Dubai Update #10 – Two days in Muscat, the capital of Oman

The drive from Sohar to Muscat is only 85Km so we were in Muscat mid morning. Muscat is the Capital of Oman with a population of around 750,000.

The GPS found our way to our Hotel for us. We checked in and immediately headed out into the streets of Muttrah, which is the “Business Area” of Muscat. We found the very extensive souq which was quite amazing, much larger than any of the souqs we had visited in the UAE. Chris was in seventh heaven as we wended our way through the souq eventually reaching the “Corniche”. The Corniche is the boulevard along the water front and the name reflects the historic involvement of the French in Oman in the 18th and 19th centuries. Since crossing the border into Oman we had noticed a prevalence of “Coffee Shops””. This term is one that is not in common use in the UAE so we were becoming curious. It seems that a “coffee shop” is our equivalent of a milk bar where you can get a small cup of Turkish Coffee, but most importantly you can get Samosa’s, Deep Fried Falafel and various other middle eastern fast food. The Coffee Shops can range from a small street stall to a more elaborate affair with seating and an extended fair of Arabic style BBQ’d meats and salads with dips and various styles of flat breads. While Chris was in one of the shops in the souq I decided to try a range of goodies from a coffee shop nearby. The tucker was fabulous with just the right amount of spice and very tasty. We decided to buy some more tasty morsels and make that our lunch for that day finishing of with a freshly made juice (Papaya) and coffee (yes we found a real coffee shop with an espresso machine). All of the shops in the souq close from 2pm each day (except Friday when they are closed all day) and then reopen at 4pm and stay open until 10pm at night. Chris felt the need to do some more shopping so we had to fill in some time till 4pm and so set off to walk along the sea front. Quite amazingly the footpath, about 6 metres wide, is fully constructed with extensively patterned terrazzo tiles stretched for many kms along the sea front (Corniche). That night we went to The Corniche Cafe, a delightful open air cafe over looking the promenade and where we indulged in some more Middle Eastern style food. Before we had set off earlier in the day, I had set the “My Tracks” app on my phone to record our track in case we needed assistance in finding our Hotel again. Hence we were able to see how far we had walked that afternoon and were surprised to find that it had been 16km. The “My Tracks” app is great for preventing getting lost in the bush as it requires no phone or Wi Fi coverage to record your track. The following day we set off set of in our hire car to discover the rest of Muscat.  If you had said to me a year or two ago that I would be driving a car around the streets of the  ancient Omani city of Muscat I would have said you are mad.  But here we were, doing it and it was great. Oman, and particularly Muscat, has not fallen for the modern tall building hype that all of the cities in the UAE suffer from (except Al Ain). So from our point of view, we found Muscat to be much more in line with our image of how a Middle Eastern city should look. All of the official building and all business houses are built with more traditional Arabic architecture with no building more than 6 or 8 stories high.

Our first destination for the day was Old Muscat, the original city, nestled around a protected harbour and surrounded by mountainous peaks that could be easily defended from invaders. This area is very well presented and a lot of work is being done on the cliff top fort of Al Mirani to preserve it. Old Muscat is still considered to actually be Muscat the city, and street signs lead you to it as if it is the centre of Muscat when in fact it is not. The Oman Ministry of Finance is based there and the Sultan has a palace there also.

From here we drove to the main tourist area of Muscat.  Oman does not have a lot of tourists but the ones that are there stand out as you would expect. They do tend to accumulate in the one area mainly due to the close proximity of a number of up market hotels.  We had lunch in a western style outdoor cafe and arrived back at our hotel mid afternoon. That night we headed down to the Souq for dinner at a traditional Omani coffee shop and had a fantastic meal of Arabian style BBQ meats, dips, salad and flat bread. No menus, you simply get fed with the Coffee shop’s fair with very little formality in the ordering process.

Next morning we were headed for Nizwa that was the capital of Oman in the 6th and 7th Centuries.

Would we go back to Muscat as a tourist? In a heart beat.  We will probably visit Amanda and her family again while she is in the UAE and Muscat will once again be on our list of places to visit.