In the afternoon we are planning to walk along the Corniche to the famous Pearl Structure and then to visit the nearby souk. As we start on the corniche we are surprised of how empty of tourists it is, we expected more of them as this way we are afraid we might be the target of attention of hawkers.
And we are not wrong the first person that we meet already tries to sell as a dhow ride even though there are no visible dhows. And he doesn’t want to take a no for an answer, again. Quite annoying. Otherwise the promenade is quite large and the views are beautiful but it is difficult to enjoy if you have to keep an eye out for any person you encounter.
As we reach the actual dhow area the hawkers become more insistent. And there are also more of them. But luckily there are also a few other couples walking and we can see who attacks them and do our best to avoid/run past them. The views of the modern downtown would be quite beautiful otherwise but we cannot stop to enjoy them as we would be swamped.
We next pass Al Fanar Masjid, quite a beautiful mosque and then pass through an area that is not as popular for dhows so it has less touts to annoy us and we can take some photos and just enjoy the area.
However as we get close to the famous Pearl Sculpture this starts to change. As it is famous there are lots of hawkers and touts just sitting on it and waiting for a mark, us. After probably five minutes of “we are not interested”, “please leave us alone” and “no” we finally discover that the sunny side of the pearl is less popular due to the heat and finally can take some photos and enjoy the area before moving into the souq across the street.
