A city of traditional architecture and friendly people, Muscat Oman was one of many highlights of our travels around the world. It’s a city to explore. Here is a bit of what we discovered when we stepped off Muscat’s beaten path:
This is a traditional fish market. Fish is one of four trades that dominate the Omani economy.
Al Jalali Fort and Al Mirani seen from across the water.
Men gathering was a common sight on the corniche.
Across the Corniche was this fast food shop.
Two men in traditional dress.
Qasr Al Alam Royal Palace is home to Sultan Qaboos Bin Said. He is the longest-serving ruler in the Middle East and is considered to be the person behind the modernization of Oman.
Manufacturing and selling clothing, this shop is one of many inside Mutrah Souq, a large market/shopping area in the heart of Muscat.
Walking the back roads gave us more of an insight into life.
A mosque.
A crystal clear bay along Muscat’s coastline.
We watched dune bashing on a hill just outside of town.
Another structure on the backroads.
The modern opera house in Muscat Oman is one of my two personal favourites that we have seen to date. The other is the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
This hand-built wooden ship is one of many interesting boats in the bay.
A typical road in Muscat. While still inside the city limits, we are heading north.
Now you know how to say stop in Arabic.
More Information:
- Humans are believed to have lived in Oman for at least 106,000 years, making it one of the oldest human-inhabited places on earth. Also, Oman is the oldest independent state in the Arab world.
- Oman is located in the southeastern quarter of the Arabian Peninsula on the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea (with a small portion on the Persian Gulf). It borders UAE and Saudi Arabia to the west and Yemen to the south-west.
- Oman has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the world.
- Muscat is Oman’s largest city and the country’s capital.
- We did have a bit of drama entering the country and encountered some rare desert flooding, but beyond that, Oman was a comfortable place to be.
- In addition to Muscat, we travelled to the south, to a fort and castle in Nizwa, and to the Oman’s Grand Canyon.
- We visited Oman in 2012. This is another article in our throwback series inspired by rediscovering photos after moving 40k images to Lightroom.
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I have been hearing more of Oman lately. It is beautiful! I like how diverse its landscape is and all that great architecture! Beautiful photos and truly inspiring.
Oman was our first middle eastern country, and we loved it.
Fascinating. How exactly do you say stop in Arabic, btw? 🙂
I love the fort! Did you get to go inside?
LOL – you mean you can’t read the Arabic? We did walk closer to the fort, but it wasn’t open to tourists. According to Wkipedia, “Fort al-Jalali was restored in 1983 and converted into a private museum of Omani cultural history that is accessible only to dignitaries visiting the country.”
Oman definitely looks interesting! I wouldn’t mind visiting one day! #wkendtravelsinpiration
It is interesting and different around every corner.
What a colourful and remarkable country. The truly great and beautiful journey. Stunning photos, too
It’s one of my favourite places. Somewhere I hope to return someday.
Hi Rhonda – amazingly beautiful – the only one I didn’t like was the dune bashing … but that’s me! Gorgeous … and interesting they’ve got more going on than their oil rich neighbours … the stop sign – looks like a good sleeping time! Cheers Hilary
The dune bashing was interesting to watch. The dunes were so tall and steep. I wouldn’t have liked doing it, but watching was quite interesting.
I am really enjoying your throwback posts. The only place I have been in the Middle East is Egypt Egypt was fantastic, but I would love to see some of the other middle eastern countries.
LOL- I am enjoying writing it quite a bit. For me, it really is a throwback, an opportunity to relive all these wonderful adventures. I would like to see more the middle east as well. There is so much history there.
Favourite photo – 2 men in traditional dress. What a great capture
Thanks Paula.
My parents have been to Oman and loved it, they said how friendly the people are. Did you buy any souvenirs?
I travel super light, so I generally don’t buy souvenirs. I do take lots of photos. However, in Oman, I did buy a tiny genie lamp. I just couldn’t resist.
Reminds me of watching dune buggies run across the sands outside of Florence, Oregon.
That fort almost looks like a sand castle.
Traveling through Oregon last year was pretty incredible. It’s got a little bit of everywhere, a bit like New Zealand.
Wow what a beautiful part of the world, love the all the different contrasts… old/new, polished/rugged. Lovely photos!
That is one of the things that really struck me in Oman. Ancient and modern all together.
Fantastic photos! How did you get that wonderful view above the bay?!
Thanks Rebecca. Much of the road heading North from the city centre weaves uphill. For the shot in question, I was standing at the clifftop.
Weird looking coastline. Not very inviting. I had no idea.
Have a fabulous day. ☺
Remember, this is the largest city. Although the clifftop shot, where the catamaran was anchored, would be well protected but probably with no place to come ashore.
Quite the variety in just one area.
I think there usually is in a city, once you venture off the beaten path.
I feel like the list of places you haven’t been is shorter than where you have been! As always, your photos are gorgeous and really capture Oman.
LOL We have only been to 54 countries, that leaves 142 left to explore 🙂
Bahahaha “only”.
😉
I loved seeing your photos of life in Muscat, Oman, Rhonda. I was surprised to see English seems to be their second language. The fish market looked so interesting. What wonderful adventures you have been on. I love to travel to see life around the world and to realize we are all the same and want the same things from life, plus to see beautiful scenery!
Me too Pat. It is the people that often interest me the most when we are somewhere new.
I love the pictures Rhonda! It seems like the market would smell a bit like fish 🙁
LOL – yes, even being outdoors there was a strong odor of fish in the air.
Beautiful pictures, it looks like such a nice place to visit. Can’t wait to get there one day. Thanks for sharing.
I hope you get there, it is so fascinating.
Like always, your pictures perfectly catch the atmosphere of the places you photograph. Very interesting place!
Thanks Anda.
Excellent that Oman has such a low crime rate; have always read about the long long roads there
Yes, we took a long, long road when we travelled south out of the city. Muscat wasn’t too bad.
The opera house is just lovely! I’ve never been to Oman, so I really appreciate seeing your pics. Have a great weekend!
The opera house was pretty new when we were there, and they were quite proud of it.
It is good to learn more about this country that seems to be exotic (at least to me). It is very beautiful. I hope I can visit one day (I am into places like this). #wkendtravelinspiration
Oman is quite different from my home country too. I hope you can visit here too, it’s really special.
I love the photos, caught up in the right moment. Oman is really an interesting destination for me, which I would love to visit someday. Oh, and that crystal clear bay is amazing.
I could have stood there all day and enjoyed that bay.
What a fascinating and interesting country. Looks like such a diverse range of things to see and do striking scenery, interesting architecture, and action adventures.
We only spent about a week there. I wish we stayed longer.
I am enjoying your posts on Oman – I have never been although some of the photos remind me of Egypt. Sounds like a very interesting place!
I haven’t been to Egypt. I imagine Oman to be less crowded and generally cleaner, but I don’t really know.
Looks like a lot of fun, in such an iconic place! Can’t wait to see the Golden Gate in person one day!
It is one of my favourite places. I hope you get a chance to enjoy it too.
Not sure what’s going on with my comments as that other comment was meant to be for a completely different blog…
Anyway, you keep stoking my desire to visit Oman, especially with photos like these. Think I’ll have to make it a priority for this year because it just looks and sounds fascinating.
LOL – I answered it from a long list of all comments, and didn’t even notice it wasn’t on a SF post.
Some great pics of the waterfront, souks and coastline of Oman. It looks a fascinating place, a real taste of Arabia.
It is, and it was a wonderful place to visit.
I love photo assays! (pictures speak 1000 words and such). I was surprised to see a paved road at the end because of all the sand and stone towns.
That is my goal, to tell my story with photos.
Oman looks like such an interesting place, and you increased my desire to go there with your gorgeous photos. I’d love mooching around in the Fish Market. The Royal Palace also looks interesting.
The Royal Palace was interesting. It’s not my favourite architecture in the city, but I love the bright colors.
Great photos! The coast of Muscat looks like a beautiful place to spend some time in! What exactly is desert flooding?
I would love to spend some more time there too. As for the flooding, we were outside the city during a rare storm. The wadis filled, the desert flooded, and sadly six people died that day.
I have to admit, Oman has never really been on my list, nor do I know anything about the country but your post made me really curious! It seems like such an interesting place!
Off the beaten path was part of its attraction.
You have captured the real beauty of a Muslim country in your photos….Keep it up….these are views you don’t get to see anywhere else.
Thanks Gokul.
Hi Rhnda. I think I’m back but we’ll see. Interesting photos. My old blog came back to life. cruisinpaul.blogspot.com and the cruisinpiet.blogspot.com doesn’t. Weird isn’t amazing? Oh well. See ya.
Cruisin Paul
Welcome back Paul.
Incredible photos Rhonda! I would love to get to Oman, between the landscapes, the people, the history and the architecture, it seems like a really unique and authentic travel experience. One of our greatest joys while traveling is people watching and taking shots of fascinating people, I think we would love it here!
It really is. Unique and authentic are perfect words to describe Oman.
Lately, I have been seeing travel articles on Oman. I didn’t know that they have beautiful coastlines! Had always thought their landscape was just desert. Your photos are amazing – I’m definitely adding Oman to my bucket list. Thanks for sharing, Rhonda, cheers! #TheWeeklyPostcard
I didn’t really know what to expect from Oman, but it sure exceeded any expectations I had.
I so love your pictures and the sense they provoke of what it’s like to experience Oman. Such a rich and varied place! I long to see it for myself.
I hope you get there. It was such a good experience, and a raw beauty that is difficult to explain.
Gorgeous photos! I love getting a peek into Muscat–it looks like a fantastic spot to explore. That bay looks absolutely amazing, too! Interesting facts at the end as well. I didn’t realize Oman was one of the oldest human-inhabited places on earth!
While I was surprised when I learned about its age, thinking about it a bit more and it makes sense that the middle east would be where humans began.
The Middle East, and particularly Oman, are high on our list of ‘want-to-experience’ destinations. I always hear (or read) that people in Oman are among the friendliest Arabs you can come across. We will probably ship back to Europe later this year, change base vehicles and go east towards Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, and (maybe) Oman – if the shipping isn’t too expensive…
BTW: that road sign still doesn’t tell me how to ‘say’ Stop! Only how to write it in Arabic. LOL #WeekendWanderlust
LOL – the road sign comment was meant to make you smile. As for your plans, they are exciting. I would love to go back to the region and visit Qatar, Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Romania and Bulgaria.
I was recently in UAE, ,however Oman looks quite different . Dune bashing of course is always a must in the Saharas. I never tire of it.
We visited UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi) directly after Oman, and yes they were quite different. Oman has an old world charm, where UAE had a new money elegance
Great shots Rhonda! Dune bashing sure looks like a ton of fun! #wkendtravelinspiration
We only watched the dune bashing.
Rhonda – Ive been wanting to read this for a few days but we’ve had terrible wifi.
Such great photos. We flew here with a night in Doha, Oman and I so wanted to go exploring.
Now you really make me want to see this country!
I hope you get a chance to explore one day.
The photographs are truly amazing. From palaces to ruins and luxuries to the daily routine, you have captured it all. Muscat facts were great as well. I am intrigued by Muscat.
I tried. Thanks.
Oman was never on my radar until about a year ago when some friends visited and piqued my curiosity. Your photos are beautiful!
It wasn’t on my radar either, but a travel agent friend suggested it. And, Emirates had air passes at the time, so it was super cheap to get to.
Wow Rhonda, you keep surprising me with all the exotic destinations you have been to! I am getting more and more jealous! Does going to these kind of arabic countries change your perspective at all? Just something I always wonder would happen to me..
Difficult question. I guess it would depend on your attitude before you travelled. I found the people of Oman to be relaxed, welcoming, and friendly.
The landscape, the colors, the vibe…what an adventure!
Yes, it is one of my favourite places to date.