Colombo to Madrid

We were up for breakfast and out of the hotel by 8:00 to catch an Uber to the airport.

We checked in and there were no issues with our flights and we left on time at 11:15, arriving in Doha about 30 minutes early.

With almost 12 hours to wait for our onward flight to Madrid, I had booked a tour to the desert and after clearing customs and collecting our bags we waited in the arrivals hall. With no sign of our booked tour I made some enqueries and it turned out that the tour had not been booked and they weren't able to offer anything else.

Faced with the prospect of sitting around doing nothing and with no bars landslide because of Ramadan we decided that we would head into Doha city and explore ourselves. Frustratingly there were no left luggage facilities at Doha airport but I found one about four metro stops along so booked our bags in for a few hours. We took some metro dropped our bags and then headed for the Souk.

We wandered around the souk for a bit and then to the waterfront called the Corniche. There were lots of people milling around as by now it was almost time for sunset and breaking of the fast. There were big countdown timers counting down the exact time to sunset and we waited with the gathered crowds for the timer to hit zero at which point a large cannon-like gun fired and very loud bang signalled sunset. In the surrounding area there are families with their picnics laid out ready to break the fast.

Beyond this we didn't feel that there was very much more to see in Doha - note to self to avoid any future long layovers there - and so we retraced our steps to collect our luggage and then I ordered an Uber back to the airport.

We still had 3 hours to kill and I managed to get us back into the arrivals lounge for two of those where we sat around playing cards and eventually, at just before 10:00 p.m, we were able to check our bags in and go through. Our plane left in time for the leg to Madrid.Read more