Well… we will call today “Day 1” because last night we landed so late and didn’t do anything but go to the hotel, but we will tell you about it anyway. 

Landing in Oman was easy. Pretty dark out, that’s for sure. The terminal had a few welcome things to greet us and then it was time for a very long line to get into the country. Luckily my travel partner had done his paperwork beforehand online, or else who knows how long it may have taken. No repeat of Kuwait, that’s for sure. 

Once actually in the country we looked at how to get to our hotel. The only signs we could really see, were for the taxi. Also, a quick Google maps search showed us there wasn’t public transportation in Muscat. 

Maybe we just wanted to get to the hotel quickly, so we went to the official airport taxi, and asked about the fare. It is metered. Great. We jump in and head out.  Not even exaggerating that our taxi ride was probably 10 minutes, and it cost 10 OMR (~35 CAD). Our taxi driver was asking what we wanted to do the next few days and we told him. Our destination was about 30 minutes from our hotel by taxi, so just call him tomorrow. 

Thanks for the offer, but 100 dollars to go such a short distance seems like a lot. We will have to investigate… 

And investigate we did. Although Google told us there wasn’t public transportation, there were little bus stops on the map. And to not keep you wondering if you’re only here for travel tips, the bus runs along the main street in Muscat (Sultan Qaboos Highway) and goes straight to the airport. This is the A1 bus, and it only costs 500 baisa (half a rial, OMR, because the money is base 1,000). Much, MUCH cheaper than the taxi. Now you know. 

Actual Day 1

So now we woke up at our hotel to the above view, and we had a plan. We will walk to the bus stop and see if we can go to where we need to go. Here’s hoping. 

Another place without much walking culture. At least not in our area since it’s an industrial zone. But, on the main road we see it’s a little different. 

For being such a hot, dry country (at least we thought so) there is quite a bit of green vegetation that clearly needs a lot of water. 

And then we saw it. A gigantic mosque. The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. We had other plans further from our hotel today, so this is the only look we took. We will have to come back. 

We took the bus from close to the mosque until we got to Ruwi. This is where we change busses to go to Muttrah (or Mattrah, we saw it written both ways). So, this trip cost me 400 baisa and the following bus cost me 300 baisa. Much better than what we were expecting from yesterday’s taxi ride. 100% you need to travel this way unless you want to be paying a lot. It’s comfortable, air conditioned, and free wifi (with a phone number verification code).

(Another travel tip, try to have small bills in Oman. Everyone appreciates it and not everyone has change. For the bus you pay by cash and they give you change, but sometimes they ask if you have smaller bills.)

The bus dropped us off right where we wanted to go, the Muttrah Souq. 

We had a quick walk around, and there were lots of stalls open, but not all of them. There were a few tourists walking around, probably mainly from the cruise ship(s) that were docked in the bay. 

Then it was off to the first thing we came to see, the Muttrah Fortress. 

I’m so happy that I just get to be taken everywhere and I’m not the one walking because this looks like a long, steep climb

The view from the top was spectacular. Well worth the admission fee and climb. Pretty much a 360 degree view, which makes sense why you would have a fort here. 

The Fort was built by the Omani in 1507, with the Portuguese later adding to it. In the 18th century a lot of extra work was done on the Fort by the Al Busaidi dynasty. And then finally in 1980 the government restored the fort to what we see now. 

Then it was time to go back down to sea level and walk again. Our plan was to walk from Muttrah to Old Muscat (the locals just call it Muscat) and go to the National Museum. However, we could walk that along the waterfront on a nice little promenade they have there… 

But why would we do the easy route? Instead, we took a road along the interior, from our reading it is supposed to be the old road between Muscat and Muttrah, before the new waterfront road. 

At first it was like anything else. Flat. Then it started to go up, not too badly. And we saw lots of people doing exercise along this route. It seemed pretty popular for that. You can kind of make out the road in the background going up the mountainside.

And then it got to its highest point (not too high) where we could take pictures looking at where we had come from…

…and where we were going.

After that, we were in Old Muscat, the entrance to which used to be protected by this massive gate. 

Then it was on to actual Old Muscat. By this time it was already too late to be heading to the museum, so instead we just decided to walk around and do some investigative work so that tomorrow we can arrive quickly to our destination without any delays. 

The first thing we investigated? The bay. 

And it was amazing. The ocean, three forts, and some islands. Anything else you’d like? 

We continued walking along this waterfront road, getting closer to one of the forts here. 

And then… the sultan’s palace. Absolutely massive, as would be expected for a sultan. 

Then it was a little further along and we saw a beautiful looking mosque. Our taxi driver had told us that there were many, many mosques in Oman last night. And we’ve definitely noticed that. Not sure if you have in some of the backgrounds of our panoramic views. 

And then it was the front of the palace. Complete with the coat of arms of Oman. 

We then found the National Museum, handy to know for tomorrow, aaaand the bus stops directly outside of it, and then we needed to wait for the bus. 

The bus wasn’t coming for a while (according to the posted schedule, which we found out later isn’t necessarily 100% accurate), so instead we just left walking. Looking behind us every so often to see if we would need to run to the next bus stop or not. Instead we did the waterfront walk in reverse, passing by the gate again. 

And doing pretty much this entire trip before being picked up in front of the Muttrah Souq. 

Then it was back on the bus, change busses in Ruwi, and then back to the hotel. 

But wait. We saw the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in the distance as we passed by on the bus and just had to go see it. So we took a detour to go see that as well. My travel partner will be tired tonight, that’s for sure. But it’s not everyday that you see something like this. At least not in our hometown. 

But then it was a tired walk back to the hotel for some much needed rest. Goodnight from Muscat!