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By Graham Howe
June 2005
We were sitting on Avenue Habib Bourguiba, a broad boulevard of bistros,
brasseries and patisseries in Tunis, North Africa. After taking a long-haul
flight from Cape Town via Qatar, the best way to start the day was a strong
shot of espresso and a croissant at Café Paris, one of a row of sidewalk
cafés. Twenty-four hours after leaving the southernmost tip of the continent
we were in the far north of Africa in the capital of Tunisia.
Modern travel transports you from the familiar to the exotic in the wink
of an eye. We hadn't even checked into our hotel yet. Watching the clanging
trams, the Peugeot taxis and the Tunisian policemen direct traffic amidst a
cacophony of whistles and hooters, we stopped to catch our breath. The
elegant boulevard of cast-iron lamp-posts, manicured trees, blue shutters
and boutique shops was a scene straight out of the Champs d'Elysses. The
locals were reading the morning edition of Le Monde over coffee and
cigarettes.
After the long flight, we stretched our legs in the ville nouvelle down
to the Porte de France - a huge freestanding stone arch that is the old
gateway to the bustling medina, a labyrinthine casbah in the old quarter. We
were ready for a siesta - and headed down to the coast to the tourist resort
of Hammamet on the turquoise shores of the southern Mediterranean. Leaving
Tunis behind, we passed through olive groves and vineyards in the verdant
foothills of the Atlas mountains, overtaking overloaded old Citroens,
shepherds with flocks, donkeys and mules. We felt the clock had turned back
decades.
We had arrived in time for breakfast on the inaugural flight of Qatar
Airways from Doha on the Gulf of Arabia to Tunisia, the carrier's newest
destination. Monitoring our progress on the in-flight television en route, I
idly watched our flight-path over Saudi Arabia, the Red Sea, Cairo, the Nile
Delta - then over the southern Mediterranean past Crete, Sicily and Malta.
Alluring destinations that would have to wait another day. I looked out at
the Arabian Oryx, the motif of Qatar Airways, painted on the wing, and
thought of the desert.
An expanding carrier with connecting flights to the major capitals of
Western Europe, North Africa, Asia and the Far-East, Qatar Airways was voted
one of the world's top three five-star airlines in a poll last year. A new
service to South Africa launched in January 2005, they fly four times weekly
from Cape Town via Johannesburg to Doha, a global travel hub on the Arabian
Gulf with onward connections to 62 destinations. We spoke to French,
Japanese, Romanian, Indian and South African attendants on our flights -
among the fifty nationalities of the cosmopolitan crew of Qatar Airways.
If you're like me and stagger exhausted onto a flight after attending to
101 tasks - a leisurely 9,5 hour daylight flight from Cape Town to Doha is a
good way to unwind en route to your final destination. From check-in and
boarding to in-flight service, meals, drinks (including a first-rate
selection of wines and liqueurs) and on-schedule flights, our experience of
flying economy class on Qatar Airways was excellent. The fleet is new with
aircraft facilities in excellent condition - and great in-flight
entertainment in English.
Over the next fortnight we experienced all aspects of Qatar Airways on
numerous flights as we made our way around Tunisia, Morocco and back to Cape
Town via Tripoli and Doha. Although we flew straight onto our
end-destination in Tunis, I'd recommend a stopover in Doha to break the
outbound and return flights wherever you're headed. If your connections mean
a stop-over of longer than 8-hours, Qatar Airways offers complimentary
accommodation for 8-24 hours at five-star hotels. You can fly on refreshed
to your destination in Europe or Asia - after a shower and a sleep.
We stopped over in Qatar for a day on the way back from Morocco to Cape
Town. (Qatar Airways arranges a visa for South African passengers prior to
arrival.) Doha is a relaxing destination for a day. The standard city tour
takes in highlights like the Doha fort, the grand mosque and Qatar National
Museum located in the old palace. Shoppers visit the biggest mall in the
Middle East, the traditional gold, spice and clothing souqs or the old camel
market. The adventurous take a water taxi to Al Safliya island, a dhow
cruise into the Arabian Gulf along the 650-kilometre coastline - or a 4x4
overnight excursion to a Bedouin camp in the 50-metre high dunes of the
inland sand sea.
On our brief visit, we were fascinated by a visit to the Arabian stables
of Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani - home to over 170 magnificent
horses. We patted a mottled Arabian stallion called Alzier (meaning "ladies
man"). On our city tour, we also stopped to see the showpiece Khalifa
Stadium, specially built for the 15th Asian Games to be hosted by Doha
during late 2006. A giant statue of an Oryx - the symbol of the Games -
rises on the palm-lined waterfront - along with a giant sculpture of an
oyster, a reminder of the pearl-diving industry in the Gulf states long
before the discovery of oil reserves.
On the way back to our hotel, we passed Al Jazeerah, one of the most
vocal television stations in the world based in Qatar. Badradien Boulaich,
our guide, predicted, "In five years Qatar will rival Dubai. There is the
new Doha and the old Doha. We are building everywhere - new hotels, new
houses, new shops and new attractions. 48 hours is not enough time to see
Qatar." He's right. Qatar is much bigger on the ground than it looks on the
map - at 11 400 sq kilometres, we'd have to leave the rest of Qatar for
another day.
The author was a guest of Qatar Airways and Egypt & Beyond. Contact Qatar
Airways on 0861 861868 or see
www.qatarairways.com.
Contact specialist tour operator Cecelia Amory in Johannesburg. Tel: +27 11
678 4777, or e-mail:
cecelia@championtours.co.za
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