion of the peninsula and home to the South African Navy. It's actually a suburb of Cape Town. During our three days there, we hope to visit the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and the penguin colony at Boulders Beach, among other activities.

We're a little concerned about this portion of the trip, as the Cape Times reported today that there was violence at Hout Bay on Friday. I think we're driving through Hout Bay on our way to Simon's Town. Apparently, the Times reported, "angry Hangberg residents clashed with police and torched buildings and a vehicle after two days of searching for a young fisher, presumed lost at sea, following an altercation with authorities on Friday." Hopefully, that will have passed by the time we get there in early September.

Then we're off to Hermanus for a little over three days. We've got a cottage on the shore rented - it's called the Hermanus Whale View. :) We expect to be able to sit on the porch and watch the Southern Right Whales, who will be birthing, and we've heard they come within 11 yards or so of the shore. We'll be doing "beach things," although Simon's Town and Hermanus is near wine country so I suspect we'll do some kind of wine tour while in the area.

We're on our way to Plettenberg Bay from Hermanus. We're staying in the "Bushpig" cabin at Moon Shine on Whiskey Creek, which is set on 14 hectares of unspoiled indigenous forest. The cabin is one of the two original cabins. It is elevated on stilts and surrounded by indigenous forest. I suspect bird watching will be one of the activities there - and maybe monkey watching? :)

We leave our "Bushpig" cabin for Port Elizabeth on Sept. 12 to catch a plan to Durban. We'll stay in Ballito, a suburb of Durban on the coast, where we've got a snorkeling trip planned. Then we drive to Eshowe for a three-day, two-night experience that includes sleeping in a hut in a Zulu village. We're hoping to have lots of interaction.

We return to Durban on Sept. 16 and leave early on Sept. 18 for our 18-day safari adventure that includes time at Victoria Fall, three days at the Selous Riverside Safari Camp (we'll do game viewing and fishing!), a visit to Mount Kilimanjaro, then to the Great Rift Valley escarpment where we'll explore Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and spend a day in a Masai village and a coffee plantation. Then we're off to the Serengeti for four days of safari.

We'll arrive in Stone Town, Zanzibar, on Oct. 5 and spend four days there exploring the markets and such before we take a shuttle to the eastern side of the island where we'll unwind in our seashore villa in Jambiani for seven days of snorkeling, sunning and maybe a ride in a dhow - which is a traditional sailing vessel primarily used to carry heavy items like fruit, fresh water or merchandise, along the coasts of Eastern Arabia (Arab states of the Persian Gulf), East Africa, Yemen and coastal South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh). I think some of them now are strictly for tourism. Ha!

It's going to be one helluva awesome trip - so stay tuned!