Muscat, Oman

We were in Muscat in 2009 so had already seen the highlight, a huge mosque with the largest single piece carpet in the world. It was made in the mosque because once it was finished, it would have been too large to move. The largest mosque is in Abu Dhabi but that carpet had to be cut into 6 pieces to move it to the place. Anyway, we decided to go out on our own. The ship's shuttle took us right to the suq which was right on the bay. We went in for a few minutes but didn't want to buy anything then have to carry it around all day. From there we headed to the fort that sits on a hill right next to the bay. We were told we could not go in but that there was a great view of the city from the base. We had to walk almost all the way around it before we found some steep stairs to climb. At the top we were greeted by a huge locked door. But the view was nice. Once down again we decided to walk thru town rather than along the bay again. We ended up in a wholesale district. There were a lot of soap stores again as well as clothing and fabric. I couldn't resist some cotton fabric at $3/meter!

We were looking for a pharmacy to buy cough drops for Mel. He has the cold I had at the beginning of the trip. We were pointed in a direction and ended up in the back of the suq! Now we were ready to shop so had fun looking at everything, going in and out of the shops. Each shop was up 3 steps from the walkway. Last time we were here it was flooded, about 4" deep. 

Done shopping, we went to find a cab. For $10 we were taken to a museum. The driver said he would come back to get us. We said an hour. The museum held a lot of the same things we saw in the suq, Arabian knives and silver jewelry. Of course the items in the museum were a lot older. Upstairs they had a huge collection of stamps from all over the world as well as a lot of coins, many of them gold. There were also a lot of hand written books, it was a nice museum. They had a nice shop too. The most popular item to buy in Oman is frankincense. I found frankincense soap and candles at the museum shop. 

Our cab was waiting for us at the appointed time. We then headed to The Al Bustan Hotel which is now a Ritz Carlton. It was originally built for an OPEC meeting. It has 5 wings, one for each member of OPEC. In the center is a beautiful dome with an enormous crystal chandelier. It is quite an opulent place. We asked where we could have lunch. They had 2 restaurants downstairs. We went into one. They only have a buffet for breakfast and dinner so we were given menus. They had about 5 items to choose from including pizza or a club sandwich. Not what we were looking for. We asked about the other restaurant. It is a seafood grill right on the beach, much better. We each ordered 2 appetizers rather then an entre. I had Tuna poke and ceviche, 2 different raw fish dishes. They were both excellent. Mel had scallops and gambas al ajio (garlic shrimp) which were also good. The bread was sundried tomato and olive, delicious. They also brought us a yogurt drink in what looked like small milk bottles. It was good as well. We were sitting on the deck, overlooking the ocean with a nice breeze blowing, it was pretty ideal. Lunch was very pricey but worth it. 

After lunch I walked down to the water. It was so warm it would have been nice to have my swim suit. There was a bit of garbage being tossed up by the waves though, so not that inviting. We headed back to the lobby. There was a huge pool with planters in it, really pretty. There were 2 other pools right outside 2 wings of the building. The ground floor rooms had decks with a gate so you could just go down a few steps and be in a pool. I had never seen anything like it. 

Our driver was once again right there when he said he would be. I asked one of the bellmen to tell him we wanted to go to Starbucks and to a grocery store to find cough drops. Our driver spoke very little English. I thought we would head back in the direction of the ship but instead went in the opposite direction! After about 15 minutes I asked how far, no reply. How many kilometers, no reply. Finally I asked how many more minutes, that he understood. He said 15. We were going a long way out of the way for a coffee mug and cough drops! The roads are very good and totally landscaped. This is in a country that is pretty much all desert. It was pretty but that must use a lot of water. We finally exited the freeway. He headed down a street and I saw a Starbucks. I don't think he was going to stop there. They did have the travel mug I wanted that says Oman, so that was a success. Next he was going to take us to a mall but Mel spotted a grocery store and asked to stop there. We did find cough drops, just not sugar free ones. So we had almost 2 successes. We headed back to the pier. Turns out there was a shortcut so it only took about 15 minutes. He dropped us at the suq where the HAL shuttle was waiting. We were back onboard at 3:30 so I went into the pool for the first time this cruise. Very nice ending to a good day.