Eid al Adha Break: Muscat and Salalah

We headed back to Oman for the week-long Eid al Adha break.  First, to Muscat for a few days, and then to Salalah.  Last year, my students kept telling me how beautiful Salalah was, so we decided to fly there and check it out.

We drove to Muscat, Oman.  This is our car's first trip across the border. 

Check out the proud "G" on the back!!!   Goooooo, GEORGIA!!

In Oman, we stayed at the Hyatt--our first time there.  It has now become my favorite place to stay in Oman.  It has a nice pool with a "river" and a nice view of the beach.  The only drawback was that they didn't have chairs and umbrellas on the beach, I think because their beach is not private.  It is shared by the embassies located along the same beach:  Morocco, Bahrain, Iran, etc.  The food was also some of the best we have had at the hotels there, especially a place called The Grill House----ahhhhh, a steak to die for!

Evening tea in the Hyatt Lobby

This piano is one of only 3 like it in the world.  Michael Jackson stayed here and wanted to buy the piano for over 7 million dollars, but they wouldn't sell it to him.

Sunset in Muscat

Cory got to SCUBA, and he got a few pictures of the dolphins!

We enjoyed some relaxing days there and then boarded the plane for a short flight to Salalah.  The hotel there overlooked a wildlife area, with LOTS of birds and sea turtles.  We enjoyed swimming with the turtles!  They had some HUGE heads, but I didn't get many good pictures of them because they were too quick for me!

View from our deck

Turtle Head:  couldn't get any good pictures!!

 

Giant Crab:  should have had Kim stand beside it for perspective--The crab was HUGE!!

This is what Kim called the Teepee Village:  ha-ha!
These are the mounds of sand the crabs scooped out to make their holes.

We got to use the Executive Lounge each day for drinks and desserts.  Each night we usually tried several after dinner....to appease our sweet tooth. 

Here is Kim having one dessert.   Heather has already finished her 2 or 3 desserts!

Salalah sunset:  You can see Kim standing on the shore.  I don't know if you can see how many birds there were:  thousands!!!

Our best day of sightseeing, we hired a guide named Ahmed, who took us to all the top spots to see in 1 day.  First, we went to Bin Ali's tomb. 

Then, we headed to an overview of the port city of Mirbat.  This was famous in the 9th century for breeding and exporting of horses.  They also traded in frankincense.  Now it's a small little fishing village.

We got to tour Khor Rouri and Sumhuram's Archaeological site, overlooking the Indian Ocean.  The excavations there show a rectangular town where they have found inscriptions written in Arabic southern alphabet.  These inscriptions show that the town was established to ensure the survival of the frankincense trade. Marco Polo and T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) traveled through here.  It is also said that the Queen of Sheba built a palace in the ancient port of Samhuran along the trade route, where she would hoard large quantities of Frankinense for her own personal use.

We went to Wadi Derbat, where there is a natural park, 100 meter waterfalls, lakes, mountains, and caves.  This was an amazing area to discover in the midst of the desert!!

Small Waterfalls

The BIG waterfall (Shalal)

We visited Taqah, where we toured the fort and castle. 

This is the burial site of Oman's Sultan Qaboos' mother, father, and brother.  The men's burial sites have 2 markers; the women's have 3.  Our guide said this is true of all Muslim sites.

We also went to an overlook of Taqah beach.

Kim and our guide, Ahmed, discussing whether we would see any dolphins or turtles.....We didn't!

We drove up to the top of one mountain to see Job's Tomb. 

This is the view from across another mountain top.  You can see the dome at the top of the hill.

When you walk inside (head and shoulders covered and shoes off), this is what you see.  There were many worshippers there, both inside and out.

We took a long, winding drive down into Wadi Aful, where we were able to see mountainsides full of Frankincense trees.

Long, curvy road leading down into the wadi

Spots where you can see the frankincense has been harvested....

One of the trees...

Our last stop was at Mughsayl, where they have over 4 kilometers of white, sandy beach.  There are sculptured cliffs with blowholes formed in the limestone rocks.  Plumes of water can reach up to 30 meters or more.  A lot of this area reminded me so much of Hawaii!!