Muscat & Khasab, Oman

Friday, 24 Mar 2017 – Today we were scheduled to meet for our “Hop On Hop Off Muscat City Tour” at 10:15 AM; however, since we could see the cruise staff loading the open-top, double-decker buses from our cabin window, we waited for an opportune time for walking the short distance to go ashore.  This allowed us to get very good seats on the upper deck in the front, covered section.  The cover provided great protection from the alternating sun and rain sprinkles, though it was still very windy.  Jesse was comfortable wearing his light jacket, and Sally held her hat tightly around her ears!

Muscat Marina

Although ten stops were available, we later told people we had taken the “Hop On Stay On” bus because very few people got on or off; certainly we did not.  Listening to the recorded narrative over ear buds, we obtained some explanation of what we viewed.  Muscat is a beautiful city, rich from oil, free of crime, and ruled by Sultan Qaboose.  Located in a bay protected on three sides and inaccessible by land because of mountains, forts were built in the 1600’s on both sides of the bay as protection from the Ottoman invasions.  Some highlights of this tour (some of which we could see from the exterior) included Muttrah Souk, Royal Opera House, Al Shati, Natural Mangroves, Qurum Beach, Qurum Park, mountain pass, Parliament, marina views, and the Sultan’s Palace.

Although we went to the ship’s pool this afternoon, it was too cold for Sally, who watched while Jesse swam for a few minutes.  He was the only person in the pool at that time except for a teenager from CA, who swam very briefly.

Khasab Fort

Saturday, 25 Mar 2017 – This morning we took a 3.5 hour excursion, “Picturesque Khasab & Surroundings.”  Since it had been raining, very large pools of water on the pier caused us to look for best ways around or through them to reach our bus.  We were glad to stay on the bus for most of the time because it rained from time to time.  Only about one or two miles from the ship, we stopped at Khasab Fort, a 17th-century stronghold build by the Portuguese who sought dominion over the maritime trade in the Straits of Hormuz. 

Although we had scenic views of the coast, today was so cloudy and foggy that any views were not very impressive.  As the bus traveled on a winding road between blasted rock and the ocean, at one point Jesse asked Sally to “hang on” to him because the drop-off from the cliff looked dangerous.  Our guide’s Arabic accent was so heavy that we understood only part of each English sentence; most of the time, no one on the bus understood much of what he said.  However, he showed us a map, which showed how his country is located on a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water; Iran is a close neighbor.  He mentioned something to the effect that the US monitors his area closely, but they have no problem with the US.  (At least, we believe that this is what he said.) 

We stopped at a second Portuguese fort that had a large, strange hole in the ground with grating above it, which we understood to be a prison.  Before returning to the ship, we stopped for about 15 minutes at a very small market.  (One man on our bus bought a suitcase for $30 US, which seemed a fair price.  Small markets and taxis all accept $US in this part of the world.)  Our bus had left the pier at 1:05 PM, and we were back on the ship about 4:30 PM.