We docked at al-Muttrah port in Muscat just after sunrise this morning. We took it easy yet again today, with a brief driving tour of some of the sights of the city.
Our drive first took us past the new opera house. Sultan Qaboos is an organist and lutanist. His world-class opera house opened in 2001, and it houses the Sultan’s own symphony orchestra. I wish we would have had time to stop by there. It was a beautiful building, and there is a large shopping mall and arts center behind it.
We stopped at the new mosque, another of the Sultan’s projects “for the enrichment of the Omani people.” It’s the country’s biggest mosque and can house thousands of worshippers at once.
The landscaping around the mosque was tasteful and colorful, with hundreds of neatly-planted shrubs flowering in many hues.
As we noticed in Salalah, the streets in Muscat are spotless. Our guide Khalid explained to us that cleaning crews work three shifts a day to keep the city beautiful.
We stopped next at an Omani cultural museum. As its collection was privately owned, we weren’t permitted to photograph the interior. But the wing we visited was a fascinating look at artifacts of day-to-day Omani life in the not-too-distant past—clothing, weaponry, musical instruments, food preparation and serving dishes, and jewelry.
From there it was a short hop to the Sultan’s al-Alam palace, which is also the site of the Ministry of Finance (the Sultan is the Finance Minister) and the National Museum.
Our ride ended at the al-Muttrah souk, a splendid covered complex of alleyways and stalls brimming with perfumes, incense, jewelry, clothing, antiques, and all kinds of curios.
We stopped in a couple of shops and bargained successfully for some native Omani clothing items. (The mark of a successful negotiation is that neither party is happy with the outcome.)
I also saw a shop with an interesting selection of 1900’s-era British nautical telescopes. A very unusual star-shaped sundial and compass caught my eye. A little haggling got the price to something that I didn’t feel too embarrassed to pay!
After we returned from our time in Muscat and had time to shower and change, we were invited to attend a “transit party” for some of the passengers who are continuing on past Mumbai. We partied on the bow of the ship, Deck 3, while still in port. The heat and humidity of the day had abated, and it was quite pleasant to hang out and enjoy the almost-midpoint of our journey.
Yesterday, I gave a copy of “Bringing Columbia Home” to our captain, Rune Lokling. He told me this afternoon how much he enjoys being in or near Port Canaveral when there are rocket launches from Kennedy or Cape Canaveral. He particularly enjoys the sound!
We set sail at 11:00 tonight. Next port of call: Mumbai, India, on September 7. Two sea days to recover and then prepare for an exciting run of days in India and Sri Lanka!