It's 12pm when I wake up, after only three hours of sleep. I expected to hear the sweet calling of the Muezzin, but I didn't hear anything. The words "Only Saudi is the real thing" go through my head. This is what a colleague, a convert from Canada used to say. We worked together at a university in Riyadh a few years ago and he strongly believed that Saudi is the holy land and as he used to say, the real thing. His views were quite radical and he was against modernisation. The truth is, even though I don't support his views at all, when you leave Saudi after having spent there a long time and go to a neighbouring or any other country, you feel that something is not right and it takes a while to free yourself from the Saudi lifestyle and to adapt to the different environment.
This morning for example, I had some thoughts: Women drive? Women work together with men? Foreign women don't wear abayas? Local women don't cover their face? They talk to you in a natural way, are friendly and smile? Hm...
Since Facebook reminded me that exactly five years ago part of the journey was exactly the same, I draw parallels to my experience in Egypt and Saudi. The first thing I noticed this morning was that the Omanis are very friendly. Not to say that the Saudis aren't, Arabs are very friendly and kind people. I never had any problems during my stay. But I have to admit that I was in fear while I was queueing at the passport control in Riyadh that day early in the morning. That "System Down!" the officer said with a strong voice is still in my memory. The second thing was that with the women and the third thing was the driving style. No kamikaze-harakiri-style, but pretty normal like in many western countries.
I try to get rid of my former colleague's words, take a long shower, fire up the map-app on my phone to see were the old town is and how to get there and choose one of the two suggested routes, which seems to be the easier one, but goes along a main road called Route 1. That's the road I took in the morning and that connects the airport with the city.
It was around 2pm when I left the hotel and even though the thermometre said 26 degrees, I felt cold and wore my jacket. I took the pavement (really? there is one?!) just outside the hotel and walked a few yards until I saw a bus stop. I had a closer look at it and it really was a bus stop for local transport. I read somewhere that like in the rest of the Gulf, here too, local transportation doesn't exist. Well, the writer of that article was either not well informed or wrote it in a time in which local buses didn't run.
I continued my walk and saw a bus with the number 2 coming. So, it is for real. Muscat, at least in this part fascinates me, because there are pavements (don't exist in many places in the Gulf), there are many trees, most of them palm trees, flowers in whatever colour you can imagine, everything is tidy, no litter anywhere, even though there are no bins anywhere. There were hardly any pedestrians, and the ones I saw were Asians from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and some Africans. There is a cycle lane (!!!) and traffic lights for cycles and pedestrians.
After a mile or so I saw something that looks like a gate. I walked towards it and when I had to cross a street the pavement stopped and I had to walk at the side of the street. Then I saw this on my left hand side:
I then discovered these stairs, which I climbed, because I believed that they would either lead me to the opposite side of the road where I could see a pavement or to a spot after the gate where the pavement might continue.
But it leads nowhere. You can't walk over the gate and the path on that wall ends after a few yards, so I had to go down again and continued my way at the side of the road until the pavement continues.
Somewhere near the port I saw these:
I continued walking towards the Fort and passed many shops, restaurants, hotels and all sorts of businesses. There were many people either taking a stroll or sitting in one of the numerous cafes or on benches along the street. I noticed that the locals didn't pay attention at me and when I saw a group of Chinese tourists I thought that they must be used to seeing tourists from all over the world.
This building is just underneath the Fort.
The fort can be seen from afar, but you lose sight of it when you're near it. I thought that I missed it somehow, but then discovered a street that takes you there. On the way to the fort is the building in the above photo.
Just behind me is a small building with stairs that lead to public toilets in the basement and a ticket office around the corner. The sign next to the door of the ticket office states times and prices, but according to the opening times I was too late. The door was closed, but there were people inside. While I was taking these photos, I saw a person at the edge of the Fort, so I went up the stairs and visited it for free.
Entrance fee is 1 OMR (2 GBP) for adults and 500 baisa (1 GBP) for children.
I left the fort after a while and took a street that leads to the old town of Muscat. In this part the streets are narrow, there are many, many shops, many people and many mosques.
This morning for example, I had some thoughts: Women drive? Women work together with men? Foreign women don't wear abayas? Local women don't cover their face? They talk to you in a natural way, are friendly and smile? Hm...
Since Facebook reminded me that exactly five years ago part of the journey was exactly the same, I draw parallels to my experience in Egypt and Saudi. The first thing I noticed this morning was that the Omanis are very friendly. Not to say that the Saudis aren't, Arabs are very friendly and kind people. I never had any problems during my stay. But I have to admit that I was in fear while I was queueing at the passport control in Riyadh that day early in the morning. That "System Down!" the officer said with a strong voice is still in my memory. The second thing was that with the women and the third thing was the driving style. No kamikaze-harakiri-style, but pretty normal like in many western countries.
I try to get rid of my former colleague's words, take a long shower, fire up the map-app on my phone to see were the old town is and how to get there and choose one of the two suggested routes, which seems to be the easier one, but goes along a main road called Route 1. That's the road I took in the morning and that connects the airport with the city.
It was around 2pm when I left the hotel and even though the thermometre said 26 degrees, I felt cold and wore my jacket. I took the pavement (really? there is one?!) just outside the hotel and walked a few yards until I saw a bus stop. I had a closer look at it and it really was a bus stop for local transport. I read somewhere that like in the rest of the Gulf, here too, local transportation doesn't exist. Well, the writer of that article was either not well informed or wrote it in a time in which local buses didn't run.
I continued my walk and saw a bus with the number 2 coming. So, it is for real. Muscat, at least in this part fascinates me, because there are pavements (don't exist in many places in the Gulf), there are many trees, most of them palm trees, flowers in whatever colour you can imagine, everything is tidy, no litter anywhere, even though there are no bins anywhere. There were hardly any pedestrians, and the ones I saw were Asians from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and some Africans. There is a cycle lane (!!!) and traffic lights for cycles and pedestrians.
After a mile or so I saw something that looks like a gate. I walked towards it and when I had to cross a street the pavement stopped and I had to walk at the side of the street. Then I saw this on my left hand side:
The gate
Here I am on top. The door on the left is locked and I have reason to believe that there's nothing inside the entire building.
A building directly opposite. No idea what it is.
Somewhere near the port I saw these:
A photo of the Muttrah Fort from afar.
Buildings near the souq
The entrance of the souq. I didn't go inside because Muttrah Fort drew my attention. Will visit the souq soon.
This building is just underneath the Fort.
A beautiful building at the foot of the hill.
Entrance fee is 1 OMR (2 GBP) for adults and 500 baisa (1 GBP) for children.
The Corniche
Selfie time!!!!!
Square with shops
Another entrance to the souq
According to the map this is a watchtower. According to Lonely Planet you can't visit it. I tried to find a way to it, but failed. Will have another try soon.
The advice one of the numerous guides I have, gives you is lose yourself in the little streets of the old town without getting lost. Well, I lost myself in the narrow streets and lost my way when the battery of my mobile phone died. Since it is not the first time this happened, readers of my Saudi blog might remember my adventure in Qatar a few years ago, I memorised part of the way I had to go and also remembered some landmarks I had to pass. I tried not to remember street names, because many people have no clue. I remembered names of hotels, hospitals and a few mosques and Ruwi, the name of the area my hotel is in. The good thing about Muscat is, that all traffic signs are bilingual, Arabic and English. This spares you the hassle of trying to decipher the Arabic writing or sending photos of signs to an Arab speaker to guide you through the city or come and rescue you. I had the map of this part of town in my head, at least the main roads, the hills, the sea side and tried to find either the Sheraton hotel or the Badr al Samaa hospital which is very close to my hotel. Since I doubted that anyone knew the hospital, I asked twice for the Sheraton. Boy, was I relived when I saw its sign high up the street!
If you would like to read more by me, find me on Amazon by typing Theodore Goumas into the Amazon search bar. The following two books should appear in German and English.
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