Day 82 - Muscat, Oman (Day 2 of 2)

 

 

Date:  March 31

 

Location:  Day 82 – Muscat, Oman (Day 2 of 2)

 

Next Port:  Salalah, Oman, April 2

 

Quick Summary:  We took an excellent bus tour around Muscat in the morning, hired a cab to take us to a beach resort for lunch and enjoyed another leisurely walk along the harbor corniche in the afternoon. The day was topped off with a pool party with a variety of special food, music and a belly dancer.

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Report:  It is hard to believe that today is already the 82nd day of our   111-day cruise. It’s also the end of the fourth of six segments. The next segment is from Muscat to Monte Carlo and the last will be from Monte Carol home to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Larry believes about 120 people are departing here and around 140 new passengers are getting on. He’ll check it out during tomorrow’s sea day when the bridge is open.

 

Our 4-hour “Mystical Muscat” shore excursion was excellent. The 20-min., drive to our first stop – the Grand Mosque – took us from the port area through the new commercial, governmental and residential areas of Ruwi. It was marked by beautiful landscaped roads, several beautiful mosques, new construction and fine homes. We passed along Ministerial Row and saw large modern government buildings. We also went by Automobile Row, where most of the car dealerships have been located. Toyota, which has a very large presence on the roads here, is doubling their already huge four-story showroom and administrative area.

 

We went through the residential district of Shati Al Qurum with many fine large walled homes before pulling up to the Grand Mosque, one of the 10 largest in the world. Built entirely with Sultan Qaboos’ funds, it has been open about five years.

 

From a distance the huge complex is dominated by a large blue and gold dome and five minarets. The latter are quite different from any we’ve seen…in that they are plain stone, with no decorative gilding or coloring. They represent the five pillars of the Islamic religion: One god (Allah), praying, charity, fasting and pilgrimage (the Haj).

 

It’s also unusual that non-believers are allowed to visit and take photos inside the worship areas. Naturally, we needed to dress conservatively and remove our footwear while inside. The women in our group had to cover their hair, shoulders, arms to the wrists and legs to their ankles.  They did have garments to purchase if anyone needed to.

 

We fist entered the prayer area for the women…it was quite decorative and large enough to accommodate 700 prayers.

 

It was a draw-dropping experience to enter the main prayer area for men which is under the main dome. The area contains the largest single piece of hand woven carpet in the world and is made of silk. But one’s immediate attention is given to the 14-meter tall crystal chandelier hanging under the dome. Made of Austrian crystal and German metal covered by gold leaf, it is surrounded by 28 similar but smaller chandeliers. The space is large enough for 7,000 worshippers.

 

The walls are covered with mosaics and stained glass windows. The entire atmosphere is very serene and pleasant…not gaudy at all. We are not sure that our photos do it justice. We had a similar experience as we did at the Taj Mahal…which we believe this mosque truly rivals.

 

It was somewhat awesome that we were visiting on a holiday – the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. Saardi, our guide, said there would be no special family celebrations on this day…just some special things said at prayers in the evening. (This is much different from our Christmas celebrations of the birth of Christ!)

 

After driving back to the port area, our tour group was given 35 minutes in the Mutrah Souq. Since we had visited this yesterday, we enjoyed a diet drink with friends outside on the plaza.

 

Next we visited Bait Al Zubair, a small, new private museum. It included exhibits of the traditional male and female dress from Oman’s nine regions, as well as weapons and jewelry. We also visited a traditional reed house model where we were invited to sit on straw mats and cushions. Saardi explained some Omani customs and passed around a sample of a sweet treat. (As we have found with most museums on this voyage, cameras were not allowed inside.)

 

We then used the old road over the hillside to drop down into the Old City of Muscat. We had a photo-stop at one of the three palaces used by Sultan Qaboos. Al Alam Palace, located on the sea, is used primarily to host visiting dignitaries. It’s protected by two medieval, 16th century Portuguese fortresses perched on the rock outcroppings.

The tour returned us to the ship along the coast highway. We then decided to hire a taxi for a 20-minute ride down the coast to the Shangri-La’s new Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa. It was a great decision.

 

Enroute we saw some spectacular scenery – barren rocky coastlines, saw tooth mountain tops and sheer cliffs all balanced against a bright blue sea and crashing waves.

 

The three new hotels that make up the seaside resort are magnificent. We enjoyed a nice buffet out on a patio. Afterwards we walked through the pool area to the beach. Next two it is a man-made 500 meter long gently flowing “lazy river” for tubing. It was a delightful spot.

 

Out taxi driver had waited for us and drove us back towards town. We got out near the Incense Burner – a while iconic structure that sits atop a small peak along the coast highway – and again walked along the promenade back to the ship.

 

Capt. Dag delayed the Voyager’s departure from 6:00 to 9:00 so that we could all enjoy another pool bar-b-que under the stars and full moon. There was music and dancing and a tremendous spread of seafood, meats and other delicacies. The daughter of Frankie, the Hungarian guitarist we enjoy so much in the Observation Lounge, has joined this segment. She is a belly dancer and goes by the stage name of Aisha. She delighted everyone with some very spirited dance numbers. She will also be performing nightly in Latitudes which begins an Arabian themed menu tomorrow night. We have opening night reservations.

 

At 9:00 p.m., we pulled away from the dock with a gentle following wind to a fairy-tale setting of the lighted harbor, palaces, Incense Burner monument and fortresses – capping a terrific visit to beautiful Muscat.

 

 

Larry and Karen

 

Photos of our cruise are available at the following web site:

 

picasaweb.google.com/larryworldcruise

 

Photos of Day 2 in Oman have been added.