Day 15—Oman (Oh, Man!)

Flag of Oman

We rounded the Eastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, and went a little bit north to the city of Muscat, in Oman.  What struck us most about the scenery are the stark mountains that come right up to the water.  In some cases, there is no shore at all, aside from the mountain.  We headed up to the top to watch and take pictures as we docked.  Oman is led by Sultan Qaboos.  He has one heck of a boat!!

Interesting set of countries...India to Saudi Arabia, with Iran, Pakistan, Qatar, UAE and Oman.

Heading in to Muscat.

Sultan Qaboos's PRIVATE yacht!!  It's huge!!

A Dhow.  NOT the Sultan's ship.  

Part of a walk we'll do later!

A huge incense burner...which apparently they use!

One of the old forts for the city.

Our "visa".

Even the sidewalks (part of them) are granite!

We disembarked, and were given an immigration card.  They had a large stack and just passed them out to guests leaving the boat.  The cards looked very official, even having a number on them.  Except no one connected the number to us, so, we’re not sure how that is supposed to work?  Regardless, we hopped the shuttle bus to the end of the pier and started walking the shoreline.  There were lots of large and small businesses, notwithstanding the Muttra Souk (or Suq).  We’ll come back to that.  Since it is Friday, which is the holy day of the week for Muslims, most of the businesses were closed.

KFC anyone?

McD's??

The coastline is reinforced to combat erosion.

The highway to the city (from the port). 
Guess they want "pretty"?

We walked along the waterline.  I was impressed with how much granite they used!!  Not roughhewn granite either, but a block (like 3 foot high, 18 inches thick, and 6-8 feet long, polished, and used as a barricade, like the concrete ones on the freeway?  Except granite.  I kept thinking, “And they want HOW MUCH for our countertops??”  Anyway, along the route, they had little informational signs, and decorative ones, etc, plus several granite seats as well.

Just because...

On our walk...

A place to wait...

Toward the end of the road, we came to a spot where Theresa could sit in the shade and Bill could climb the hill to check out the overlook.  I counted to 62 taking two steps at a time, so about 9 stories.  We headed back and checked out the souk, which is basically a cross between a flea market and a mall, except more crowded than both.  Narrow aisles, and stores all along both sides, with their wares out practically in the walkway, and the purveyor trying to grab any passerby’s attention that he can.  We would have liked to look and see what was there, but just didn’t want to have some guy in our face pushing his products.  So, we sort of hustled along.  We did find a place with an ornament suitable for a Christmas tree, and also a collector’s spoon for Theresa.  Bill collects shot glasses, but we’re not apt to find that here.

The wall, the bench, the walk...all granite!

One bird per spot!

The stairs up...about 125 or so steps!

The panoramic view from the top.

We got out of that mess, and headed to the ship.  After a quick lunch upstairs in the buffet, we donned swim wear and went for a dip in the ship’s pool.  Unbelievable…how cold that water was…Theresa told me as I stood nearby not particularly interested in the first place.  I got in the hot tub and Theresa followed.

We came back to the room for a bit of quiet before our last trivia contest (didn’t win!).  Then, went to the Martini Bar.  Theresa ordered something she saw on a table (turned out to be a German Chocolate Martini)…Bill said, “I don’t martinis or gin.  What do you recommend?”  The server recommended a Margarita or Mojito…but apparently it was single malt scotch for Bill (Glenfiddich).  We then went to the show, and cashed in our tickets from the various trivia all cruise.  A couple of t-shirts!  Yes, all that for a T-shirt!

Why can't they be consumed on land???

We went to dinner with notions of an after dinner drink in the Sky Lounge.  NOT!!  The Sommelier (wine expert) is very funny.  After telling him what Theresa ordered, he says, “Oh!  I know just the one!  I’ll be right back!”  Then he runs and gets a bottle, and hides the name while pouring it.  Theresa liked it, but it was just funny the way he lights up when given the chance to pair a wine with a meal!!  So, after way too much food, we get to dessert.  Almost reluctantly, we got two desserts to share, and Bill wanted an after dinner drink.  I asked for “Patron XO”, and he (the Sommelier) immediately asked what my second choice was.  He then asked what Theresa was having, and said “Ah!  I have something for you!”  He comes back and puts a cordial glass in front of Bill with Patron.  It was very nice (Bill) or kind of gross (Theresa).  He said I was the first one who DID like it, which is why he asked (and brought) the second choice, Cointreau.  He brought Theresa Frangelico.  So, we ended up with the two glasses of sparkling wine, the two wine glasses (one not empty yet), two cups of decaf coffee, Frangelico, Patron, and Cointreau.  Phew!!  There were only two of us!  So, no night cap!!  We'll have to add that picture later.  Wifi is fighting us again!