Qatar has developed itself from being a poor pearl fishing
country, to one among the richest Gulf States, due to the
exploitation of oil and gas fields since 1940.
Majority of the country is covered by sand dunes and salt
flats. The City of Doha is a rich mixture of traditional
Arabic combined with modern architecture. Among those that
are particularly interesting, are The Grand Mosque with
numerous domes and the Abu Bakir al-Siddiq Mosque. The north
has quite a few historic sites, such as Umm Salal Mohammed,
which is a large village conquered by the ruins of 19th
century fort.
Al-Khor is the second largest city located along the natural
shallow harbour. The west coast consists of fine beaches at
Umm Bab (The Palm Tree Beach), Salwah, Dukhan near the Saudi
border. The South regions comprises beaches and sand dunes,
and offers plenty of opportunities for pearl hunting, or to
practice water-sports.
Tourist Visas began to be issued only during 1989, but,
though a slow start, Qatar has already begun to reap the
profits of its new openness. Visitors are attracted
naturally to this land of glitzy new hotels, ancient rock
carvings, towering sand dunes, ancient rock carvings and
unique architecture.
