Touring Muscat, Oman

On the last day, we spent the morning touring Muscat. We had a great Omani guide named Hamad. We went to the fish and vegetable market, the Grand Mosque, Muttrah Souq (the market), Baital Zubair Museum (folk and history), and visited the outside of one of the palaces and two forts (Al Jalali Fort and Merani Fort.) I loved Oman. I thought it was great. It has mountains (not Rockies—but good enough) and seems less ostentatious than Doha. In Doha, it feels like image and “keeping up with the Joneses” is SO important. Oman felt more down to earth and genuine. (The photo is of Jon at the souq. This is one of the ways to wear the head scarf in Oman.)

A few things I learned about Oman:

*Population: 2.3 Million (700,000 of those are ex-patriots)
*Before 1970: there was 1 school, 1 hospital, and 1 main road. Many of the men went to other countries for work.
*Community Pride: In 2000, Muscat was voted the cleanest city in the world (it still looked great even though they were still recovering from the cyclone.)
*The Grand Mosque: the main room holds 7,000 men and has a carpet that took 600 Iranian women and 4 years to make. It weighs 21 tons and has 28 natural dye colors. It also has an institute for Islamic studies, a conference room and a library.
*Muscat: literally means “canyon” or “place of origin” in Arabic.

Fish and Vegetable market:

The Grand Mosque

Yeah! Mountains and spontaneous plant life! We love Oman!!!

The Muttrah Souq

Us in front of the Palace with our guide, Hamad. The hat he is wearing is called a Kumah.