My good friend whom I mentioned in my half-marathon day post, works at the University of Nizwa, a place some 90 miles away from Muscat. The university itself is not in Nizwa, even though it is called the University of Nizwa, but it is located in a village nearby. The place is called Birkat al Mouz and you may find it written as Birkat al Maws. You may not find it mentioned in travel guides, but it is definitely worth a visit. Plan a few hours to walk around and make sure you're fit to climb.
I arrive in Birkat al Mouz in the afternoon shortly before it gets dark and have some trouble finding my friend's house. Since my Apple Maps don't work, I have to rely on Google Maps. I put in the coordinates my friend sent to me, and after a drive of an hour and a half I arrive somewhere, where the Google Maps voice says that my destination is on my right. I stop and look around, but there's no building on my right. There's a building site on my left, a building in front and another one behind. The only buildings I see on my right are in a distance of several yards.
I take some photos of the surroundings and send them to my friend so he can guide me. It takes a while to find him, because it's getting dark and because there are no roads or landmarks. It is a newly built area on a stony desert with some houses here and there. The ground is stony and there are no clear roads. Finally, he comes out of his house and waves with the lit screen of his mobile phone. Technology has saved us once more.
Short time later, we walk to a nearby Turkish restaurant and have dinner. Then my friend takes me to an epic walk around the village. The village itself is divided in three parts. The new bit, the old bit and the really old bit. The new bit is where my friend lives, and where the university is located. Once you cross the main road that links Nizwa to the motorway, you are in the old part. So this road works as a divide between new and old. If you continue walking into the village you'll see some really old buildings made of clay, and once you're deep inside the village, look up the mountain and you'll see the really old village which was abandoned long time ago. However, it's not only the part on the mountain that's really old and has houses made of clay, there's an abandoned part directly opposite, inside the village.
We walk around the village for many hours and it is quite spooky and fascinating to see all this in the darkness. We also reach a palm tree forest, but don't go deep inside. As it is one night before the full moon, everything is lit by the moonlight and looks very beautiful, mysterious. It is the perfect setting for romantics, vampires, murderers ... you get the picture. Somehow, the lines of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' come to my mind:
It's close to midnight
Something evil's lurking from the dark
Under the moonlight
You see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try to scream
But terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze
As horror looks you right between your eyes
You're paralysed....
I refrain from singing and dancing, because I am far too tired to do so and because I'm afraid that my friend would give me a funny look. The song plays on in my mind for a long time.
We continue our walk through the village and talk about many different things. My friend tells me whatever he knows about the village. The story goes: First there was a settlement on the mountain and at the foot of it, then people started building newer houses around the buildings at the foot of the mountain and abandoned the clay ones that started falling apart. When those new houses got older, the people started building even newer houses and either abandoned the old ones or rented them out to immigrants and people from other places in Oman who moved to Birkat al Mouz. But one of the clay houses on the mountain is inhabited. You can see light if you go there at night and you can see pots and pans outside the door if you go there during the day. And then, there's the story of the Falaj, the water delivery system that flows through the entire village. The water comes from the mountain and supplies the village with water and life.
The village also serves as a gate to the mountains and their wild nature. I don't have the time to go up, but my friend has been and says that it is spectacular up there. If you don't own a 4 x 4 car, you can rent one at the car hire in the new part of the village next to the Indian restaurant. Or you hire a local driver to take you up there. You don't even have to look for one or book in advance. Just stand somewhere centrally in the village and they will approach you.
When we reach the main road, the one that connects Nizwa to the motorway, we decide to go to the university. We walk for a while through the night and I feel how my legs grow heavier. After all, I ran half a marathon yesterday and then went for a long walk of 6 miles or so in the afternoon. And this morning I went sightseeing in Muscat and walked around for hours.
We reach the main gate of the university, greet the guards and enter. The university has a wall around it and the students who live on campus have to report to the guards every time they want to go out, and again when they return. Security is a big thing.
It is a massive campus with roads, walking paths, parks, restaurants, shops, various libraries, cafes, a mosque, many teaching buildings and student housing. There is a massive outdoor theatre that fits several thousand people and is used for graduation ceremonies. After walking around for a while, we go to my friend's office. It is how you imagine an assistant professor and course leader office. Full of books and student papers. It makes you feel small, insignificant. We sit on the two office chairs for a while and then continue our walk through the campus. We basically walk almost around the heart of the campus before we reach the gate we entered. We greet the security guards and leave. We pass a mosque on the way and see some students who return from an evening out.
It's close to midnight when we reach home and shortly after midnight when we go to sleep. We have walked 8 - 9 miles this evening. I fall into my bed dead tired, but very happy, relaxed, peaceful and with a big smile from ear to ear.
It is past 10 am when I wake up. My friend has long gone to work and I feel too tired to get up. I turn around and continue my sleep. I can hear the chicken of the neighbour in my sleep and Morpheus takes me away to different lands. I wake up three quarters of an hour later and feel how my feet and legs hurt. It takes a long while until I get ready and until I am fit to leave the house. I drive the short distance to the village, park my car and start exploring the area. I walk around for many hours and have a chat with various residents, who look at me as if seeing an alien. They must not be used to tourism I guess. I ask some of them to tell me the history of this place, but they don't seem to know. All of them tell me what my friend told me last night.
I am full of dust when I return to my car. I unlock the doors, sit in and wonder why it is so cool. After all, it is quite a warm day. Then I realise that I left the window on the passenger side open when I parked. Oops! I hope the car rental company don't read this blog. Time to drive home.
Here are some links to other websites about Birkat al Mouz:
zigzag on earth
Muscat Daily
derelict places
tripadvisor
gigapan
If you would like to read more by me, type Theodore Goumas into the Amazon search bar and the following two should appear:
I arrive in Birkat al Mouz in the afternoon shortly before it gets dark and have some trouble finding my friend's house. Since my Apple Maps don't work, I have to rely on Google Maps. I put in the coordinates my friend sent to me, and after a drive of an hour and a half I arrive somewhere, where the Google Maps voice says that my destination is on my right. I stop and look around, but there's no building on my right. There's a building site on my left, a building in front and another one behind. The only buildings I see on my right are in a distance of several yards.
I take some photos of the surroundings and send them to my friend so he can guide me. It takes a while to find him, because it's getting dark and because there are no roads or landmarks. It is a newly built area on a stony desert with some houses here and there. The ground is stony and there are no clear roads. Finally, he comes out of his house and waves with the lit screen of his mobile phone. Technology has saved us once more.
Short time later, we walk to a nearby Turkish restaurant and have dinner. Then my friend takes me to an epic walk around the village. The village itself is divided in three parts. The new bit, the old bit and the really old bit. The new bit is where my friend lives, and where the university is located. Once you cross the main road that links Nizwa to the motorway, you are in the old part. So this road works as a divide between new and old. If you continue walking into the village you'll see some really old buildings made of clay, and once you're deep inside the village, look up the mountain and you'll see the really old village which was abandoned long time ago. However, it's not only the part on the mountain that's really old and has houses made of clay, there's an abandoned part directly opposite, inside the village.
We walk around the village for many hours and it is quite spooky and fascinating to see all this in the darkness. We also reach a palm tree forest, but don't go deep inside. As it is one night before the full moon, everything is lit by the moonlight and looks very beautiful, mysterious. It is the perfect setting for romantics, vampires, murderers ... you get the picture. Somehow, the lines of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' come to my mind:
Something evil's lurking from the dark
Under the moonlight
You see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try to scream
But terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze
As horror looks you right between your eyes
You're paralysed....
I refrain from singing and dancing, because I am far too tired to do so and because I'm afraid that my friend would give me a funny look. The song plays on in my mind for a long time.
We continue our walk through the village and talk about many different things. My friend tells me whatever he knows about the village. The story goes: First there was a settlement on the mountain and at the foot of it, then people started building newer houses around the buildings at the foot of the mountain and abandoned the clay ones that started falling apart. When those new houses got older, the people started building even newer houses and either abandoned the old ones or rented them out to immigrants and people from other places in Oman who moved to Birkat al Mouz. But one of the clay houses on the mountain is inhabited. You can see light if you go there at night and you can see pots and pans outside the door if you go there during the day. And then, there's the story of the Falaj, the water delivery system that flows through the entire village. The water comes from the mountain and supplies the village with water and life.
The village also serves as a gate to the mountains and their wild nature. I don't have the time to go up, but my friend has been and says that it is spectacular up there. If you don't own a 4 x 4 car, you can rent one at the car hire in the new part of the village next to the Indian restaurant. Or you hire a local driver to take you up there. You don't even have to look for one or book in advance. Just stand somewhere centrally in the village and they will approach you.
When we reach the main road, the one that connects Nizwa to the motorway, we decide to go to the university. We walk for a while through the night and I feel how my legs grow heavier. After all, I ran half a marathon yesterday and then went for a long walk of 6 miles or so in the afternoon. And this morning I went sightseeing in Muscat and walked around for hours.
We reach the main gate of the university, greet the guards and enter. The university has a wall around it and the students who live on campus have to report to the guards every time they want to go out, and again when they return. Security is a big thing.
It is a massive campus with roads, walking paths, parks, restaurants, shops, various libraries, cafes, a mosque, many teaching buildings and student housing. There is a massive outdoor theatre that fits several thousand people and is used for graduation ceremonies. After walking around for a while, we go to my friend's office. It is how you imagine an assistant professor and course leader office. Full of books and student papers. It makes you feel small, insignificant. We sit on the two office chairs for a while and then continue our walk through the campus. We basically walk almost around the heart of the campus before we reach the gate we entered. We greet the security guards and leave. We pass a mosque on the way and see some students who return from an evening out.
It's close to midnight when we reach home and shortly after midnight when we go to sleep. We have walked 8 - 9 miles this evening. I fall into my bed dead tired, but very happy, relaxed, peaceful and with a big smile from ear to ear.
It is past 10 am when I wake up. My friend has long gone to work and I feel too tired to get up. I turn around and continue my sleep. I can hear the chicken of the neighbour in my sleep and Morpheus takes me away to different lands. I wake up three quarters of an hour later and feel how my feet and legs hurt. It takes a long while until I get ready and until I am fit to leave the house. I drive the short distance to the village, park my car and start exploring the area. I walk around for many hours and have a chat with various residents, who look at me as if seeing an alien. They must not be used to tourism I guess. I ask some of them to tell me the history of this place, but they don't seem to know. All of them tell me what my friend told me last night.
I am full of dust when I return to my car. I unlock the doors, sit in and wonder why it is so cool. After all, it is quite a warm day. Then I realise that I left the window on the passenger side open when I parked. Oops! I hope the car rental company don't read this blog. Time to drive home.
Here are some links to other websites about Birkat al Mouz:
zigzag on earth
Muscat Daily
derelict places
tripadvisor
gigapan
The terrace of the Turkish restaurant
Me with the almost full moon
Inside the campus, directly opposite the main gate
Mosque near the University of Nizwa
The desert behind my friend's house
Directions
Info point - every side a different language
Arabic
English
German
French
Water flows underneath the openings
Mosque
People wash themselves in these booths
By the rivers of babylon, there we sat down
Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered zion ...
Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered zion ...
Villa in the village
Old buildings along the main street through the village
Palm tree garden
School bus
Really old building made of clay
This notice is
on the door of this building
and this is what it looks inside
Ruins next to the above building
The entrance to the Garden of Eden is locked
Fairly opposite this shop there is a road forking off the main road, take it and you'll reach the ruins in the village. For the ones on the mountain you have to pass the shop and turn right if the shop is on your right hand side.
Inside the above building
Entrance to a flat in a block of flats
Part of the abandoned village on the mountain
There are some maintenance works going on in the abandoned village on the mountain
Inside the above building
The outdoor facilities of an abandoned house are being used by the workers who work next door
Palm tree forest
This is fairly opposite the shop I mention farther up. Turn in here and you'll reach the clay houses in the village
You'll see this if you walk into the street
Once past the above building, look to your left and you'll see this
This one is on the main street
You see the corner at the far end? Turn right.
On the way back to Muscat
Full moon over Ruwi in Muscat
If you would like to read more by me, type Theodore Goumas into the Amazon search bar and the following two should appear:
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