Mystical Muscat

We arrived in Muscat midafternoon. Deplaning, we appeared to be entering a palace, not an airport. The sun was intense and the white sandstone facade shimmered with reflected light. No, not a mirage but our first introduction to the grandeur of Muscat, Oman’s capital city.

We quickly cleared customs and boarded a shuttle for a short transfer to Marina Bandar. Enroute, we passed magnificant white stone buildings, contemporary but simple with Arabic architectural influences. Oman has invested its incredible oil wealth over the past several decade in amazing infrasturcture in its capital city, creating a ‘Jewel on the Gulf of Oman’.

The marina berthed a wide assorment of boats – from fishing craft to luxurious yacths. Located at the foot of the Al Hajar Mountains, Marina Bandar is the site of the original port of Muscat. Although today, the marina accommodates mostly pleasure boats and commercial tours, it was not hard to imagine sailing vessels loaded with silk and spices arriving in harbor centuries ago.

We were greeted at the wharf by a troupe of Omani musicians, welcoming us with a drink and a song, proudly waving the Omani flag.

Much to our amazement, we heard the haunting, high pitched sound of a bagpipe and sure enough spotted the lone musician blowing air into a bag and pressing it out through a series of pipes. Contrary to popular belief, bagpipes are believed to have originated in the Middle East – the earliest description of a bagpipe-like instrument comes from Egypt during the first century BC. Eventually, the instrument migrated throughout Europe, made its way to the Scottish Highlands and morphed into the instrument that is now that country’s national instrument.

The musicians paraded us down a long wooden pier, continuing to chant and twirl as they escorted us to our sailing vessel. We boarded a dhow, a traditional wooden ship used by Arabian mechants and Indian traders to navigate the coasts of Africa and the Middle East. Believed to have been in use since the first century A.D., dhows were originally propelled by wind and sails and carried goods like fresh fruit, dates, fish and pearls for commerce. Powered by a diesel engine, our dhow nonetheless would give us a taste of maritime Silk Road authenticity while enjoying a late afternoon sail along the Muscat coast.

Sailing conditions were perfect! A warm breeze wafted and the sun began to dip to the west, beautifully lighting and softening the harshness of the surrounding hills. Muscat is beautiful not just because of its impressive manmade architecture but for its spectacular natural landscape as well.

We sailed past Old Muscat, the traditional quarter of the city now preserved to showcase Omani hertitage. Forts and look out towers, relics of the 16th century Portuguese occupation attesting to Muscat’s importance as a maritime thoroughfare, perched on the rocky cliffs. Today, the sultan’s ceremonial palace and government administration buildings occupy the shoreline between the forts.

Heading back towards the marina, we had a seaside view of our home away from home for the next two nights, the Al Bustan Palace Hotel. It was originally built in 1985 as an Omani Royal Palace to host the Gulf Cooperation Summit and celebrate the 15th anniversary of the sultanate; today it is one of Muscat’s most renowned hotels, and an iconic landmark that embodies Omani hospitality and culture.

We checked in at the Al Bustan and got to our room just on time to watch the afterglow of the setting sun from our seaside balcony. The sky, the surrounding hills and even the beach were tinged a soft pink making for some spectacular photos.

The next morning, we took a short city tour to explore Muscat by land. Our first stop was the sprawling Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. Donning headscarves, we entered a vast marble courtyard. Visitors from all over the world were touring, gawking and taking pictures. Sultan Qaboos is the largest and most architecturally captivating mosque in Oman and is one of Muscat’s most popular tourist attractions ( at least every morning except Friday). Opened in 2001, the complex includes a large men’s prayer hall topped with a 50 meter high textured dome, a smaller women’s prayer hall, outer prayer yard, interior courtyard and passages and a library. Comparable in capacity to a small stadium, the prayer rooms with the courtyards can accommodate up to 22,000 worshippers at a time.

The mosque has five minurets representing the five pillars of Islam. Its highest minuret towers above any other in the country at a whooping 91.5 meters. Practically, the minurets house the speakers that call the faithful to prayer so height amplifies the distance of the sound. Symbolically, the towering minuret visually represents the significance of the mosque and its Sultan namesake.

When it was built, the men’s prayer room boasted the largest prayer rug in the world. However, a newer mosque in Abu Dhabi, the Sheik Zahed (which coincidentally we visited several months later while in UAE), has usurped the record. Nonetheless, the prayer room was beautifully appointed with its white columns, arched entrances, wood paneled ceiling and beautiful natural light emanating from the large domed ceiling.

Next on our itinerary after the mosque was a brief stop at the Natural History Museum. Filing off the shuttle bus single file and entering a natural history museum was reminiscent of a school field trip.

We passed a class of local school children assembled in the covered veranda completing worksheets; they waved and grinned, surprised to see a group of western garbed adults on their own field trip.

The museum showcases diaromas of regional flora and fauna giving us a richer appreciation of life in the desert. Upland dwellers like us often think of the desert as barren but the museum displays illustrated the diversity of the life that survives in this harsh environment.

Our final stop on our morning tour was a visit to Muscat’s new architectural jewel, the Royal Opera House. Built in 2011, the opera house is part of a larger complex that includes not only the concert hall, but an auditorium, landscaped gardens, a music museum and a mall with retail shops and fine dining (where we would stop for lunch). We visited the private VIP boxes on the upper level of the theater for a bird’s eye view of the hall and stage. Theater capacity is 1100 so we inquired how difficult it was to get tickets to performances – our guide sheepishly admitted that Omanis were still developing a taste for opera but when local musicians performed the venue typically sold out.

After visiting the theater, we walked through an elevated latticed tunnel to what proved to be the most interesting part of the tour, a musical arts exhibition associated with the opera house. Exhibition was an understatement as this was a museum with six galleries that focused on the history of music and the science behind it. A mobile of various instruments, some traditional such as the oud, a pear shaped lute -like stringed instrument and contemporary, like the saxophone, dangled overhead at the entranceway.

The exhibits in the museum are both educational and entertaining and we had great fun learning about wavetheory, harmonics, rhythm and pitch just to name a few, while playing with the interactive displays. This was by far the most innovative music exhibition I’d ever experienced and as a music novice, not only did I work up a sweat using the displays but actually learned a few things about the science behind the sounds.

After all the physical exertion with the displays, we were hungry and ready for lunch. We dined at a restaurant, Al Agham in the retail mall attached to the museum, on platters of lamb, vegetables, rice and freshly baked bread served family style. After lunch, I opted to continue exploring Muscat. and spent a couple hours in the magnificant National Museum of Oman in old town. Resembling a palace, the museum has fourteen galleries with hundreds of exhibits. Of course, we examined the many artifacts from the maritime silk road era.

The exhibits I found quite interesting were the elaborate displays of khanjars, the ceremonial daggers worn by Omani men as part of the national dress. Our guides, Esa and Abdul wore khanjars when they greeted us at the airport and at first we were a bit taken aback by the curve-bladed daggers belted around their waists, sheathed in ornate scabbords. Abdul explained that khanjars are family heirlooms and a sign of the family’s status and wealth. The khanjars on display in the museum were beautifully crafted of silver and gold, artifacts of the royal family.

Walking across the street from the museum, I got a close up view of the Al Alam Palace with its vibrant gold and turquoise columns, the Omani flag flapping in the breeze from a mast on its roof. Al Alam is a ceremonial palace used for state functions and is not the actual residence of the Sultan.

Our last stop of the day was to the Mutrak Souk, one of the oldest marketplaces in the Arab world. I was on a mission to find frankincense oil and rosewater not only for myself but for several other people on our tour who’d opted to relax by the pool instead of braving the market. As I joined the throng of people in the crowded cobbled walkway between shops, I wondered whether shopping the market today had really changed much from Silk Road times. The market was a chaotic maze of stalls filled with vendors hawking their merchandise trying to entice anyone from the stream of shoppers and tourists to ‘just have a look’. Fortunately, Esa helped me navigate the maze and find the frankincense oil and rosewater. I even bought a pair of pretty silk flats, then worn out by the crowds headed back to the hotel for some well deserved r&r. Sadly, Muscat was our last ancient crossroad destination – tomorrow, we jet back to London for one last night, then head home.

March, 2023