Muscat, Oman

Thursday, April 4, 2019

I’ve come out of India and I’m now headed for Arabia. My first stop is in Muscat, Oman on the tip of the Arabian peninsula.

Where am I?

The first thing I saw when I went out to the balcony this morning.

What’s been happening?

I really wanted to get out and explore this little place in the middle of nowhere-in-particular. Typically, this means booking a tour. Well, none of the HAL tours really looked good, and Muscat is a relatively small city in the desert with little around it but sand and mountains. So, I decided to take the Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) bus to see the sights.

The first thing I noticed was the price of the tour. I’ve taken other HOHOs in other ports and the price was always between $20 and $30. Here, the price was $75. I’m not altogether sure why the price is so different from the other ports, but I was told that everything is more expensive in Oman. I can’t say that I believe this is true as I saw liquor in the duty free shop at American prices. So, who knows?

Our bus left the cruise ship terminal at about 10:30am and the weather was already hot, hot, hot. The HOHO bus is a double decker and I wanted to sit on the top deck to get better photos, but I also wanted to stay out of the sun. Fortunately for me, about a third of the top deck of the bus was covered with an awning which worked well for me. There was no A/C, but I was out of the sun and able to snap photos of interesting sights as we drove by them.

After leaving the ship’s docking area we were immediately in the old town traffic. This was fine with me since the slower pace made it easier to take photos. Here are a couple shots of the esplanade that runs around the harbor.

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There were two ships parked in the harbor that were most prominently on display. You can see them in the photo on the right. Can you identify them? Well, those two yachts belong to Sultan Qaboos bin Said and they both look like they just came from the manufacturer. Here’s a closer look.

Absolutely pristine!

There are lots of buildings in Muscat, but I couldn’t help but notice that all of the really pretty ones belonged to the government. For example:

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Oh, and here’s an interesting bit that I picked up on the tour bus: All buildings in Muscat must be one of two colors, white or cream. There are also height restrictions created to spur the city to build out and not up.

The esplanade is also peppered with beautiful parks with lush green lawns. I saw one that also had a beautiful fountain in the style of the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Our tour also took us to the most popular beach in Muscat called Shatti Al Qurum. It truly is a beautiful beach and, although the water there is too treacherous for swimming, it is common to see the men enjoying a cool stroll through the shallow water close to the shore.

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I think that the women would not venture out into the water for fear of getting their abayas wet or sandy. Or perhaps a well turned ankle would be considered just a little too risqué for the neighborhood.

I did notice that Muscat is a very clean city, especially in those areas where tourists or dignitaries my take in the sights.

Education for the children is free in all of Oman, at least through high school.

In the 16th century, Muscat was a province of Portugal. The Portuguese built a number of forts around the natural harbor to protect it from raids conducted by the Ottoman empire. Twice, the Ottoman Empire took Muscat from the Portuguese, so the Portuguese built more forts. Here are some photos of the beautifully preserved and restored forts around the old port area.

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At the same time these forts were built, Muscat was a walled city with massive doors that would be opened each morning and closed every night, or in case of attack.

In addition to this colorful lore, there are two cannons that are lovingly preserved just outside of the walls. These cannons would be fired before sunset to warn anybody outside of the walls that the gates would soon be closing. Anybody not inside the walls before the gates closed would have to find shelter elsewhere until the sun came up the next day.

Muscat’s central market, the Suuq, really has the look and feel of an ancient marketplace like you might expect to see anywhere in the Arab world. It can be found on the esplanade where it has been for centuries. Notice, however, that the front of the Suuq has been modernized with a veneer of a western Galleria shopping center. Behind the façade the market looks largely unchanged from how it might have looked centuries ago.

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And, of course, when you visit exotic places you seek out exotic foods. Here are some of the places I found during our tour that caught my eye.

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Now, there was one thing I saw that is not like anything I’ve seen anywhere else in the world. It is the world’s largest incense burner!

Ok, I lied. This tower is intended to look like an incense burner, but it is merely a lookout tower built as part of a celebration of Oman’s 20th National Day. I didn’t go up into it but I’m sure that the view from inside would be lovely.

At the end of the tour (which lasted about three hours) we were brought back to the ship. I made a quick stop in the duty free shop looking for cigars. No luck. I also wanted to use the free wi-fi but the “free” wi-fi network was “all full.” I could, however, purchase wi-fi at the Internet café immediately adjacent to the the duty free shop. The man running the duty-free shop said he would be happy to get me started on the paid wi-fi. It seems that he owned both enterprises. I declined.

Our ship pulled out of Muscat just before sunset. The harbor really is beautiful and our visit here seemed so brief.

I left Muscat very impressed with its modern look and its clean streets. It seemed like a lawful place where everybody conformed to the rules of the culture. Still, I’m very sure that I would not last long in Muscat. For me, it was a wonderful place to visit, but a long stay here would not be fun for me or anybody else. I just couldn’t shake the idea that too much of what I saw was window dressing that attempted to cover up a darker side that I was not supposed to see. Could that be? Or was it just because of the things I was shown on the tour. I’ll never know for sure.

So, what’s coming up?

Lots of days at sea.

G’night!