Blogs from Muttrah, Muscat, Oman, Middle East

Bonjour à tous, Le voyage Départ de Lyon sous une pluie battante, avec 45 minutes de retard. Arrivée à Doha avec pratiquement 1 heure de retard, pour une escale de 2 heures. Autant vous dire que toute la traversée de l'aéroport s'est faite au pas de charge. Pas vraiment le temps d'apprécier la beauté de soit disant un des plus beaux aéroport du monde. Il est très beau avec toutes ces plantations tropicales au cœur, mais, pour moi, très loin derrière Singapour. Et malgré toute notre précipitation, l'avion est partie de nouveau avec 45 minutes de retard. Mais là pas très grave il n'y avait que l'hôtel de prévu à l'arrivée. Malgré toute l'assurance conforté par l'ambassade d'Oman à Paris, j'avais toujours un soupçon d'angoisse de ne pas avoir de visa. A l'arrivée à l'aéroport de ... read more

While the Diamond Princess was on all the front pages, held up in Japan and the Corona Virus was rapidly spreading and now had at a foothold in least half the world’s nations, we were docking in Muscat, vaguely aware that something was happening but, at this stage, not concerned. We arrived several hours late, due to the weather, so we were told, but during the night and this morning the sea seemed to be as smooth as a millpond. If we did have a patch of bad weather, the ship must have bloody good stabilisers as we never felt the slightest bump!! As it turns out, we didn’t lose any time here as we departed several hours later than scheduled. The capital of Oman is Muscat. We’ve been here twice before so when Beryl and ... read more

We’re tired, in the wrong time zone, and the weather app says that the temperature “feels like” 43, so we decide to spend most of the day relaxing by the pool and on the beach. As I make my way out of the sea up onto the sand, it’s a bit hard not to notice a crab the size of a small dog. I suspect it wouldn’t have too much trouble chomping off one of my feet with a single snap of one of its gigantic claws, so I decide that maybe that’s enough swimming in the sea for today. I take the opportunity to read up on the history of Muscat. The ever reliable Wikipedia tells us that there’s evidence of a settlement here from as early as 6,000 BC, and it seems that the ... read more

i forgot to add these photos to today's blog. if anyone knows what they are please let me know! susan :)... read more

Day 4 - Friday 22nd January 2016 Well after our disturbed sleep due to the fire in our hotel, we were both shattered when we got up in the morning. We had planned on sleeping till 5.15 but we were up before 5 as we couldn’t get back to sleep. Packed in record time checked out and got a taxi down to the bus stop by 6, when we only needed to be there by 6.30…talk about being the Griswalds. The only advantage of getting there early of course is that we could choose our seats, but other than that, we just had a longer time on our arse. The bus filled and we were under way by 7. Our driver today must have been Fangio’s grandson, and he appeared to be on a ... read more