Oman

Okay, here are the promised pictures.

First, my friend Serdar, his family, and I drove up to the mountains.




And wandered around an abandoned village on a trail above a wadi.








We were planning to go further along the trail but it was just too hot so we went back down and hung out in the town of Bahla, which has a massive fort and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unfortunately the fort was still being renovated so we couldn't tour it but my understanding is it will reopen later this year.







Later we went to the nearby town of Jibreen because we saw a sign that said “Jibreen Castle, 4km”. We decided to check it out thinking it would be some small ruin and instead saw this:



It was massive! With dozens of rooms in something like five levels. It was a fantastic Castle, and we were the only tourists there.







Afterwards we continued on to the city of Nizwa, once the capital of Oman, today it contains a nice fort and large souq area.






We wandered around the souq for a while before I headed back to Muscat to catch a flight home.

It was a great trip but it was a bit hot. Because we were up in the mountains it was a dry heat rather than humid butwalking around was like walking next to a giant hairdryer! That said, Oman is a great country to visit and it's a shame more tourists don't go there. When the weather is cooler I plan on renting a 4x4 and explore the countryside for a couple weeks.