Doha

A hundred years ago, almost everyone in Doha made a living the same dangerous way: holding their breath and diving to the seafloor for pearls. Divers wore a nose clip, carried a basket, and stayed under for minutes at a time, hunting oysters in the warm Gulf waters.

For centuries, pearls were Qatar's entire economy. Then, in the 1920s and 1930s, a Japanese businessman perfected the cultured pearl, and the market for natural pearls collapsed almost overnight.

Doha was devastated. The Great Depression struck at the same time, and parts of the town were simply abandoned.

Then came what lay under the ground and the seabed. Oil was discovered at Dukhan in 1939, though World War II delayed exports until 1949. The bigger prize came later: the North Field, the largest natural gas field in the world, which Qatar shares with Iran.

That gas turned a struggling town into one of the richest places on Earth. Qatar declared independence from Britain on September 3, 1971, and Doha rebuilt itself into a skyline of glass towers in a single generation.

In 2022, Qatar became the first country in the Middle East to host the FIFA World Cup, with Doha at its center.

Walk the Corniche, the curved waterfront promenade, and watch wooden dhow boats bob in the bay against the modern skyline. Visit the Museum of Islamic Art, designed by architect I.M. Pei on its own island, holding 14 centuries of art from across the Muslim world.

Get lost in Souq Waqif, a maze of stalls selling spices, fabrics, and even falcons, built on the site of an old Bedouin trading post. Tour the National Museum of Qatar, a building shaped to look like a desert rose crystal.

Eat machboos, the national dish of spiced rice and meat, and sip cardamom-spiced karak tea from a street stall. Finish with luqaimat, hot fried dough balls drizzled with date syrup.