Muscat Orientation

In no particular order we have to include the following.. A walk through the old walled city, with a photostop at the Royal Palace (which is actually so hideous that it's attractive). There two, beautifully renovated forts in Muscat - one you can photograph and one you cant because it's a military installation. The fishmarket, the port at Muttrah, which is been a busy port since they first discovered spices and was on the spice route (hence the fact that in a lot of European Cities, Nutmeg is called the Muscat Nut).

The Sultan Qaboos Mosque, which will hold up to 20,000 people is now open to the public between 8 and 11 every morning except Friday. We make a big deal of this firstly because it is only recently that non-muslims have been allowed into a mosque in either Oman or the UAE, but also because this is a truely beautiful building. Housing a chandelier that is mentioned in the Guiness Book of Records, and also the whole of the inside is carpetted with one carpet that was made specifically for this building. The visitors are allowed to take pictures, they are asked to be conservatively dressed, and the ladies are given headscarves in accordance with the Muslim tradition. It is quite simply breathtakingly, aweinspiringly, beautiful.

This will all goes to make up a good, interesting morning, culminating in a walk through the Muscat souks, which, unlike their UAE counterparts, real working souks where the locals go to shop. You can find anything from a knick-knack momento to a bale of tobacco to silver jewellery and a bar of chocolate!

A great end to this would be a lunch in a private museum which is owned by somebody who has lived in Oman for many many years and has made a collection over the years of memorabelia which he has now opened up to the public. He is also very happy to rent out the building for priavate lunches or dinners, which are catered by the Al Bustan. We cannot serve alcohol, however for one lunch, and in such special surroundings, we have never found this to be a problem.

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