Each Gulf State has its own character, history, and customs, but Oman is the oldest - the Sultanate's earliest known settlement dates back 5,000 years. The region became important when Frankincense, derived from the native Boswellia tree, emerged as a popular religious instrument. The resin was believed to have curative power, and, as valuable as gold during Christ's era, it was exported as far away as Rome. Oman remained independent until 16th-century Portuguese traders established a fort at Hormuz. They ruled for 100 years, but after moving to Muscat, they were driven out in 1650.
Oman was one of the countries on our itinerary that I'd never heard of. Since it's 5000 years old, guess I missed something! We arrived in port at 8 a.m. Mel and I were ready to leave the ship at about 9. It was raining (what else is new, we seem to get rain at every port!), so we had our umbrellas with us. The port supplied shuttle buses to the gate or to an Intercontinental Hotel. We went to the gate of the port and grabbed a cab to a large mosque. We were actually in a van for 12, just the 2 of us!
We arrived in about 20 minutes. The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque was built over a period of 6 years from 1995 to 2001. The main musalla (room?) can hold over 6,500 worshippers. The main chandelier is made of pure Swarovski crystal and is GORGOUS! The carpet took 600 women 4 years to complete and is made of pure silk. It is the largest single piece carpet in the world, measuring over 230 x 195 and it too is gorgeous. We had been told that women must be covered up to their ankles and wrists, as well as their heads (one thing about the country that I did NOT like), so I arrived in capris, but with socks to cover my ankles. The guy at the gate kind of looked at my socks weird (I was wearing sandals), but allowed me in. At the door to the musalla, I removed my shoes (everyone is required to do so) and put on my socks. I'd brought a pashmina to cover my head. Mel had on a short sleeved shirt and was told he could wear anything. Backwards country! But I guess it was worth the effort to see the inside of the place. They had placed a blue carpet all around the room and one down the center for people to walk on. The large chandelier was unbelievable. It was probably twice as tall if not taller than I am. The carpet was beautiful also. But the walls were wonderful too! They were covered entirely with colorful tiles. The domes weren't just round, they had geometric shapes to them. It was a really beautiful place. Of course women are not allowed to worship in that musalla, they have their own which holds 750. It was nice also, but nothing like the larger one. Good that we decided to go look at the mosque first as it closed at 11 a.m. Some passengers from our ship were not that smart (or lucky!), so arrived only to be told that it was closed. We took a TON of pictures. Beautiful place.
After the mosque, we asked our driver to drop us at the souq, the market place. The entrance was right across from the bay. It had been raining so everything was wet. Again, we timed our visit well. Some passengers said they'd been inside when it was raining when all of a sudden the place was rushing with water. The shop keepers told them to get out quickly. It flooded up to about 8" at one point. The floor was all slate, laid in geometric patterns. Each shop was up 2 high steps, and rather small. They were selling a lot of silver, linen, perfumes, spices and incense. Several were full of antique pieces, mostly bronze or silver. Interesting to browse around. We were told that they would close at noon, but most stayed open until almost 1. Again, good timing on our part. They didn't open again until 4, we sailed at 5!
We walked around the wall by the bay, back to the port entrance and took the shuttle to the ship. We had lunch then decided rather than hang out on the ship, we may as well take the other shuttle to the hotel. We hit traffic so that took about 30 minutes. We were actually dropped at a small shopping center. We walked thru it, across the large parking lot to the hotel. Visited a couple of expensive shops, then returned to the ship. Our visit to Oman was very nice. It was clean and all the people were very friendly. One of the nicer ports we have visited. I would definitely return to see more of the country. Nice place.
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