Muscat, Oman

March 18, 2023

What a difference a day makes! The morning after we left Dubai, we docked near Muscat, Oman and were greeted with low buildings and barren mountains. The mountains were very much like those you can see in northern Arizona and Nevada. Oman is an old kingdom that, until the mid 20th century, still had territories in Africa.

Oman is one of the more conservative Muslim countries and, since we were going on a tour of the Grand Mosque, we had to be sure we were dressed appropriately. That meant, for women, clothing that covered your entire body including your ankles and wrists. A shawl covering your hair was also required to enter the mosque. Men had it a little easier. They could wear short sleeves if they wished and didn’t needed to cover their hair.

Properly outfitted, we headed out on our tour. Our guide was Fuad and he was excellent. He was quite proud of his country and all the improvements to the infrastructure that had been completed in the last several years. The roads were in excellent condition and everything was very clean.

Once again, the scenery we saw throughout the day was a mix of the exotic and the familiar:

We arrived at the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque and it was stunning.

It was dedicated in 2001 and was designed with a variety of influences. Once inside, you will see echoes of the Taj Mahal, traditional Omani decoration, and stained glass windows inspired by Christian cathedrals. Here are a few pictures of the courtyards.

Once again removing our shoes, we began touring the inner courtyard and the prayers rooms. The women’s prayer room was much smaller and less highly decorated since they are not required to pray in the mosque. The walls are intricately decorating with both design and calligraphy. The calligraphy is verses from the Koran.

Our guide, Fuad, was with us the entire time to explain what happens in the mosque and to answer any of our questions. This is him speaking in the inner courtyard, along with a few other courtyard photos:

The men’s prayer room is huge. It can hold 6500 worshippers. The entire mosque can hold 25,000 people using the women’s prayer room and interior courtyard.

I have never seen anything quite like the main prayer room. We have been to Buddhist and Hindu temples on our trip (with many churches to come, I’m sure), but the colors and open space and light made the Grand Mosque a very special place. The rug is one whole piece and is now the second largest rug in the world.

Again, Fuad was there to answer our questions.

Shoes back on, we headed back to the bus to head to our next stop. The courtyards were still lovely.

Unfortunately, we were delayed leaving the mosque due to a very long line in the women’s toilet. There was only one western toilet and it was in high demand. This delay would cut short some of our time at a later site.

Back on the road, we headed off to the shopping portion of our tour. However, this time we went to a souk (bazaar). So many shops lined the alleyways and streets of the souk. It was covered and pretty much like stepping into Aladdin’s cave! The shopkeepers were not shy about trying to get you into their stores and bargaining was expected. Cats were lounging on steps and the atmosphere was lively. As we didn’t have a lot of time, we didn’t wander very far. We did, however, make a few purchases.

Wherever we went, there were pictures of the King of Oman.

Our next stop was Bait al Zubair Museum in Old Muscat. This is where our restroom delay really affected the tour. We arrived at the same time numerous other buses did, and the museum was very crowded. Brian and I wandered off to see what we could see in the short time we had there. There were a lot of historical artifacts and information included in the museum and it would have be wonderful to have been there, with more time and less people, to really explore.

Our final stop was a photo opportunity outside the King’s palace. This palace is only used on ceremonial occasions as the King lives in the countryside. The palace is built between two old Portuguese forts. The entrance to the harbor in Old Muscat was very defendable.

Back to the ship we went with a better appreciation of Middle Eastern history and the realization the I would rather return to Oman than go to Dubai again. This is a very fascinating country with very friendly and welcoming people.

We were back onboard by mid-afternoon and were looking forward to five sea days before we reached Jordan and our long anticipated trip to Petra. Sea days are going to be few and far between from this point on until we cross the Atlantic on our way home. I’m going to have to really make time to keep up my blog!