This Instagram-famous fish market is a real-life beauty worth checking out
It sounds like an unlikely backdrop for holiday snaps or social media stories, but Doha’s fish market in the city’s Mina District is as many have claimed: seemingly custom-made for rigorously curated social media feeds – in the best way.
In recent years, Doha’s former Old Port has been reimagined and transformed from a dreary area, with nothing to charm anyone outside of the fish trade, into a highlight of every visit to the city.
Located at the end of a long causeway jutting out from Doha’s Corniche, it now houses a futuristic cruise port that can handle two large cruise ships – or some 12,000 passengers in a day – and a pastel-hued neighbourhood filled with everything from trendy cafés and high-end shops, to boutique hotels and luxury properties like the Mandarin Oriental.
At the heart of it is a fish market designed to inspire awe. As you enter, a stream of blue and turquoise light envelops you. Everything from the mosaic floor tiles and glass-domed display pods to the arched doors is drenched in underwater hues.
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The pièce de résistance is a huge, stained-glass ceiling depicting an underwater scene of fish, seaweed and coral. Some 7,000 individual pieces of glass, coated in heat-resistant material to let in light but not the desert heat, make you feel as though you’re scuba diving in a reef.
There isn’t the slightest hint of a fishy smell in the air. Instead, the individual display stands are heaped with crushed ice, mounted with the day’s catch from the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean: hammour (a type of grouper), snapper, emperor fish, sea bream, tuna, together with crabs and prawns, octopus and cuttlefish.
If you’re more of an eater, head into Chabrat Al Mina, the fish restaurant attached to the market, where the turquoise underwater accents continue.
Here, you can choose a fish or seafood item and discuss how you’d like to have it with the chef, before relaxing and looking out over the glimmering waters of Doha Bay.
Opt for the hammour – either as a fillet or whole – a firm white fish that is best when simply grilled or pan-fried, with a side of steamed vegetables.
Photo: Shutterstock
