We arrived off Muscat, Oman around 7.00 am on the 29th April – Maureen’s birthday.
I’d not seen Muscat for about fifty years, and my memory of the city was of ‘yesterday’, so when we arrived the only piece of Muscat I remembered was the cliffs, the old fort and a few houses along the shore line.
The old fort overlooking the town of Muscat.
The old town, with a piece of yesterday floating in the harbour.
Harbour side road, and the one thing that jumped out at me was the lack of rubbish.
The road leading from the harbour area, which was spotless.
The dhow in the harbour is similar to the dhows that were used fifty years to carry cargo from the ship, in which I sailed, to the shore.
The vessel behind is the Sultan’s yacht – thanks to oil.
Find the rubbish . . .
Even under the freeways the pace was litter free – very impressive.
Opera House
Center of a roundabout – water flowed past the bows of the dhow.
Part of the parliament area. . . . more like advisers to the Sultan, than a parliament as we know in the UK, Australia etc. I had a feeling of a benevolent dictator.
Location, location – the Sultan’s home.
A weekender. . . .
Muscat Souq.
We were told that if you are asked to buy anything and you refused the approach they would not keep pestering you.
They were correct – each time we refused to buy, the seller backed off, unlike the sellers in Bombay and Cochin.
As a rough guide AUD $4 = one rial, many items were not as cheap as they first appeared, but we did buy a few items.
We did buy a stuffed camel for our grandson – it was made in China of course!
We sailed for Dubai in the evening.
silverfox175 