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Published: March 2nd 2016
DESERT ROAD TO DUBAI TO HATTA We have certainly improved our worldwide knowledge on our retirement travels and a visit to Oman has been no exception. We have visited a couple of times before, mainly to renew our Dubai visas to enable an extended stay with our family living there. We have travelled a few times overland to the border post at Hatta/Oman, a five hour round trip through the desert - a quick way to renew our 30 day visas but a tiring day.
MUSANDAM PENINSULAR A much more comfortable option was when we travelled overland with family and friends to Musandam. A mountainous Omani peninsula projecting into the Strait of Hormuz - a narrow entry into the Persian Gulf. Although part of Oman it is entirely separated from the rest of the country by the east coast of the United Arab Emirates, a legacy of tribal demarcation that dictated its borders.
That trip also entailed a long car drive through the desert to reach the sea but was really scenic once we reached the mountains. We then boarded a traditional Dhow before cruising
around the scenic fjords that cut the Mountains of Hajar into narrow inlets of waters - these jagged creeks are often compared to the fjords of Norway.
We lazed on cushions and carpets and watched dolphins playing before diving in and snorkelling straight off the dhow. Later we were dropped off on a deserted beach to spend the night under canvas with only desert foxes for company howling in the background and bright stars above us in a cloudless sky. We tried to keep the campfire going all night so that we did not get any unwelcome visitors! I would like to point out here though that two of the 'ladies' in our party stayed on the dhow and continued on to stay the night in a luxury hotel - no names mentioned but it was not me ... ... you know who you are! The next morning the dhow arrived with breakfast which we ate hungrily on the beach, although it was not that appetising, before heading back to pick up the ladies at the hotel who had gorged themselves on a splendid breakfast I might add. Later we headed home to Dubai renewing our visas
at the border crossing on the way.
MUSCAT To renew our visas this time we decided to take an easier option to fly to Muscat and explore this mountain encircled capital overlooking the sea. The flight from Dubai was only 45 minutes much quicker and more comfortable than a long car journey. From the moment we arrived in Muscat the traffic was more like what we would experience in an English country road rather than a vast city - but it was Friday and of course the weekend for those in the Arab world.
Dubai and Oman are as different as pepper and salt as the Sultanate of Oman, does not go in for any glitz, so the city gives you a good ‘dash’ of the Arabia of old, as remembered from my school geography books - long ago now! It took about 20 minutes by taxi to get into the city, passing the Grand Mosque on the highway and the gleaming white Royal Opera House. Traditional homes, shops and buildings were crammed in between the mountains on one side and the sea and we soon arrived
at our hotel on the beachfront.
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY At the crossroads of three continents and four seas Oman is an enchanting country that was once one of the major civilisations of the ancient world. It has a diverse and magical landscape, shrouded in legend and antiquity symbolising the true spirit of Arabia. Located at the tip of the Arabian Gulf has led to its fantastic seafaring history, which of course includes the fabled legend of Sinbad the Sailor.
The Portuguese arrived in Oman and occupied Muscat from 1507 to 1650 and even today their fortresses and colonial architectural style is still very prominent around the city, more on those later. Oman was so strategically placed that later in the 19th Century this Arabian peninsula, vied with Portugal and Britain for influence in the Gulf and Indian Ocean.
Ruled by one of the oldest dynasties in the region Oman is also the oldest independent state in the Arab world and one of the more traditional countries in the Gulf region
but surprisingly until the 1970s was one of the most isolated. It was in 1970 that Qaboos Bin Said Al Said became Oman's Sultan, prime minister and foreign minister when he seized power from his father, Said Bin Taimur, who later died in exile in London - ad Al Said has ruled as Sultan ever since.
MUSCAT HIGHLIGHTS We were picked up at our city hotel by Ibrahim, a local guide born in the city and with a wealth of knowledge. We had not realised that Oman and Tanzania in Africa had such close historical and blood links and Ibrahim said that even today Swahili is widely spoken in Oman. Paul’s dad would have been ‘at home’ here as he spoke fluent Swahili picked up during his war years in East Africa. Even Omani men’s clothing has links with East Africa as the Kuma, a hand-embroidered cap worn by Omani men originates in Zanzibar and is believed to be a direct result of Oman’s historical ties to Zanzibar now part of Tanzania. The Kuma is made to fit its owner and the cap has holes throughout the embroidery work which
helps to keep the head cool. Most men wear this form of headdress or the Massar, an embroidered, wool turban made in Kashmir, India. The Massar can be tied on the head with or without a Kuma underneath and most men wear either headdress with a Dishdasha a traditionally white full-length garment with long sleeves. The national dress for women is called Omaniya. The Omaniya style consists of four basic parts; dishdasha (a dress), sarwal (troucer), waqaya (a head cover that wraps around the head) and lahaf (a head cover that drapes over the head).
Ibrahim informed us that Sultan Qaboos had brought great change to the country, particularly in heath and education. Before his rule modern education was foreign to Omanis and there were only three primary schools teaching only boys. He introduced a universal education policy for both men and women and there are now over a thousand mixed schools in the city.
GRAND MOSQUE We started our tour at the highlight of the city, the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque which was a gift to the nation of Oman
Colourful Stained Glass
in the Ladies Prayer Hallfrom its ruler to mark the 30th year of his reign. The mosque itself sits within a walled compound with a minaret at each corner and a larger fifth minaret on the northern wall. The size of this mosque was just staggering being able to accommodate 20,000 worshipers at any one time. Taking six years to built it was opened in 2001 and is the only mosque open to non Muslims in the country. I thought I was well covered with ankle length cotton trousers, long sleeve top and scarf covering all my hair but was told that the material of my trousers was too thin and I could either hire or buy an Abaya at a cost of 5 or 10 OMR (Omani Rial). I opting to buy and ten minutes later, suitable clad from head to toe in green and red we entered the mosque through flowering gardens intersected by shimmering water channels.
Leaving our shoes outside in the wooden racks, the first building we entered was the
Ladies Prayer Hall which could accommodate 700 worshippers and Ibrahim pointed out its main features, the most impressive being the colourful stained glass
windows on one side. The plain carpeted floor had rectangle lines, indicated the space for individual worshippers. Beyond this we passed along a corridor of narrow arches embellished with Qur’anic script which led us to the Main Prayer Hall or Musalla.
Removing our shoes again we entered the
Main Prayer Hall though two tall highly carved wooden doors into a massive open plan room with four main pillars carrying an internal central dome rising to a height of 164 feet (50 metres) above the floor. The interior walls were completely covered with white and dark grey marble which to us had an Egyptian look. The floor was covered in a beautiful patterned Persian carpet which took 600 workers four years to weave. It incorporated 28 different colours in a variety of shades, the majority obtained from traditional vegetable dyes. Measuring a staggering 60 x 70 metres it used to be the ‘World’s Largest Carpet’, until it was superseded when the Emirates built the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi - hopefully next on our places to visit.
Inside the building the air was cool with a pleasant perfume
wafting through the mosque. Later I was to learn that this was Bukhoor, a powdered mixture that is made with is piped through the air conditioning system of the mosque. Bukhoor is what is burnt in Omani homes to which they add customised ingredients like frankincense, oud, rose essence, dried flowers, spices such as nutmeg and cardamom and even sea shells.
Hanging from the centre dome was a majestic 45 feet tall (14 metre) Swarovski crystal chandelier containing over 1100 lights which apparently take two days to change twice a year. Too put the size into perspective, its taller than a four story building and weighs more that a very large elephant! This also used to hold the Guinness ‘Largest Chandelier’ record, but the mosque in Abu Dhabi had also gained that as well so its is now second.
We were greeted with a cheery As-Salaam-Alaikum when Ibrahim introduced us to a local guide from the Mosque - the Arabic greeting meaning ‘Peace be unto you’. We had the opportunity to gain a better understanding of Islam whilst sitting eating sticky dates and drinking black coffee in a shady meetings hall. We
Crystal Chandelier
Heavier than a very large Elephant came away with several explanatory books which together with the refreshments were all at no cost to us. We strolled back down through the the gardens where several coach loads of tourist had just arrived - we were were so fortunate to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the mosque by arriving earlier in the day.
BAIT AL BERANDA We headed off to see some more the the city just as it started raining heavily - we were not expecting this but it was quite refreshing! We decided to visit a museum rather than the market hoping the rain would stop. So our next stop was the Bait Al Beranda museum, situated in a renovated historical 1930s townhouse. It was a small museum and really quiet, we were in fact the only visitors so had the whole building to ourselves. The rooms showed the historical and geological evolution from prehistoric times to today. There was even a full size dinosaur made up of bones found in the area of Muscat, as well as borrowed bones from other collections to make a full skeleton … … We particularly enjoyed
reading descriptions of Muscat by travellers and cartographers over the last few centuries and one room contained many interesting old maps of the region. It did not take long to explore though and luckily the rain had eased by the time we left.
OLD MUSCAT Travelling up through a narrow mountain road we stopped at a viewpoint which looked down into ‘Old Muscat’ which is located at the eastern tip of the modern day capital. This road replaced an older one that had fallen down the mountain and we could see disappearing over the edge. The old city of Muscat is sandwiched against the coast and the Hajar Mountains with most of the white washed buildings squeezed into any gaps that they can find so it is very atmospheric seeing the white of the buildings jutting up against the dark mountain sides.
Picture perfectly framing the city and perched on two neighbouring cliff tops were a pair of 16th century forts and directly below them was
Al Alam Palace, the Sultan’s Muscat home which dominated the waterfront. The blue and gold palace was
built over the site of the former British Embassy and is set back behind iron gates where several guards patrolled keeping everyone out. The flag was not flying so we assumed the Sultan was not in residence and Ibrahim confirmed that he was rarely present these days having recently been in poor health. The palace is not open to visitors at any time so we did not get an opportunity to go inside but were able to stroll around the area.
Muscat has an abundance of ancient Portuguese forts that seemed to occupy every hilltop, built 500 years ago when Portugal invaded Hormuz (present day Iran) and Oman these forts stretch right down the coastline into Africa. Covering the steep rock face under one of the forts guarding the harbour entrance to the Sultans Palace we saw hundreds of ship’s names crafted on the rocks. Apparently it has long been the custom for visiting sailors to paint the names of their ships that visited the Muscat anchorage on the black rocks that form its backdrop. This has become known as ‘the Sultan’s visitors’ book’ and generations of sailors must have struggled on the
hot slippery rock face to carve these names. We could easy make out HMS Falmouth as this appeared to be the largest on the thill but looking through the zoom of our camera you could make out many more including the British ships, Relume and Perseus.
MUTTRAH At the fortress guarded dhow harbour of Muttrah we entered the port area with its blend of old and new architecture scenically blended in between the mountains and the sea. Moored just off shore was Al Said, a luxury yacht owned by the Sultan and just along side it a couple of old dhows bobbed on the still waters. On yet another hill behind us was a giant white stone carved
Frankincense Burner - Oman’s history is closely connected with frankincense, an aromatic resin that was highly prized throughout the ancient world.
MUTTRAH CORNICHE Ibrahim dropped us off at the Corniche, which is what the locals call the waterfront to visit the labyrinth of
Muttrah Souk, a traditional Arab market. We tried to enter the under a bridge that separated the
market from the road and sea, but due to the heavy rainfall, water was ‘draining’ out of the narrow alleyways and making its way downhill to the sea. We decided to walk along the waterfront instead and later managed to find a ‘dryer' way into the souk and wondered around trying not to get too lost - but of course we did but that was the magic of this place.
Black clad women were weaving in and out bartering for goods as we wandered through the shady souk and old men in flowing white robes sat cross legged in closely packed stalls. We did not find anything we wanted to barter for, most were selling materials and traditional clothing, others touristy bits and pieces. One alleyway was dedicated to jewellery with lots of bright gold and shimmering silver which was quite tempting though!
One stall had a variety of crystal and glass perfume bottles with jewelled studded covers - and of course ‘packets’ of frankincense everywhere. Once considered more precious than gold it grows in neighbouring Yemen, but the quality apparently is better in Oman, which
was once the centre of the ‘Frankincense Trail’. Frankincense has been traded on the Arabian Peninsula and in North Africa for over 5000 years. The aromatic resin is obtained by slashing the bark of the Boswellia sacra tree which are considered unusual for their ability to grow in environments so unforgiving that they sometimes grow out of solid rocks. It is tapped from the hardy trees by slashing the bark once or of twice year, which is called striping, and then allowing the exuded resin to bleed out and harden. The hardened resins are called tears and the final taps producing the best quality tears due to their higher aromatic content. Quality and grades are also depend on time of harvest, soil and climate etc. The product is sold in the form of tears, perfume or essential oils and can cost hundreds of ’pounds’ in shops throughout the Gulf. In the souk you could purchase a poorer quality white frankincense in plastic packets for a fraction of that cost
.
We did eventually emerge out of the maze, even though we had to wade through a steady stream of what
we hoped was still rainwater! We thoroughly enjoyed the ambience of the narrow alleyways which at some points were nearly touching each other but the people were friendly and not overly pushy so one did not feel threatened in any way.
We joined Ibrahim for coffee at one of the traditional coffeehouses just outside the souk and watching locals doing their shopping and navigating the flowing waters which were still flowing out of the Souk as well as a few tourist who like us were deciding whether to risk getting their feet wet! They really should as we were so glad we did not miss the experience of this part of Muscat.
BAIT AL ZUBAIR Our next stop was the Bait Al Zubair (House of Al Zubair) which is a private museum, funded by the Zubair family, the head of which had served former Sultans as minister and advisor. The museum is housed in their former home and displays the family’s collection of Omani artefacts considered to be the finest that is privately owned. In vast contrast to our earlier visit
to a museum this had extremely modern display methods and good information provided both in English and Arabic. The museum serves as a real window on Oman’s rich heritage and culture and we spent ages wondering around the interesting galleries. There were excellent examples of Khanjar (Omani daggers), male and female clothing, traditional swords and firearms, antique jewellery and other household articles. On the first floor there was a huge exhibition of worldwide stamps a philatelist dream.
BEACHFRONT We had lunch with Ibrahim before he dropped us back at our hotel where we later strolled along the public beach. Locals were out walking, running, swimming, building sandcastles, playing and eating - it was still the weekend for them. I think the majority of the city’s young men were on the beach playing football that day as we passed so many games as we paddled in the warm sea. It was oh so scenic and so very peaceful. Gulls, Herons and wading birds were fishing at the water’s edge whilst Purple Sunbirds were chirping in the nearby flowering trees. White crabs were diving for cover as we walked along
scrunching on little pink shells. Fishermen were hauling in a large catch on to the sand helped by two vehicles pulling at the heavily laden nets. Their nets did initially look full but as it neared the beach we could see it was full of large stingrays which they proceeded to throw back into the sea and they ended up with just a few fish for themselves … …
A while later the fisherman returned to the sea in their boats helped by a vehicle pushing them into higher water and we were happy that the stingrays had returned to the sea too hoping they kept away from the fishermen's nets in future.
Summing up our visit to Muscat - well the Omanis are gracious hosts and visitors will find traditional Arabian hospitality and Islamic culture at its finest. Indeed we experienced this first hand as we were invited to sit and sip coffee and eat dates out of genuine hospitality rather than as a preamble to selling us unwanted souvenirs.
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Bronwyn and Alan
non-member comment
There you are!
Great to be reading about your travels again. We've missed it!