Muscat, Oman

18 Nov. Friday:  A beautiful sunrise over Muscat, Oman.  What a lovely port! It is Interesting how we got the sunset last night and the sunrise this morning, we have changed positions for sure! John took this as the pilot boat came along side. At one point we stopped just outside the port.  Then there were some “honks”  (as much as small boats honk) and we saw our security guards wave and depart.  I am not sure about the box of “equipment” as I forgot to look!  Of course I never saw it to begin with! 

In this port we have shuttle buses to take us to the gate where we will begin our tour today along with Rick and Sandra from Michigan.  Our representative Issam met us promptly, in fact he was waiting for us. So off we went for our Muscat, Oman Tour:  Nizwa/Bahla/Jabrin (Jabreen) Fort (Day Trip) – “Inspiring Interior” with Mark Tours.  We left just about 8:30am and drove off in a black Toyota Camry, John in front and Rick, Sandra, and myself in the back seat.  There is nice A/C and Issam is very friendly. We traveled on lovely, immaculate freeways, past Sumail Gap (photo stop) that divides the Western and Eastern Hajars and onto the Old Capital of Oman, Nizwa, famous for its silver souq (souq=marketplace) and a big round fort. We were fortunate to get there early since the souqs are closing early today, it is both a holy day and a holiday.  There is a spice souq here as well, I loved it and could have shopped a bit more there through all the magnificent spices.  I wanted the vanilla beans but I was afraid customs would take them from me.  They sell all sorts of things here; birds, livestock, fruit, vegetables, etc.  One of many items I have not seen in the past was date honey.  After this interesting visit we moved on to the Nizwa fort.  Issam purchased our entrance ticket and gave us a partial tour.  After he explained things he then gave us time on our own to explore the fort. went to Bahla and had lunch there, which was delicious.  Issam arranged the restaurant and left us going to the mosque to pray, then he returned and ate, then we left.  The lunch was delicious.  On the menus  they have “mutton” and then lamb in parenthesis. Though mutton is a rather negative term to us it is used here.  John had mutton roast and I had mutton curry.  Rick and Sandra ordered the same thing and it was absolutely delicious.  First they brought us a “salad” plate, then along came rice a version of bread, not a tortilla or a pita, but something in between, then we got the meat dish and began to eat.  It was served family style other than the meat course which went separately to each of us.  I am not a huge rice fan but this rice was so different and tasty.  I know there was lemon zest, raisins, some sort of bacon tasting meat (I am sure it was not pork), caraway seeds, cashews, and I am not sure what else was in it but it was delicious.  The lamb curry was not too spicy, actually the lamb roast had more spicy taste than the curry.  We shared and we both liked the curry best. 

After lunch we went to drove up to the top of a nearby point to have a great overlook of the Bahla fort and the city.  This huge loam fort is under renovation at present so we could not visit it.  Bahla is also known as the pottery capital of Oman.  Because of its cultural value, Bahla is placed in the UNESCO’s list of heritage monuments. Our next visit is Jabrin Castle, which was supposed to be a photo stop only, but the gentleman there said someone important called and said a cruise ship was in town and people were coming to visit, so it was open.  Thankfully, there were only half a dozen people there during our visit!  We happen to run into Barbara and Mike, and Terry and Maureen! We had a nice visit to this magnificent fort but we didn’t we didn’t see painted ceilings, dungeons, or hidden passages, but it was still very nice.  After this we had a speedy return to Muscat.  I didn’t see the speedometer but Rick said we were going 120-130 KPH.  They thought around 90 MPH.  Who knows, anyway it was a great day, we are back safely, and it was a good price for what we did.  The one unusual sight we saw was a couple of camels riding in the back of a pickup truck.  Yep, it’s true.  Issam told us they tie their legs together so they won’t stand up.  It sounds cruel but they looked pretty happy.  My photo is not so great, Rick is supposed to send me his photo!

Departure from port was on time.  We wonder about the couple that was forced to leave the ship today and have heard different rumors…  Captain Henrik exited the port with his usual humor telling us as soon as he found reverse we would be leaving.  He also told us he was going to go close to the shore line on the starboard side so we could get a nice look at the mosque and the sultan’s palace.  Captain Henrik adds to the experience when he makes these special announcements for our benefit and does these special things he doesn’t have to do.  

We were tired but continued on to dinner at our usual time of 6:45pm for 8 of us again.  It was delicious and I over ate, first time really I have done it on this cruise.  I think it was because we had such a large lunch as well.  Nicoletta brought 2 special plates of tiny amuse bouche desserts to our table tonight for sort of messing up George and Tawny’s dinner reservations last night.  That was sweet of her.  We have completed day 16 of the cruise and used up the 10 prepaid bottles of wine we ordered.  Oh, we have 3/4 of a bottle of red in our room still, maybe we will take it to dinner tomorrow night.  We can always buy another bottle of course, it’s just that it is a much better price to buy a package. 

Tonight they are having “dancing under the stars” that begins at 10pm and then a special appetizer buffet that begins at 11:30pm.  Needless to say, we will skip that!  Thus closes day another day of this journey.