Mesmerising Middle East

Cruise 1 Day 14 – Muscat, Oman

The first thing you notice about Muscat is how clean and tidy it is, and how dramatic it looks with its beautiful white buildings against a backdrop of bare brown rocky hills. Oman is one of the oldest human-habited places on Earth. Muscat’s population is 4 million of which 55% is Omani and 45% is expats. Despite the lack of rain in the region, the gardens are beautiful, the lawns immaculate and the buildings sparkling clean. The Omani’s get their water from underground springs, from the mountains after rain and from desalination plants.

Our guide, Isaac, was a very personable 22-year old who is studying tourism. He first took us to the stunning Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, the only mosque in Muscat available to non-Muslims. Ladies had to wear full length pants or skirt, long sleeves and scarf. Men also had to wear full length pants but could wear short sleeves and of course no scarf! We saw both the women’s and the men’s prayer rooms, the largest single carpet in the world and the second largest chandelier in the world with 600,000 Swarovski crystals. To say this enormous mosque is impressive is truly an understatement. Even the toilets were beautiful.

We then drove to the Mutrah Souk and spent time browsing some of the hundreds of stalls that sell precious metals, silks, glass lamps, handcrafts, perfumes and souvenirs. On to the Bait Al Zubair Museum, a complex of three houses converted to a museum and owned by one of the richest families in Oman.

One of the buildings highlighted Omani culture including dress, jewellery and weaponry, etc., one was an art gallery and one was a café with several rooms decorated in traditional living style. Last was a photo stop at the sultan’s Al Alam Palace which is used for entertaining visiting dignitaries; the sultan has several other palaces in which he resides. What a fantastic tour!

Here we said farewell to new friends Ann and Rob from Toowoomba and Gwenn and Ian from Melbourne. But Terri and Jon (with Kevin the dog) from Nashville, Tennessee will join us for the second cruise and we look forward to their company. We have also ‘adopted’ Caramel the camel who is a welcome addition to our menagerie at home.

 The Qaboos Grand Mosque

Mutrah Souk

Penny with our guide to her right, and two other guides outside the Bait Al Zubair Museum

Inside the Museum; a traditional 'date room'

Outside Al Alam Palace

Cruise 2 Day 1 – Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Our full day tour included a visit to the amazing Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the largest mosque in the world and a truly beautiful building. It is set on 555,000 square metres of land and is joined underground, via moving walkways, to a modern shopping centre. The mosque, with its 82 gleaming domes, is all white and gold with over 1,000 external marble columns on which have been inlaid precious gems in the shape of climbing plants. There are four main minarets each 106 metres tall, the world’s largest chandelier and largest carpet.

We stopped in at the Yas Shopping Mall (on one of Abu Dhabi’s islands), a very modern multi-level mall containing all the usual designer stores. But apart from tourists, it was practically empty. We lunched at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant where we ordered a ‘light’ salad – see the photo!

On to the magnificent Louvre – yes, there is a Louvre is Abu Dhabi and it is very impressive. There are 12 exhibition halls as well as a children’s museum, café, restaurant and function room. It is all contained beneath a dome with a most unusual metal-patterned roof. Just like the Paris Louvre, the exhibits include ancient history texts, sculpture, mosaics and tapestries. There is modern art and sculpture, as well as many paintings from the great masters – including the famous Whistler’s Mother. The museum is only two years old and is also currently hosting an exhibition on the Dutch masters including Rembrandt and Vermeer.

Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal

The Grand Mosque underground shopping centre

The Grand Mosque

Interesting high rise building

Our 'light' salads at the Yas Shopping Mall

Inside the Louvre

Cruise 2 Day 2 – Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Having previously spent a few days in Dubai we decided to visit the Miracle Garden, the region’s largest flower garden, with Terri and Jon (with Kevin) from Tennessee. Among the millions of flowers is the Guinness World record holder for the world’s largest flower arrangement – an Emirates A380 Airbus covered in more than 500,000 fresh flowers. Other attractions include giant cats and elephants, a collection of Disney characters, a giant teddy bear, a castle and fairy-tale cottages of all shapes and sizes.

There are arched and butterfly-shaped arcades and plenty of shady alcoves with tables and chairs or padded swings. In the intense heat we took refuge under one of the thickly vined alcoves which was substantially cooler than outside. These wonderful gardens are maintained, using recycled water, throughout the year until they close in summer for replenishment. And even though we visited at the end of the season the colours were simply spectacular.

 

Inside the Miracle Garden

Meet Kevin the dog, beloved travelling companion of Terri and Jon from Tennessee. Kevin goes everywhere they go, and we were lucky enough to spend the day with him too!

Cruise 2 Day 3 – Muscat, Oman

Weren’t we only here four days ago? It doesn’t matter as Muscat is such a beautiful and interesting city. Today we walked into town with Terri and Jon (with Kevin) through the fascinating fish markets and then revisited the Mutrah Souk which was a welcome cool change from the intense heat outside. Afterwards we lunched at a local outdoor café that was undercover and had huge fans. There we dined on icy cold freshly-squeezed pineapple and mango juices and chicken kebab on salad with pita breads. Delicious.

After the frenetic activity and heat of the past few days we are looking forward to a few days at sea to relax and rejuvenate. And of course we’ll be on pirate watch for the next three days as we pass through the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Somalia.

Local worker?

Cruise 2 Day 9 – Aqaba, Jordan

Last time we were in Jordan we visited the amazing Rose Red City of Petra. This time we chose to look around the port city of Aqaba. First we took the red Aqaba Sightseeing Bus which took us from the city centre on a 30 minute tour where we saw the beautiful Al-Hussein Bin Ali Mosque, gorgeous 5-star hotels and resorts, restaurants, coffee shops, and other less salubrious but interesting small businesses.

We then walked through the city centre via the vegetable and meat market, stopping to taste some of the delicious spices for which the Middle East is so famous; a local mixture of oregano with other herbs and spices, a smoked paprika, a tangy lemon salt, and some wonderful spiced sesame seeds. We found a coffee shop out under shady trees and indulged in small cups of the local coffee which is black and so thick it looks, and tastes a little, like soup. Aqaba may not be as ‘pretty’ as Muscat, but it has so much character, and the people are very friendly.

Friendly spice merchant who offered plenty of tastings

Turkish-style coffee shop

Local apartment block

Aqaba Mosque

Streets of Aqaba

(taken from inside the bus)