Arabian Tales - Weekend in Muscat

We panicked as we entered Oman. After lining up for what seemed like an hour, we’d purchased our single-entry visa. The police-post didn’t take cash; I picked up my credit card and receipt without a thought. Later, as we drove toward the coast along a remote, winding road bordered by brown mountains, Carol said: “How much is a rial (Omani currency) worth?”

“Oh, about 3 dollars,” I said.

“Coz, they just charged us 10,000 rials for that visa…”

OMG. For a while, with minds racing, we discussed ways we could appeal this error and reclaim our funds. But, a little later we passed a gas station and saw that the price of gas was expressed as 0,120 rials / litre. Not only do they use a comma to express a decimal point, but they also convey decimals of a rial in three digits.   ...Phew (10,000 is how they express 10 rials)!

The city of Muscat is pretty. Unlike the wild modern towers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai there’s clearly a code that requires buildings to be low-profile, white, Arabic style, giving the place an exotic timelessness. 

But if addresses are a problem in Abu Dhabi, street names are the challenge in Muscat. A fellow from Amsterdam I met in a café said: “I come here often and I always get lost.” Apart from the main thoroughfares, each street is a numbered Way (e.g. 1214 Way, 1382 Way, etc.) but not in any apparent logical sequence.  The GPS was totally lost and the tourist map I’d brought was no help. To find our hotel, I had to phone the front desk and get the clerk to guide me in.

Muscat Opera House lobby

The new Royal Opera House is a spectacular mix of high tech modernity and traditional craftsmanship. We took the grand tour. The grand entrance poster was a familiar face: Nanaimo’s Diana Krall.

Eerily, as we moved from floor to floor our guide would direct us to an elevator, leave us, and be waiting to meet us when we arrived at the next floor – did he not want to be seen with us? was he not allowed in our elevator?

Muscat Grand Mosque - internal detail

We ended our visit at the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque where visitors of all faiths are welcomed. It’s also a beautiful, modern building with ornate 'mosaic', wall decoration, chandeliers and the world’s second largest hand-woven carpet.

Muscat Grand Mosque
Main Chandelier

On the way out we stopped at the Visitor Centre and ate locally-made halva (a delicious sweet date paste) and drank coffee as we talked to the Imam about the principles of Islam. Unlike Emirati men who wear a head 'scarf', most Omani men wear a brightly patterned hat or kumma. Also, they all seem to tuck the neck tassle of their kandoura into their throat so that it sticks out at a crazy angle, as shown below.

Omani in kumma, Imam, me

We had driven to Muscat on the coast road from Suhar and we returned through the interior mountains via the historic town of Nizwa, with its famed souq. We took our last meal in Oman here, in a Turkish restaurant on the outskirts. Despite pointing to a photo of a kebab on the menu, the patron would only say the word ‘chicken’ over and over as he stroked his chest with a flourish. We agreed sceptically. After much noise of chopping and beating from the back, he emerged with 8 plates of food: pita bread, humus, roasted onions, red peppers and tomatoes, mixed salad and barbequed chicken breast, clearly his signature dish. And, it was delicious and well worth the wait.

Interior of Oman near town of Ibri