Oman Tour! (Map)

So I have been a blogging fiend the last week posting pictures from the many tourist sites we saw
on our trip through Muscat and Nizwa.

I wish we could make an interactive map where you can click on the city and it would link you to the post with the pictures, but alas, you'll have to look at the city name and click on the corresponding post of the same name on the right side.

We started in Muscat and visited the Mutrah Souq and the Muscat Festival (Mahrajan Muscat). Then we spent a morning outside Muscat at the Quriyat Dam. Then we saw the Sultan Qaboos Grand mosque and after that we went to Nizwa to see the Nizwa Fort. The next morning we saw Misfat Alabrene and the Tanuf Ruins. Finally on our way home we stopped at the Jabrene Castle and the Bahla Fort.

 

 

And just because we hadn't done enough traveling, after being home for 4 nights we went up to Ras Al Kheima in the UAE to run in a relay team in the RAK 1/2 Marathon. Hopefully I'll have a post and pictures up on that soon.

Muttrah and Souq in Muscat

For our stay in Muscat we found a nice hotel in Mutrah. It was a good location since it was a short walk to the famous Mutrah Souq (where we got some cool stuff on a great deals!) and we had a lot of local restaurants and grocery stores nearby. We could eat quickly and cheaply and not spend all of our time (or souvenir money!) on eating.

 

We also thought it was a neat location since it wasn't "touristy." We felt like we were in the heart of a real neighborhood and seeing real life. Here is the view from our window.

 

 

Just a few minutes from where we stayed, this is the entrance to the Mutrah Souq.

 

 View of the port from the Souq entrance. On the right you can see a turret built by the Portuguese when they invaded the area in the 1500s.

Beautiful mosque near the souq. I learned that the turquoise colors are indicative of Persian influence. This is my favorite color, and it was all over the place in Muscat!  Muscat was also under Persian rule for a time.

 Beautiful Turkish lamps on sale in the Souq. I guess as a crossroads of main trade routes, all sorts of things would have been bought and sold in this souq. Today the items range from Indian to Turkish and of course they have t-shirts too.

 

 My handsome man trying on an Omani massur.

 



This was my special souvenir from the souq. It is a small-size replica of a traditional Omani door with decorative tiles. The guy made a mistake on his first price (and since we had been asking at other shops we knew he was offering us a first price 50% lower than the other guys). So we got this for steal!

Beautiful view of the corniche area near the Souq.

 

 

Nizwa Fort

The Nizwa Fort was my favorite fort of the three we saw. It has been restored, but still has a very authentic feel. It is also right next to the Nizwa Souq (open air market).

 These are some of the furnishings they have added to give an example of what kinds of tools would have been in use.

This is the top dome and minaret of the mosque next to the fort and the souq.

Looking down on an older section of the building. I guess some of it was left without restoration to be more authentic.

These are the rafters in one of the rooms.  

The century spots at the top of the main defense tower.  

A portion of unrestored buildings. So cool!



Bahla Fort

This was actually our last stop before heading home, so in addition to fort pictures, this post has some shots from the drive home as an added bonus!

 

Apparently this is the oldest fort in Oman, dating back to pre-Islamic times (That's about 600 A.D. or earlier). Even though we had seen several forts, this one was still different and we were glad we took the time to see it too. Primarily, the grounds were just massive in comparison with anything else we had seen. It seems there are three main houses within the fort's walls. It was more like a small protected city.

 



On the left hand side you can see the Bahla Wall running up the spine of the mountain. It turns and runs horizontally across our picture here, but it is harder to see. Apparently the wall runs about 7 miles and is also quite famous.

 

The ceilings were very cool and authentic I thought. The main beam running horizontally in this picture is the trunk of a palm tree.

 The front door has Arabic calligraphy carved into it.

 

 

And now the following shots are all from our drive home.