May 12 - Muscat, Oman

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Today we’re in Muscat, Oman.  This is the capital of the Sultanate of Oman, a country situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Its borders are shared with the UAE to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west and Yemen to the southwest.  Oman is an absolute monarchy ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said who has been the ruler since 1970.  His family has ruled the area since the 1740’s.

Oman was historically an important trading hub along the trade routes to India and the rest of Asia.  The British recognized this and formed a mutually beneficial relationship to protect their interests.  As with other countries in this region, oil and natural gas were found and form an important part of the economy.  Oman doesn’t have as large reserves as some of the other Middle Eastern countries so it is trying to build its tourism business.

We decided to take a tour to some places outside of the city.  Our first stop was a place called Barkha, a traditional fishing and market town.  Along the way we passed lots of desert with little scrubby acacia trees.  In many of the areas we saw camels wandering, munching on the shrubs, as well as sheep and goats.  The camels are not wild; they all belong to someone  our guide Hussein told us. Back to Barkha.  We stopped to visit the fish and vegetable market.  There was no such thing as refrigeration and the fish just lay out in the open. It was frankly very unappetizing. There was haggling going on over prices.  The vegetables looked much better. I found it interesting that I saw not a single local woman there.  The vendors, buyers, and hagglers were all men.

Filet of fish for lunch anyone?

Notice the refrigeration (or lack thereof)

Dried sardines, one of the main catches around these parts

This nice vegetable vendor let me photograph him.

Our next stop was the An Naman Castle, one of the 500 forts, castles and watchtowers in Oman.  This particular one is thought to have been built around 1691.  We only went into the ground floor because the stairs up were steep and spiraling, not good for knees and backs.   The number of forts is astounding.  It seemed on every mountaintop and all along the coast there are towers and forts.  I guess they were keeping away pirates and other marauders.  From An Naman we drove to the Nakhl Spring and oasis.  By comparison to the rest of the countryside this area was positively lush.  The spring cascades out of the mountain and travels down the hillside.  Along the way little canals have been built to channel the water to different houses and gardens .  Mind you, this isn’t an alpine stream we’re talking about, but for this desert country it’s unusual.

An Naman Castle

Another castle on the way to the oasis

A desert spring bubbling out of the rock

 

An oasis in the desert

After visiting the spring we had lunch at a nearby resort.  To enter the property we passed through a gate topped with concertina wire.  They are obviously serious about only letting in paying guests.  Lunch was an eclectic buffet of  Arabian, Indian and southeast asian dishes.  Despite the fact that it’s Ramadan, our guide Hussein and driver Hassan had lunch.  I’m glad they did; it would be dreadful for all of us to eat and drink while they had to wait and continue their fast until sunset.

Our last stop was just a photo stop at the Grand Mosque in Muscat.  It is very large and quite beautiful.  However, having just seen the Shekh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, I have to say that the one in Abu Dhabi was my favorite.

Grand Mosque in Muscat

Back at the port  there were a few interesting things to watch before we sailed.  The Sultan has two very large yachts docked there.  We estimate the larger to be at least 300 ft. long.  There was an Italian navy frigate tied up near us. We suppose he’s part of the international naval forces that patrol these waters to discourage piracy.  The most interesting thing though was a dhow loaded with watermelons.  As we watched, lots of little trucks pulled up on the dock next to the dhow and men began unloading the watermelons one by one and by hand. The men formed lines from onboard to the dock and they tossed the watermelons along to the next in line and into the waiting trucks.  At one point they had unloaded most of them from one side and the dhow had a serious list.  When we left they were almost finished tossing what must have been thousands of melons.

Not another cruise ship, just the Sultan's yacht

Dhow full of watermelons

If you look at the cabin on the aft of the dhow you can see how it's listing to port as they've unloaded melons from one side.

Three watchtowers and a fort just on the little piece of coast we sailed past on our way out of Muscat

So now we're off for 6 days at sea sailing through the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden before entering the Red Sea.