After an uneventful overnight in Amman, Jordan we arrived in Muscat, Oman with a sigh of relief. Gone are the hawkers and the garbage strewn streets…here the streets are practically paved in gold! Colorful flowers and ornate street lamps all strung with lights! It was like Disneyland. (To be fair, it is not always strung with lights- they are celebrating the 40th National Day).
We wandered through the Mutrah Souk with its labyrinth of alleyways in a fog of frankincense. Here you can barter for gold, silver, pashminas, old guns and other Arabic trinkets.
We headed into town to hike through the mountains. The view was incredible from so high up! Unfortunately, I think we lost the trail…as we ended up having to climb over a dam to get back to the waterfront. Omani women don’t exercise, so our cab driver Mohamed said to Dean “Your wife is very strong!”
The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the third largest mosque in the world. The complex is over 40,000 sq meters and is able to accommodate an amazing 20,000 worshippers. Construction started in 1995 and took six years to complete. It is well known for the huge Swarovski crystal chandelier and the second largest handmade Persian carpet in the world. The carpet took four years to make and weighs a staggering 21 tons. It was handmade in Iran by a workforce of 600 women.
We rented a car and drove two hours to the town of Nizwah. In the 16th and 17th centuries Nizwah was the largest oasis, the centre of trade and the capital of Oman. The Nizwah fort was built in the 17th century, construction spanned 30 years and it is one of the oldest and most famous forts in Oman. They did an amazing job of restoring it.
Fancy Arabic dinner! Dean ordered the mixed grill and I had the waiter order a vegetarian meal for me. It was fantastic….a spinach-noodle-bean soup, hummus, big salad and vegetable stuffed bread. We are now addicted to the lemon-mint drink…that’s what happens when they don’t serve alcohol!
We drove another two hours out to Wadi Shab, an oasis created by thousands of years of rain eroding unimaginable amounts of earth. Most of the locals stayed right by the parking lot, which is where the wadi meets the sea. Perfect for us, as we hiked for an hour down the wadi by ourselves!
Clear water rimmed by wild date palms….not a bad place to be!
After an hour we got to a point where you could only continue by swimming. Emerald green water on a hot day…
Disclaimer: I got this picture off the internet! I had read about the “keyhole,” a narrow head shaped space eroded out of the rock face at what appeared to be the end of the wadi. We had two local Omani’s following us, and they couldn't believe it when I swam through the tiny cave (actually, I couldn’t believe it myself…very dark, deep and claustrophobic!)
Disclaimer: This is not Dean, I don’t know who this is…but it is a good picture, so I stole it off the internet! After you swim through the hole without your head getting stuck, you come into a magnificent cave with a waterfall. The Omani locals quickly swam back to get their friends probably saying, “We followed these crazy Americans into this tiny cave, come see!”
We (as well as our B&B host and another guest) were invited to lunch by our cab driver, Mohamed. The Omani people are so hospitable! We got to experience a true Omani meal. We were brought into the front room that was filled with incense smoke (looked like something out of a Cheech and Chong movie!) and watched TV (why talk?) His children then set the table, well tablecloth. We were summoned to the floor where we ate whole fish, rice, different fruits and juices. Our host kept refilling our plates with food, and saying “eat, eat, EAT!” The wife and children were not present. Afterwards we had Omani coffee and dates. The other female guest and I were brought into another room to meet the wife. Normally, the women and men would be in separate rooms the entire meal…but we were treated differently since we were “westerners.” Fascinating!
Our last night in Muscat we ran with the Jobel Hash House Harriers. We were driven out into the desert with a group of about 30 runners. We ran on a freeway (not yet open!), through a work camp (locals staring in awe), down a dry river bed, through a long dark culvert (with lots of things to trip over), through a construction site and back. All in all, a wonderful way to end our stay in Oman! Now on to one night in Munich, Germany….and HOME!
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