Looking Fabulous @ Fifty: OUR 2019 HOLIDAYS

Hello dear friends,

We came back home from a month of holidays a few weeks ago but I am still struggling to get back into my routine. Last week I went to the gym for the first time and almost died the next day from pain in every bone and muscle of my body. I couldn't walk for a few days after that.

Anyhow, we had a wonderful time and I would like to share with your what we saw, ate and did during that time. Here is Part one of our Holiday 2019 saga.

Unfortunately, it didn't start the way we planned and I will tell you why. According to our itinerary, the first stop was St Petersburg, Russia. My husband left Sydney three weeks ahead of me for Cape Town to visit his father. The plan was that on the same day I would fly from Sydney and him - from Cape Town to Doha, the capital of Qatar where we would stay overnight and on the next day, the 29 of June to be exact would catch a connecting plane to St Petersburg where our holiday would officially begin. However, when I came to the airport and presented my passport for check-in, it appeared that the date shown on my Russian visa was incorrect, instead of stating the entry date of 29 of June as per my application, it was showing that I can enter Russia not earlier than 2 of July, which was the day when we supposedly would fly from St Petersburg to Moscow.

I still don't know whether I entered the wrong date on the application or whether the Russian Embassy made a mistake, the bottom line was that upon receiving the visa, I didn't look at it properly thus was fully responsible for this terrible blunder. There was no way I would be let into Russia earlier then the date on my visa, I can only fly to Doha as per my ticket and wait there till my visa become valid, ie 2 July. I managed to get a hold of my husband in Cape Town and asked him to check the date on his visa, it was correct and he was good to go. However, being a good husband, he said that he is not going anywhere without me, so he cancelled his flight from Doha to St Petersburg and stayed with me in Doha.

My frustration with myself was beyond words. I can't fully express how upset I felt. Both of us were so looking forward to seeing St Petersburg, visit its amazing palaces and museums, walk along its streets during the White Nights season and see a ballet at its world renowned Mariinsky theatre for which we had bought tickets well in advance and we were facing the possibility that after months of careful planning, preparations and anticipation we would have to miss St Petersburg all together. Not to mention the financial loss that we incurred due to altering our itinerary and re-booking the flights.

Anyhow, there was no point of crying about it so we took a deep breath and made a couple of executive decisions. Number one, since we were stuck in the Middle East, we would try and make the best out of it and second, we would contact our travel agent and ask him to once again re-book our tickets and forgo Moscow completely in favour of St Petersburg. Once we made up our minds, I felt much better and was really looking forward to explore what this part of the world has to offer.

We decided to spend a couple of days in Qatar and then fly to Oman for a couple of days since it was the only country to which we could fly directly and quickly and so our Middle East adventure had begun.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast at the hotel Kempinsky, we went downstairs to seek the advice of a concierge about what sites should we visit.

His immediate suggestions were The National Museum of Qatar and also The Qatar Museum of Islamic Art. Armed with his advice, we stepped outside into the 46 degrees heat. I got my first impression of this dry land was from the plane and now staying in the middle of the totally deserted street, all I could see around us was just a jungle of tall skyscrapers, expensive cars driving by and the shimmering glare of the desert beyond.

It was so hot so walking around was out of the question so we hastily got into an air conditioned cab and asked him to take us to our first destination, The Qatar Museum of Islamic Art.

The museum is built on an island off an artificial peninsula on one end of the Corniche, a several kilometers a water front promenade extending for several kilometers Doha Bay, near the original dhow harbour and hosts over 14 centuries of the Islamic Art. We spent quite a few hours there admiring the vast collection of arts and crafts, exhibiting high artistic skills of ancient artisans.

The next day we took a taxi to see the The National Museum of Qatar . As the taxi drew nearer, we were spellbound by the innovative architecture that was applied in building this museum. The structure looked so light and delicate that it looked like being suspended in mid-air and at the same time effortlessly blended into the surroundings as if it has always been there.

We spent a few very interesting hours walking through its halls that spread over 1.5 km and then took a taxi home.

And of course, you can't be in Middle East and not visit a souk and so we did but I found it underwhelming in comparison to the souks that we have been to in Morocco a couple of years ago.

The two days that we spent there were a true revelation. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Doha and learned quite a lot about life, culture and traditions of people Qatar.

The following day we left Doha and flew to Muscat, the capital of Oman.

Till the next post

xoxox
Anna