Good Friday

HAPPY EASTER from Oman. 

We spent the majority of Good Friday driving around exploring other parts of Muscat and following lunch at the PDO, headed south to the oldest part of the city, Muttrah, home to the Sultans Palace. I really love driving around this part of the city; Muttrah is adorned with ornately designed roundabouts, pretty gardens and beautiful buildings. I will try and take some photo's of this part of the city soon as it really is something else. I love how all the buildings are beautifully designed and still retain many traditional aspects of Omani culture. The domes, arches and Sultan's Palace seem to have been taken out of Aladdin :-) The roundabouts are really interesting and are decorated with, amongst other things, a boat, fish, and teapots. Additionally, Muttrah harbour is home to Sultan Qaboos' two, somewhat extravagant, boats and houses a Souk, a traditional Omani market.

We continued our journey south stopping off at the Marina some 10 minutes from Muttrah. In addition to boats, the Marina houses a bar, swimming pool and offers cruises and dolphin watching and as Friday is the equivalent of our Sunday in Oman, the place was teeming with people today. It was still nice to be able to see the boats and enjoy the stunning views.

After our brief stop at the Marina we headed to our furthest port of call, the Shangri-La's Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa. Unfortunately we were only stopping to admire its beauty; the resort is huge and very luxurious and of course pricey! See: Shangri-La. I was lucky enough to go for dinner at the resorts Moroccan restaurant for Jane's birthday last year when Oli and I visited :-). I think there are four restaurants in total and the resort even has a "heritage village":

The drive to the Shangri-La is really pretty and surprisingly green. In fact what struck me the first time I came to Oman was the amount of greenery across Muscat. I found out that although Oman's climate is extremely dry, the country's ancient water irrigation system, falaj (or "aflaj") has enabled these plants and trees to be grown. Falaj are the main source of irrigation in Oman, other than wells; the system taps underground water which is then led by (around 11,000!) man-made channels to towns and villages.

Anyway, I had better be off! I hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather in the UK :-) and making the most of the long weekends!!

xXx