Day 81 Muscat, Oman

Today turned out to be a fabulous day… I went out to explore Oman from Muscat to Nizwa early this morning with Ed, Becky & Frank. Our guide was Mazin Mohammed Al Ruseid who is pictured in the last photo on the continuation page and also in the foot race he had with Ed going up a hill by the Jabrin Palace (Mazim won, twice). Anyway, our first stop was at the Mutra Fish Market where I was in heaven… The photo opportunities were fantastic… The people had a lot of character and the fish were pretty amazing as well. WE then headed out to the Sultan Qabous Grand Mosque which was truly amazing. The carpet in the men’s section took 600 Iranian women 4 years to make, beautiful…. Then it was off to Nizwa…. The journey was long but the desert and mountain scenes kept it interesting. Along the way we stopped for some great photos at a Wadi (dry river bed). In Nizwa we first stopped at the Silver Souk and then went into the fort which was fabulous. The views from the to were great… Then it was off to the Arab World Resturant for a traditional Oman lunch, for me it was chicken & rice…. We then headed off to see the Jabrin Castle where we first ran into some camels eating dates off the trees… Interesting creatures! The castle was fantastic, we enjoyed exploring the many levels and rooms. The view from the top was very nice. Then I asked if we go off to a hill I saw a short distance from the castle for a photo opportunity to take in the whole castle in one shot. We went there and the photo was great but the highlight was definitely not the castle it was the race. I don’t know if I had previously mentioned it but Ed raced Mazim up the steep and very rocky slope… Mazim won twice but may have had the advantage because he ran barefoot on the razor sharp rocks while Ed was bogged down with top of the line foot protection…. It was a true highlight!!! Then it was off to our last stop, the Bahla Fort, a Unesco World Heritage Site. Our driver took us to the top of a mountain so we got the best views of the fort. Then it was off to Muscat and back to the ship completing an amazing adventure in Oman. We all loved it and had a great time…. I took so many photos that I included two blog entries so I could post twice as many photos…