Why this ride
From Al Muharraq it runs 932 km to Al Muharraq; allow about 17 h 02 of riding. It crosses from Bahrain into Qatar - carry ID and check the toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Siyadi Shops and Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 932 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 17 h 02
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Siyadi Shops
The Siyadi family did not only build mosques and houses; they also built shops, and the row of old shops in Muharraq is a reminder that a pearl merchant was also a businessman who understood the value of property. Streets of single-storey units, with wooden shutters and plain fronts, stand near the family's other buildings in the old town, and they once held traders selling cloth, rice, spices, dates and the everyday goods a town needs. Pearls themselves were usually sold privately, in the majlis, to buyers who knew what they were doing.
Read the complete Siyadi Shops write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Siyadi Shops is where the day begins. Next is Hayr Shtayyah.
2. Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
Out on the north-west coast of Qatar, where the desert slides into a shallow turquoise sea, stand the low ruins of Al Zubarah, once one of the busiest pearling and trading towns in the Gulf. In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the town thrived on pearls dived from the oyster beds offshore, traded on to India, Persia and beyond. Then it declined, was abandoned in the early twentieth century, and the sand covered it. Archaeologists have since uncovered streets, houses, a souk, mosques and a long town wall running in an arc around the old harbour. UNESCO inscribed the site in 2013.
Read the complete Al Zubarah Archaeological Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 466 km into the recorded legs you reach Al Zubarah Archaeological Site. Next is back through Hayr Shtayyah.
3. Siyadi Shops
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Siyadi Shops write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Siyadi Shops. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Siyadi Shops to Al Zubarah Archaeological Site
Siyadi Shops → Al Zubarah Archaeological Site is 466 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Al Zubarah Archaeological Site to Siyadi Shops
Al Zubarah Archaeological Site → Siyadi Shops is 466 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.