Muscat, Oman
Today was a great day exploring the town of Muscat. Ibrahim took us everywhere and was a great guide, he taught us so much. We started the day at the breathtaking Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. It is the third largest mosque in the world and has the worlds largest handmade Persian carpet. Before I could go in, I had to be covered from head to toe, even my ankles and wrists. I wore a long sleeve dress that went to the ground and covered everything so I really only had to wear a head scarf. Upon entrance to the mosque there was very brusque man with a turban checking everyone to make sure they were appropriately dressed, he was very scary! The size of the mosque is amazing, it can hold 20,000 worshippers. Everything is white and gray marble and is very cool in the sun, felt good on our feet. The gardens surrounding it are spectacular with bright tropical flowers and there are pretty splashing fountains. There is an exquisite Persian carpet inside the main hall that took 27 months to hand weave right in place so that it is all one piece and absolutely gorgeous. There are huge Swarovski crystal chandeliers from Austria all over. Then we went to the Sultans Al Alam Royal Palace for a look. It is the office of the Sultan Qaboos, ruler of Oman. It looks like a crazy 70’s style building and it is guarded on either side by two 16rh century Portuguese built fortresses. It was heavily guarded today because the Sultan was there so we couldn’t see much. The Muttrah Souk was our next stop, I was very excited for shopping! It is known as one of the best souks in Gulf region. This is an old Arab market with a maze of narrow alleys that smell of incense. It’s full of traditional Omani handicrafts and food, spices, silver daggers, pashmina shawls, jewelry, incense burners and many artifacts. Even though Omanis are traders by nature, they are gentle and dignified people and didn’t hassle us. I picked up a bunch of nice things and Ibrahim did all the haggling for me and told me what not to buy and what was good to buy. We also visited the Royal Opera House, that was beautiful! And finally stopped at the fish souk. The boys loved looking at and touching all the fish.
