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Published: February 5th 2009
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Corridor in Muscat
I just love this kind of photo. If you don't, I apologize for putting it on the blog Muscat - the capital
The capital of Oman is named
Muscat. I spent time there in the beginning of the trip, in the middle of the trip and in the end of the trip. But I left it to the last of my blog entries to actually write about it.
Most of the time I was in Muscat I stayed in an area called Muttrah. It is in Muttrah you find the cheapest hotels and that was the primary reason for me to be there. But Muttrah is also a nice part of Muscat and it has a few attractions so it is also a good place to stay. Most people who come to Muttrah visit the souq, the local market. It is covered market, very clean and nice and it feels very old. It feels very oriental and also feels like a very genuine place. That is until you see that most of the shops cater for tourists. When you see T-shirts saying "My brother went to Muscat and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" you know that the place is touristy.
But there is more to Muttrah than the souq. On a hill towering over
Muttrah Fort
On a hill towering over Muttrah is Muttrah Fort. Muttrah is Muttrah Fort. I was allowed to take photos of it but entering is not possible since the military is in charge of it.
In Muttrah there is also a harbour where cruise ships land when they arrive. In the harbour you can also see various cargo ships, maybe a dhow boat or two and sometimes you can also see Sultan Qaboos private yacht, Al Said. According to Wikipedia Al Said is 155 meters long.
I know I am supposed to call the traditional Arabic sailing vessels
dhow and not dhow boat. I know I am making a mistake but it is only to make it clear for everybody reading the blog what I am writing about.
Not far from Muttrah is Old Muscat, which really isn't very old. Well, there are two forts there, Merani Fort and Jalali Fort, each probably dating back a few hundred years. But just like Muttrah Fort these forts are used for military purposes and can't be visited.
The main attraction in old Muscat is the Al Alam Palace, the home of the Sultan. To me Al Alam felt a bit out of place. The palace felt more Asian
Dhow boat
A dhow boat in Muttrah harbour in style than Arabic. But then I know almost nothing about architecture so I can be totally wrong about that.
Of the things I saw in Muscat the big highlight was
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. It is easily the largest mosque in Oman. I have added several photos of it but they don't make it justice. You need to see it to understand it. The grandness of the mosque lies in the combination of the artworks, the corridors and the large courtyards. Not in each one of them separately, which is all you can hope to catch in a photo.
My photos can in no way describe the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque and neither can words. But when I am writing about the mosque there are two things that have to be pointed out.
The first thing I have to mention is the carpet in the mosque. The carpet is 60 times 70 meters in size and it took 600 weavers 4 years to make it.
The second I have to mention is the chandelier in the mosque. It is 14 meters high and 8 meters wide and holds 1122 light-bulbs. The crystals in the chandelier are made by
Sultan Qaboos
Sultan Qaboos private yacht, Al Said, 155 meters long according to Wikipedia. A guy who has a yacht this size must be compensating for something... Swarovski.
Both the carpet and the chandelier are the second largest in the World. The only place where a larger carpet and a larger chandelier can be found is in Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi.
One thing I really liked in Oman was the shop signs. They had a very typical style, like it was hand painted, with the business written in both English and Arabic. It didn't matter what kind of business they were running, the sign outside the shop looked exactly the same. One thing that surprised me a lot was the large number of tailors everywhere. I guess all people wear tailor-made clothes in Oman. It is the only thing that makes sense to me.
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