Blogs from Oman, Middle East
May 17th 2012
Muscat, Oman... what a beautiful city and country. Unfortunately we only had a brief flying visit in to Muscat to visit our friend Topsy, however we hope to return soon to explore more. I snapped away for the brief time we were there, not great quality photos... but I thought it would give you a tiny glimpse, as it did for us. We have driven through the spectacular rocky mountains in the north on previous occasions, but this was our first visit to Muscat. It was refreshing to be away from the skyscrapers and traffic of Dubai. To see people going about their daily business and the historic fishing village area, with winding streets in the sand, decorative doors on the walled houses, leading in to inner courtyards...this was also a breath of fresh air after ... read more
May 14th 2012
It is a journey of four days time from Salalah, Oman to the port of Aqaba, Jordan our next destination. To some that may seem like much too long, but I enjoy it. I like to think of Nautica as an ocean liner, not a cruise ship. This is the way people traveled around the world until air travel came along and made us impatient to get to where we want and do it as quickly as possible. Much is lost in the process. It really is the journey, not the destination that is most important, at least I think so. I am spending much time reclining in a deck chair on the deck five promenade looking out at the sea and thinking. Most of the time there is only the sea, the sky and the ... read more
April 14th 2012
Saturday 14th April 2012: It’s clearly going to take more than just one day for our feet to recover from the last 3 days of flat-out sight-seeing. We couldn’t face formal dinner last night so grabbed a plate of food in the canteen and then watched the film Hugo. I can see why it got a lot of publicity – after all it does have Jude Law and Jonny Depp in it - but it’s not Oscar winning material. But it is charming so was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. Today we’ve done very little other than work on our scrap book. When we take over 300 photos in one day, you’ll be relieved we whittle that down to around 20 to actually print off. I think ... read more
April 13th 2012
Friday 13th April 2012: Friday 13th certainly proved to be a day of good fortune with a lovely visit here in Oman. We docked in Muscat, the capital, and then drove over 125 kilometres to Nizwa – home to an ancient fort and collection of souks. The drive through the mountains was fascinating as the rocks are clearly borne of a turbulent time for the earth and are an amazing array of colours: brown, beige, red, green, blue, grey and white. There is very little traffic – try to imagine driving the M25 with a maximum of about 6 other vehicles in sight at any one time! It’s surprising when you learn that water is twice the price of petrol here but maybe the “Beware Camels” signs are enough to keep some people away! ... read more
February 16th 2012
The Midnight Summit on Green Turtle Conservation…. Shortly after Oman relaxed their rules on foreign visitors, two friends (Sally and Susan) and I decided to go see that country. We were living in the Middle East at the time, so we thought we knew what to expect. Oh how delightfully wrong we were. Oman was not like any place I had been…. Our introduction was not the best. Although they had made it easier for foreigners to visit, and although we were able to stand in a special line reserved for Gulf residents, the passport control process still took three hours. I’m glad we arrived after they relaxed the rules and with some status, otherwise we might still be in line! However, our second impression was much better. Unlike the rest of the Middle East, this ... read more
January 21st 2012
At last I have found a coffee shop which does wif fi - I am back in Dubai but here goes with the report on my last couple of days in Oman ... it's a bit long but you will see why.... After the visit to the fort I was off again – driving myself from Muscat through the mountains to the coast at Sur and then on to the turtle reserve at Ras al Jinz. This was a journey of about 250 km and well done Oman for such brilliant roads. The geology of the country here is fantastic with a a huge range of different rock types and ages from ancient to relatively recent in geological terms. So what a lot of dynamite must have gone into blasting the way through these mountains to ... read more
Frankincense, Beads, Daggers and Forts
Published: January 21st 2012Middle East » Oman » Muscat » Muttrah
January 19th 2012
What a lot you can do in 4 days here in Oman. And many thanks to Tamsin and her family I have been most warmly welcomed here from a pickup at the airport to a comfy bed in their lovely villa, swimming in their pool and delicious food. They've been my tour guides and even gave me a car to drive. What it is to have such generous warmhearted friends. In between lazing around in the garden and swimming in my first 2 days there has been a visit to the Souq, Muttrah old town and harbour , lunch at the Marina overlooked by the British Ambassador's residence and then a visit to one of Oman's many forts. The souq is fabulous with such a range of goodies-from giant pans (imagine them full of rice and ... read more
January 2nd 2012
DECEMBER 2011- DAY 1 DAY ONE- DUBAI MARINA - AL-QURM- 450KM 5HRS THINGS NEEDED:(PASSPORTS , TOURIST VISA-150AED, CAR INSURANCE) We left home at aprox 7amand tooke the e44 to cross the border at Hatta- (first check point). Watch out for the AXLE breaking speed bumps at the checkpoints and in the small towns before you reach Hatta. All in 4 checkpoints that you have to go through In Oman continued onto the coast road(01)passing throung Sohar before reaching Muscat/AlQurm in the early afternoon.... read more
December 10th 2011
Day 3 and after breakfast its lotion up and head for the pool. But wait, what's that in the sky , clouds !! call the manager and have him sort it out please. Still warm enough to lie down in shorts and top up the tan when the sun deigned to appear. By the afternoon normal service had been resumed and we had a late lunch in the poolside cafe (Asian beef salad ) before retiring for the afternoon to the terrace. I'm currently reading 'Jerusalem The Biography' by Simon Sebag Montefiore an excellent book so spent the rest of the afternoon with my head buried in this fascinating tome. 6 o clock can mean only one thing - Happy Hour! - only difference here is that due to our upgrade all drinks are free till ... read more
December 10th 2011
After a splendid evening's meal accompanied by a cheeky Morrocan Shiraz (went very well with the Kofti Tagine - beef meatballs to you and me) I was up with the lark (or whatever the Omani equivalent is) and breakfast was taken at 8:30. Today is Friday and therefore the Holy day and you could feel a very different, more reverential atmosphere about the hotel. The sun was back with a vengeance and as we made our way to the pool the sky was beautifully cloudless and with the blue sea made a perfect picture (which I'll include later) The morning was spent soaking up the rays with the only disturbance being the delivery of the coolbox containing the iced water and Evian face mister thingy. This was followed mid morning by the lady with the iced ... read more
