The Villaggio is a Venetian-themed shopping mall which is about a 20-minute drive from my house, but close to Education City. Doha, and Qatar, are obviously flat desertscape, but Doha is a relatively easy city to drive in. If you go toward Education City, the tower showing in the first photo is a reliable landmark (in fact, I can see it from my apartment window now). And, if you go in the opposite direction, you can see the West Bay, which is the downtown area where I live.
The Villaggio and surrounding area were all constructed and used for the 2006 Asian Games. Doha had the distinction of being the first city outside Asia to host the games, and you can see that they pulled out all the stops with building. Roads got widened and new housing complexes were constructed, among other things. You can clearly tell which parts of Doha are old or new. Newer parts have traffic signals and wide roads, and older parts have roundabouts.
As Doha seems to be in competition with Dubai to become the 'premier' city of the GCC or even the Middle East, winning the 2006 games was really a feather in the city's cap. I don't know if Dubai even applied or not, but it's still a feat held in distinction.
The inside of The Villaggio replicates Venice, with Ventian houses above the shops, a blue sky with clouds for the ceiling, street lamps used for lighting, and the piece de resistance, a canal.
You can take a gondola ride in the canal, just like in Venice. However, with it being Ramadan, you can't during the day. All entertainment is closed during daylight hours.
This kind of strikes me as something you'd find in Japan.
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