1. As Europeans we are used to complaining about high level of gas prices. In Oman we felt like in gas heaven (where we actually were!). We knew that gas was cheap in the Gulf area but imagine only that for 9 euro we ot almost full tank! Exactly 33 liters for 9 euro. That is even cheaper than water!
Useful information: they do not accept credit cards on gas stations in Oman so always be prepared to pay cash.

2. The thing that made us smile was a solution used in Mohammed Al Ameen Mosque (Bahawan Mosque) in Muscat. Mosque itself – a piece of art. Built of snow-white stone, crowned with phenomenal lace like domes. Since we arrived there outside visiting hours, we had to use stuff courtesy to visit the interior. So only mom was let inside to see the female praying room. And there it was – the women wanting to participate in service have to watch it on tv. There are couple flat screen tv’s set against the wall and this is how women follow the servise. We haven’t seen such thing never before, it has always been a windowh through which women looked at the main prayers hall. Is it single case or popular solution, we don’t know. Good or bad, it’s not us to judge. It just made us smile how modern technology can serve tradition.

3. In muslim countries the most important information throughout the day and in any place is the direction of Mecca. The religion requires its followers to do the pray 5 times a day towards the Holy City. Public places provide such information for the convenience of believers. On board of Arabic airlines the direction is presented on the screens and Holly Quran is avaliable in flight entertainment system.

Hotel rooms have those litte signs in the corners, on the ceiling or on the desks. Whoever is looking for it will find it, all the others might not even notice.

What is more for the comfort of their guests hotels equip the rooms with prayer rug and the Holly Quran. The prayer rug in Arabic is called sajjada or musallah. It’s not necessary to do the pray but it must be appreciated when it’s found the room.

4. Oman is a natural habitat for camels and their breeding has long tradition there. Those animals have accompanied Omanis for ages. Even today they are kept on farms or trained for races. Although there are no longer wild camels in this area we should beware of them on the road.

Passing this sign we of course thought that it probably doesn’t happen any more to see the camel crossing the road. In the same moment we saw a couple in the bushes.

5. The most true and authentic place we visited in Oman was a fish market in Barka village. The place we found by chance amazed us by huge variety of fish. All of them freshly caught, freshly gutted, being bought by locals. We were the only tourists there. All the others were Omanis doing they everyday shopping.

Besides the market there is also 17-18th century fort in Barka. The unique feature is octagonal tower in the back, in addition to other regular round towers.

That was one of the sunny November days when we decided to visit Omani beach. After all we are at the Indian Ocean for the first time in our lives, especialy Ola. We went to the beach that was supposed to be one of the best in the area. We werent sure if we found the right place as the beach was completely empty. Some stones at the beach but sand right at the water seemed to be perfect conditions to enjoy the ocean. Intimidated by absence of other people we decided to swim anyway.[photosetgrid layout=”13″]

But where is everybody? This is a day off, a public holiday, Oman National Day and there is nobody at the beach? As sun was shining straight in our heads, the heat was getting stronger and stronger, we decided to move on. Maybe that’s why there’s noboy here… We got to the car and took a ride through Omani villages. And suddenly we found an answer to our question when we got stuck in the traffic jam in one of the little villages. We found everybody heading to the water among the desert mountains.[photosetgrid layout=”2″]

So that was that famous Wadi Shab. Wadi is a general name for a valley in the desert usually with periodicaly appearing fresh water. Wadis are popular places for growing plants like bananas, mango or palm. It’s a green oasis contrasting with the desert mountains around. Wadi Shab and Wadi Tivi are the most popular wadis in this area.

Wadi Shab has the water all year round and probably that is why this is a favourite place of all locals. It is a picturesque canyon spoiled only at its mouth by collumns of above running highway. But once to pass them you get natural view over the valley. To pass the first deep water we had to use the small motorboat for 2 rials per person round trip. So we put Ola in the woven wrap and got on the boat. Few seconds and we were on the other side and could explore the canyon.

Because of holidays wadi was full of people walking along, sitting on blankets by the water, barbecuing and so on. Families, groups of friends, turists, everybody was there. [photosetgrid layout=”4″]

  

We got back to the boats before 5 o’clock and this is when we got shocked. As the time was passing more and more people were coming. Boats continuously transported people back to their cars but the number of waiting was still growing. In one moment we felt like at the Kazanski train station in Mocsow wehre transsiberian train departs. Lots of people of different nationalities, of different appearances, clothes, cultures and languages. Omanis, Emiratis, Pakistanis, Europeans, Canadians, Indians and Filipinos.[photosetgrid layout=”3″][/photosetgrid] But that was not the people that surprised us. That was their luggage. It’ s undescribable what all those people took with them to spend half the day outdoor. And all that they delivered there by those little boats. That were grills, huge pots (all washed in wadi waters), carpets, portable fridges, baby strollers, baskets, folding chairs and millions of smaller and bigger bags.
Small boats couldn’t keep up transporting people back as the new ones kept coming from wadi. Unaccustomed to local practice we kept finding new and new people in front of us and we had to watch them leaving with all those packages still from the bank! [photosetgrid layout=”2″][/photosetgrid]

After 40 or 50 minutes waiting we had to take matters in our own hands (or elbows) and finally get us on the boat. Together with us came of course many bags, some rugs and a fridge half full of oranges! And their owners, everybody in perfect moods!

Those who lost their patience decided to get out of there on their own.

There are not too many sandy beaches in Oman. But those which are, were chosen by green sea turtles as a place of nesting.

Green sea turtle (Chelonia Mydas) is a large, weighing up to 300 kilograms turtle living in the tropical and subtropical oceans. Average weight of the animal desn’t exceed 200kg. They are usually around 1 meter long (measuring the carapace) but some individuals reach even 1,5m. The name of the species comes from the color of their skin. It is believed that it’s a result of their herbivory. They mostly eat algae and seagrasses. But only when they reach maturity; when hatchlings they are carnivorous.

Green turtles are known for their habbit of nesting always on the same beach, the beach they were born at. Even if they live thousands kilometers away, when the breeding time comes they overcome thousands of kilometers to get back to their beaches. Breeding time comes every 2-4 years. What is interesting – not only female swims all the way to that beach but also male has to cover this distance as mating takes place in the water by the beach of breeding. After the mate female goes out on the beach, diggs the hole and in the evening she lays around 100 – 200 eggs. That process takes more or less two hours, then she covers the eggs with sand and leaves to the sea. Smart female tries to mislead predators hunting for eggs and little turtles and diggs coulpe holes at the beach. But it doesn’t help too much and part of little turtles is being eaten during their first run to the sea. Life of the hatches in the ocean is not easy either. Probably no more than one in a hundred will reach adulthood and will be able to give birth to next generations.

Such wonder of nature can be observed on the beaches of Raas al Jinz. 120 square kilometers of the coast are covered by national nature reserve to protect green turtles which are in danger of extinction. 45 kilometers of the seaside has been under special protection since 1996. Visiting beaches and watching those giant turtles nest is possible but only under reserve’s control. Omani beaches are that intreresting for turtles that it’s almost guaranteed to meet them there every evening.

Number of tourists wanting to experience this miracle is so big that it’s hard to find a room in a hotel within 50 kilometers. If the area wasn’t protected by the reserve the turtles would have been trampled by this multinational bunch of tourists. Now they have to book a trip in advance, pay 3 Omani rials and follow the rules announced by guides. The trips are organised after darfk and first and the most important rule is „no flash”. Only the guide has a torch and directs it so that you could see the animal but not to disturb it. Such rules effectively prevent to take the good picutre but that’s the experience that matters. Being a witness of this natural process of life creaction is an incredible and unforgettable moment and even inability of taking pictures cannot spoil it.

Seeing a huge turtle female cover the eggs with sand, scramble out of the hole in the sand and carry her heavy carapace to the sea is so moving that it stays in the memory for long time.

Main Muscat Mosque is located 15 minutes away from Muscat International Airport just by main road – of course Sultan Qaboos street.

An idea of building the mosque was created by Sultan and it’s of course him who the mosque is named after. The mosque is of Ibadi denomination as this is the most popular school of Islam in Oman. Ibadi school is third denomination of Islam, next to Sunni and Shiah. Around 75% of Omanis are Ibadi. Ibadis are also found in some other places in the world like Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, East Africa, but their biggest concentration is in Oman.
Sultan Qaboos Mosque was finished in 2001 and was built on grand scale. Its capacity is 20 000 people and only the main hall has 4000 square meters. The building looks impressive as it was built of beautiful Indian sandstone with the gold-shining dome.

The mosque has 5 minaretes, 4 of them located in each corner of the building are 45-meter-high, the 5th one, located in the middle of one of external walls, has 91,5 meters. The flowers around the mosque is well maintained. Must be well-irrigated as they are still in bloom despite local climate. As the most expensive materials were used to its construction there are some rules of visiting communicated right by the entrance.[photosetgrid layout=”12″][/photosetgrid]Since we are talking about carpets – this institution for some time held the title of the mosque with the biggest hand-made carpet in the world. This single-piece carpet covers an area of 4,343 square meters. Its manual production took 600 women 4 years. In 2007 the Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque took over the record having the rug of 5627 square meters!

Sultan Qaboos Mosqe interior is lit by 35 chandeliers. They all are decorated with the best quality – Swarovsky crystals. The biggest pride of Omanis is the one dangling underneeth the main dome – it used to hold the Guiness world record of the biggest chandelier. It’s 14 x 8 meters construction weighing 8,5 tones. 600 000 crystals and 1122 of lamps were used for its production. Plus 24 carate gold metal plates shaped as one big and 24 small minarets.

It held the Guiness record untill 2010 when Qatari built their „Reflective flow” chandelier of 18 tones and 165 000 led lights.
The main prayers hall of the mosque is around 4000 square meters and in the highiest point of the beautiful ornate dome it reaches 50 meters.
The ablution room in our opinion is less impressive than ablution rooms in Abu Dhabi mosque.

Even though the Sultan Qaboos mosque doesn’t hold the titles of biggest rug and candelier any more, it is still impressive and definitely a must-see of Oman. It is open for visitors but you have to be an early riser to get inside. They open at 8 o’clock and at 11 they are done for the day. Except for Fridays when its open only for prayers. Standard mosque rules apply – modes clothes for man and women and no shoes. Unfortunately children under 10 are not allowed to visit so we had only Dad as our representative admire the incredible architecture and decor of the mosque.

Another district of Muscat, this time more attractive and accessible for locals and tourists, is Muttrah. Muttrah is the biggest in the nighborhood port which has been there for hundreds years of trade tradition in Oman. It has been connecting Arabic Peninsula countires with Indian and Eastern African traders. The best view over big ships standing in the port is from corniche – the promenade wraping around the bay. The walkway running along the seaside is a popular place of evening meetings of Omani families or the groups of men friends. It offers the nice view over the city white buildings with a few distinctive points – Mosque of the Great Propher with beautiful blue dome and minaret, a sand beige, two-storey Muttrah Souq entrance with colorful dome and gold shining domes of corniche booths. Mosque of Grand prophet is a 15th-century building, a place of worship for Al-Lawati tribe, a local ethnocultural Shia group.

In Muttrah area there is Bait Al Baranda museum which interactively shows the history and geology of Muscat (including exhibit of the dinosaur).

Wide hi-way leading from Muttrah to Muscat passes by the Ryiam Park, a place of Omani relax and playground for kinds and teens. Green areas with colorful flowers are crowned by huge white incense burner. It is possible to climb up to get a good view over the bay.

Follow our road from Muttrah to Walled City:

The Sultanate of Oman is a home of 3,3 mln people. It’s an absolute monarchy ruled by The Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said since the 70. of last century. National religion of the country is Islam what is reflected in its law – built totaly on Sharia. Sultan is the person who holds in hand all the impotrant functions in the country. He is widely respected and worshipped by citizens and his image can be found everywhere – on the buildings, on cars, at road intersections and so on.
As a muslim country Oman requires proper dress from men and women and prohibits bringing any alcohol to the country. Don’t try to smuggle cause you will risk severe punishment and alcohol is available in hotel restaurants. It’s not cheap but not crazy expensive either.

The capital city and at the same time the Sultan’s seat is Muscat. It’s a 1,2 mln-people city located in the north-eastern region of the country. It’s the biggest city of Oman and is surprisingly neat, clean and green. There are some historical defence towers visible here and there in the city’s landscape. Whole Oman is dotted with those forts and single towers. There is around 500 of them across the country.
[photosetgrid layout=”12″][/photosetgrid]

One of the well maintained parts of Muscat is so called Walled City. The name comes from the walls that used to surround way smaller Muscat. Today political and administrative offices are located in this area. The remains of the walls still guard the entrance to the old city and are the home the Muscat Gate Museum presenting Oman’s history. This whole neighborhood is a network of little, narrow streets, green lawns with the main point of Al Alam Palace. This Sultan’s palace was built in this shape in 1972, shortly after Qaboos bin Said al Said became Oman’s sultane as the result of overthrowing his father. He is well educated and pursues the policy of Oman’s neutrality. Being a symbol of country’s transformation he is commonly loved. Before he came to power Oman was rather backward, with low life comfort and medical care, no roads. Since Qaboos’ ascension to power Oman transformed into modern country with impressive road connection within (main road is a two lane highway with lanterns on its whole lenght), high level of medical care and education. Since they started exploiting and exporting oil their gross domestic product increased significantly. GDP per capita for 2013 gave it 19th place in the world.

Coming back to the palace – its facade is really eye-catching, with those yellow and blue columns and flat roof it is not a typical Arabic art. It brings to mind Japaneese or Turkish architecture mixed with Arabic, actually Omani decorations. We might be wrong with judging its style but it really looks like from the fairy tale. Around the palace there are some tropical trees which beautiful smell complements the impression. The palace area is the popular place for locals and tourists to walk and even after dark there is plenty of people there. Ola of course had to make friends with some of them.The palace is well guarded although it is not actually used as Sultan’s home but as a representative place for important guest reception. No visitors are allowed inside; it’s possible only to look and take pictures from the outside.

The building is located in the harbour and it’s guarded by two forts located on both sides: Miriani Fort and Al Jalaili Fort. They are nicely lit up, as is the palace. We can see both of them from the back of the palace. [photosetgrid layout=”22″]

Before our trip to Arabic Peninsula we tried to do some reaserch on the Internet on what we need to cross UAE and Oman border by car. We found so many different information, some more precise, some less, but most of them out-of-date. The procedures must have changed since the time of posting those information because it’s way easier than describen on the Internet. After checking the procedure personally we decided to post a note with current and trusted information from the end of November 2014.

So when you are going from UEA (we were going from Dubai) to Oman by rented car just follow the routine:

1. While picking up the car ask for additional insurance for the teritory of Oman and the letter confirming the owners approval to take the car abroad. We took the car from Budget as they had clear rules of going to Oman on their web site. For each day in Oman they charged +50% but all the documents were properly prepared and we had no problem at the border.

2. We took the E102 from Dubai and headed to Al-Wajaja border post following the signs to Hatta. When you pass the city of Hatta just drive on. First border checkpoint you will see is for trucks and there is no necessity to stop there, just drive forward, you won’t miss the border.

3. After few kilometers you will see Emirati exit point. This is the place where Emirati stamp your passport for exit. This is necessary step in the whole procedure but you don’t have to worry it’s not possible to be missed.

4. Drive on to the next step – Omani customs control. Here they have a look in the trunk (remember not to have any alcohol as it’s not allowed to bring it in the country) and give you the paper stating number of people in the car.

5. Drive the road and you will see the sign „NEW VISA”. Follow it to the parking lot. Take all the documents from car rental, your passports and go to the building. Fill in the immigration card (it’s on the table on the right hand side) and queue to the window on the right hand side. Here they will ask for passports, immigration cards and car documents. Pay for visa – the best would be to have Omani Rials but US dollars are good anough and the card is even better. And that’s it, you’re almost in Oman.

6. Get back to the car and drive straight to the exit point where they will want the paper you got at the very beginning, the one with the number of people in the car. No, you won’t need to present it on your way back  to UAE as some people write. You leave the border only with the documents you came there with.

And now you can get yourself a t-shirt „I survived Dubai – Oman border”.

Easy, isn’t it? Now the way back. We were coming back to UEA through another border crossing: Al Ain /Al Buraimi.

1. Here is the first trick: 30 minutes before Al Alin, approaching from Suhar by road no 7, there is Wadi Al Jizzi border post. This is the place where you need to get Oman exit stamp. It connot be missed when driving this road.

2. We followed the road to Al Ain to use a border crossing in the city center. There are probably other crossings outside the city but signs on the roads were a little confusing and we ended up in the city center. Driving by road no 7, we went straight through oval-shaped roundabout and on the next one we turned right and we were already at the boarder crossing. At the border we were greeted by two booths one with closed barrier and the sign „Foreigners” and the other one wide open. It’s not necessary to wait at closed barrier as there is nobody in any of the booth. Just drive straight through the open gate.

3. And here is another trick – no signs, no nothing but you have to pull over by the fence on left hand site. There is a building behind the fence – this is UEA immigration. Go there to get an entry visa.

4. Drive on to next booths where is customs and passport control.

So there is nothing more simple than crossing this border. Whoever writes on the Internet that it’s almost impossible for tourists to cross it, should try to cross the border of Moldova and Transnistria. UAE and Oman border is a simple thing, especialy when you know those couple things we mentionad above.