Muscat, Oman 21 Sept - 25 Sept 2009

We recently had a long weekend over here for Eid Al Fitr, these weekends are the perfect excuse for a mini vacay that's close enough to here, but far enough away to be a getaway. We decided a few months ago we wanted to go to Oman, neither of us had ever been there and we have heard great things about it. So tickets were bought, hotel booked, Ramadan came and went and our weekend was here!

We flew on Oman Air and stayed at the Crowne Plaza.

Day 1:

We arrived in Muscat late afternoon and some of the first things we noticed were how different Oman is from the rest of the Gulf. The people are super friendly, everything was very clean, driving was normal (our driver actually SLOWED down for Chris to take a  picture of the Grand Mosque...these things just wouldn't happen anywhere) and...there are mountains! Not just a regular, flat desert. Also, there are no high rise buildings, it's all very old school Middle East and it was a breath of fresh air. Once at the hotel, we were upgraded from a city view room to a sea view room, so that was great, and our view was amazing!

That afternoon we relaxed by the pool and enjoyed the seafood buffet - hi grilled lobster and bottomless wine, yes please.

Day 2:

After starting our day with the best breakfast buffet ever, we decided to rent a car. In the end, it was much cheaper to do this than take taxis everywhere, so we got our cute Nissan Sunny and headed out with our maps.

We started off by going to the Muttrah Souk, it was a neat place to shop for cultural souvenirs and gifts, not to mention nice to get out of the hot sun.

After wandering around there for awhile, we kept walking down the Corniche (road by the sea) and climbed up the steps to the Muttrah Fort - except you can't go inside, so that was awesome.

After walking even farther, we decided to turn around, because it was so hot!

After getting back to the car, we drove to our next stop, a watchtower that looks like an incense burner, but couldn't find the entrance to walk up to it,

so we kept driving, stopped to take some pictures of the Old Muscat Gate, it's signifies where Old Muscat used to be (still is, but it's what remains).

We found a (very steep) mountain slope to drive up for a scenic view, it scared the crap out of me, but it was so worth it.

The best idea we had for the whole trip was to rent a car, we were able to drive everywhere and explore. We found a small village with a bunch of goats wandering around (dinner?), a small beach and walked around the Al Bustan Palace Intercontinental Hotel - amazing.

Day 3:
We went to the Grand Qaboos Mosque to start our day. I had to cover not only my hair (which I knew I would have to), but my wrists and button my shirt to the top.

I was so freaking hot. Chris got to wear shorts, even though the "rules" said he wouldn't be able to. Figures - that's what you get for being in the Middle East. The mosque was absolutely breath-taking, the details were so intricate. The pictures just don't do it justice. It apparently has one of the world's largest carpets in the main room.

We went to Bait Al-Zubair, which is a museum with a lot of Omani culture, it showed things like khanjars (daggers), clothing, etc. It was interesting and nice to be in the AC. We also went by the palace, you can't go inside, just take pictures from the outside. The colors are a bit cheesy, apparently the Sultan doesn't actually live there (doesn't like the colors either?).

After deciding we were over the heat, we made an executive decision to go on a driving tour, we turned down seeing 2 forts since we had already seen one and wouldn't be able to go inside anyway. We drove through mountains and by the beach by a town called Yiti. We drove through Wadi Mayr, it was a bit of a rocky drive but beautiful to go through all of the mountains. It was really hard to believe we were in the Middle East at times.

Day 4:
Wwoke up late and headed out for our scenic drive. The mountains were beautiful and we ended up driving to a small town called Quariyat. We were able to go inside a fort, which was cool. Drove around the town (which took about 5 minutes), saw a lot of goats, walked near the beach and then headed back. It was a good last full day here.

Oman is really amazing, the beauty there is out of this world. The mountains make it unlike any other Gulf country and the water is fantastically blue and the views! Fabulous! It was an incredibly relaxing vacation.

We're already talking about heading back sometime soon!
xoxo