1. Nakhl Fort. 2.Driving along through town. 3.Zawawi Mosque. 4. Family getting ready for picnic at the wadi.
5. Sultan's Palace
6. Bait Al Zubair Museum.
Today we toured, and after a ninety-minute drive through the new Muscat and outlying regions along the Gulf of Oman, part of the Arabian Sea, we turned inland. We drove through desert to the oasis village of Nakhl. Here are old and new homes, found with goats and camels under palm trees next to the Wadi, a runoff from the springs at the mountain base of this lovely area. The restored Nakhl Fort rises from a 200-foot high hilltop perch. This striking edifice was built about 500 A.D. before the Koran emerged, as one of the many Yaruba tribe forts, each guarding a key oasis. The tribe’s Wali, from his rooms, became the enforcer of laws but also the provider of benefits for the villagers. In utter contrast we lunched at the Grand Hyatt hotel, built along the beach of the Gulf. The opulence was breathtaking from the stained glass windows to the full sized bronze Arabian warrior on his horse. We had photo stops at the Zawawi mosque and at the Sultans new and older palaces. At the private Bait Al Zubair museum we viewed a representative collection of clothing, jewelry, maps, paintings and armor of the early period of Omani growth. The owner of this home/ museum developed all of the Shangri-La hotels found in the Arabic and Asian countries. This night before steaming into Shalalah, also in Oman, we with four others, enjoyed a “deck party” feast laid out around the pool, with the band playing, singers singing and belly dancers dancing.
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