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A hidden paradise
Muscat
With its palm trees, tiny secluded beaches, well-kept
avenues, and balconied houses in all the colors of the Mediterranean, Muscat is
a virtual oasis in the desert...
When I saw Muscat among the list of new destinations to which
Turkish Airlines has direct flights, I was ecstatic. I’m headed now for ‘Muscat,
capital of Oman, mysterious land of Sinbad the Sailor’, on flight TK 1158. The
captain is just starting to announce the flight, and all is well. To suppress my
excitement I review my notes over and over, and when we land at Muscat
I
don’t know where the time has gone...
THE
MIDDLE EAST’S SECOND LARGEST MOSQUE
No sooner do I exit Seeb Airport
than a wall of hot air redolent of incense and spices hits me in the face. As we
proceed from the airport to the city center, we seem to be moving through a
flood of light. The light reflected from the glass and gold mosaic dome of the
mosque, as elegant as it is gigantic, built for his mother by Sultan Qaboos bin
Said, who came to the throne in 1970 after deposing his father, Sultan Said bin
Taimur, seems to permeate the entire city. As the Middle East’s second largest,
the Sultan Qaboos Great Mosque, built over an area of 933,000 square meters, has
five minarets,
a main building capable of accommodating 6,600, an outer
courtyard with a capacity for 8,000, a library with upwards of twenty thousand
works on Islamic culture, and a 300-seat seminar hall. A crystal chandelier
which hangs fifty meters above the floor of this mosque, which was opened for
worship in 2001 to great ceremony, is illuminated by 1122 light bulbs. Greenery
and colorful bougainvillea line both sides of Sultan Qaboos Avenue, creating a
striking contrast between this rainbow of color and the magnificent volcanic
rocks that rise some distance away. Muscat is like an oasis in the desert;
indeed even more than that it’s like a paradise! Giant symbols of the nation
grace every intersection along the road: a dagger, a ewer, an incense burner in
the shape of a castle...
A NEW FAVORITE
WITH WATER SPORTS ENTHUSIASTS
The dagger, which is also on the flag of
Oman, is the most conspicuous feature of the traditional male costume. The tip
of the dagger, which is worn at the waist attached by an ostentatious sash of
embroidered cloth, curves to the right. Incense burners of red earthenware and
decorated with hand-worked motifs in vivid colors are another national symbol.
In them, little balls of pungent resin are burned on tiny bits of red-hot
charcoal. An important source of revenue to Oman for centuries, these resin
balls, obtained from the ‘frankincense’ tree, are used in making perfumes as
well as incense. Indeed the secret of the world’s most expensive scents lies
concealed in these minuscule balls.
As we approach the center, I first spot
the government ministries between the road and the sea, and then the embassies
of all the countries along the coastal strip. Everything is extremely neat and
orderly. The buildings that stand as an indication of how to modernize a city
without forfeiting its identity are four or five-storey but all are whitewashed,
and their balconies are festooned with bougainvillea.
In recent years
especially, Oman has become a favorite holiday destination with foreign
tourists, enthusiasts of the various nature sports such as swimming, diving,
fishing, desert skiing, jeep safaris, trekking, golf and sailing, which are
possible all through the mild winter months when the temperature never falls
below 25 C. But the ideal season starts from the second half of October, when
not only does the tourist season open but the festival season also kicks off.
The Muscat Festival, which starts on 20 October, culminates on 18 November in
the celebration of Oman National Day. A host of exhibitions and fairs are held
at the Oman International Exhibitions Centre near the airport for the
duration.
LAND OF SINBAD
Oman,
a name that derives from the Arabic ‘Umm An-Nar’ meaning ‘Mother of Fire’, is
believed to have emerged out of the sea following a great volcanic eruption.
Residents of the Sultanate are the oldest
- and perhaps the only - seafaring
Arab people of the Arabian Peninsula. Fishing and farming have been their main
source of livelihood for centuries. In 1970, Italian archaeologists found on the
1700-kilometer Oman coast a fishing village dating back 7000 years where some
400 people lived. This too is an indication of how closely engaged in seafaring
and fishing were the ancestors of the people who inhabit on these lands today.
At a square near Al Bustan, you can see a model of the boat said to have been
used on his voyages by the epic hero Sinbad, who is believed to have been born
in Sohar. Called a ‘dhow’, this boat differs little from the boats used in Oman
today. Only now powerful engines have replaced Sinbad’s sails and oarsmen.
If
you want to see red mullet, small and large, grey mullet, bream, tuna, barracuda
and a host of other varieties of ocean fish all in one place, then you must go
to the enormous fish and vegetable wholesale market at Mutrah, where you can
also wander through the Mutrah Souk, a traditional covered bazaar. Everything
from silver jewelry, filigreed daggers, plentiful incense burners and resin
balls, and special ewer-shaped coffee makers to dates, silk fabrics, pearls,
precious stones, local costumes and traditional Oman ‘halva’ is sold at the
Mutrah Souk, one of the region’s longest and most famous Arab
markets.
A DIP IN THE
OCEAN
Among the scores of museums in Muscat, I am able to visit only
the National Museum for now. A magnificent but extremely delicate palace,
inspired by traditional Ottoman architecture and built by the Sultan right on
the shore...
Clouds like pure white cottonballs dot the brilliant sky and the
air is crystal clear. I am at a loss for words to describe the harmony of this
riot of colorful flowers and verdant green grass beside the vast blue ocean. The
only problem is the temperature, which is higher than I’m used to. I’m dying to
take a dip. But only after sundown, in the light of the moon. I go to the yacht
club near Sidap and taste the pleasure of swimming in the ocean for the first
time in my life.
Like every beautiful thing, even my Muscat adventure has
come to an end. I return to the airport down the ‘flood of light’ road bearing
shopping bags crammed with incense burners, miniature daggers, embroidered
tunics, jasmine-scented soaps and perfumes, ‘frankincense’ balls, and scads of
other Oman souvenirs. My stay here was like a dream and leaving is very
difficult. I start up the stairs to the Turkish Airlines plane hoping I can come
back to Muscat again to take part in those vibrant festivals and visit the
public market set up every Friday in the big square. Before drifting off, I add
a final paragraph to my notes. “With its palm trees, tiny beaches hidden at the
foot of the rocky mountains that stand like a barrier between the ocean and the
desert, its succulent fish, its well-kept avenues and its balconied houses in
all the colors of the Mediterranean, Muscat is like an oasis in the desert... On
one side the exquisite mosques from which the call to prayer rises and the
air-conditioned luxury cars skimming along the smooth asphalt road, on the other
the salt-scent of the sea and the fishermen plying their traditional trade...
There’s something for everybody
here.”
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