Oman Family Vacation Part 2: Muscat, Muttrah Souk, and Quriyat

After spending a couple of days on Al Jabal Al Akhdar, we headed to the coast to visit Muscat. Muscat is a small, but very interesting city. Muscat is on the Arabian Sea along the Gulf of Oman, and it is surrounded by the Western Al Hajar Mountain range.

Since the early 1st century, Muscat has been an important trading port between the east and the west. Over the years, Muscat has been ruled by the Persians, Portuguese, and Ottoman Empires. Before 1970, there was only 17km of paved road in the entire country. Since Qaboos bin Said became the Sultan of Oman in 1970, the country has experienced rapid growth, and a very prosperous economy. There are three main gates to enter the city: Bab Al Mathaib, Bab Al Kabeer, and Bab Al Sagheer.  

The city has many low white buildings and beautiful mosques with pastel colored domes, and the port district of Muttrah has a nice corniche, harbor, and souk. You can also see forts and watchtowers at the tops of most of the rocky hills. 

Muscat still has an active fleet of dhow fishing boats, that are made by hand, without plans. There are many old fishing villages throughout the country that still make the dhow ships.

Our hotel was several miles past the downtown area, on a neighboring bay. We were in awe with the beautiful aqua colored water. It was an amazing contrast with the brown rock and mountains. 

The weather was very HOT and humid in Muscat, which is hard to believe when coming from summertime in Kuwait! We literally would walk 100 feet and be drenched in sweat. It was a good thing our hotel had a nice large pool, 2 kids pools, a kids water park, and a lazy river. 

The boys had a blast, and we played in the water well after sunset the first night.

There was also a play dhow boat that the boys enjoyed playing in.

Can you tell that Caleb enjoyed driving?

And brother even got to drive too :).

We finished the night with ice cream. That night Caleb got the stomach bug, and was fine by the end of the next day. I got the bug the day after Caleb, and then thankfully we were all healthy for the rest of the trip.

Another day we went to Muttrah Souk, which is in a harbor near the old part of the city. This souk is one of the oldest souks in the Arab world, because of Muscat's large role in trading.

In the past, the market was built from mud and palm leaves, it has since then been renovated, and there are even a few shops with air conditioning, which was nice! It was a very interesting souk, with winding narrow alleys and small shops, leading to large open areas.

                                       

                                                  

                                     

Of course Ben made friends with the shop owner!

Another day we took a drive to a small coastal village. called Quriyat. Though the village is only about 40 miles to the south of Muscat, there is no coastal road connecting the two. When we looked at the map, we discovered some back roads to get there. And back roads they were! We ended up driving from almost 20 miles along this remote dirt road.

There was no traffic, except for 2 cars we saw along the road, but when we got to the main road we ran into a little goat traffic jam!

This city has several forts, castles, and watch towers, but we found out that none are open to the public. It was really neat to see this small local village.

And we got to drive along their pristine beach, with not a single person or car in sight.

On the way back to Muscat, we stopped at an interesting museum, called Bait Al Bandera.

The museum talked about the history of Muscat, and all of its rulers along the way. There was even some exhibits for the boys to enjoy. I loved seeing the boys bond this week, they really are becoming good buddies.

I'm not sure how dinosaurs fits into Muscat's history, but there was a dinosaur at the museum!

We spent the last morning swimming in the pool. The boys love the water, and got a lot more comfortable as the week went on. By the last day, Ben was jumping off the side of the pool.

And Caleb was floating on his own, and kicking and paddling!

It was a great family vacation, and we were so glad to have a relaxing week together!

Southern Illinois

Yesterday afternoon we arrived in Illinois, and we were greeted at the airport with big smiles by Grandma Betty. It is so nice to be back for a visit and to relax for the next couple of weeks. The boys warmed up to Grandma right away, and they have definitely made themselves at home :).

 Everything is green, flowers are blooming, and the weather is gorgeous!

 Now, this is what I call relaxing!

 We all got a good night sleep, and when we woke up we went for a run on the nature trail. The boys were so excited to collect sticks and run up and down the trail. Caleb kept saying, 'look, we are in a rain forest!'

 They are becoming good buddies. Caleb likes to hold Ben's hand, they walked almost a half mile down the trail like this today, it was so cute!

 While talking with someone on the trail, I all of a sudden heard Ben screech. Only to find Caleb giving him a big bear strangle/hug :).

 Oh how I miss this....

 Two little monkeys wanted to sit in the tree before we left.

Next, we took a drive out into the country, to visit Nathan's grandma Rose at the cemetery. 

 She was buried in a small, peaceful cemetery, and she is now in heaven with her husband and one of her daughters. We are so thankful for the time we spent with her before moving abroad, and that she got to meet Caleb and Benjamin. Every time we saw her, she had a smile on her face and a good story to tell.

 Next, we drove to Forbes Lake State Park. We drove around the lake, walked along a few docks, and looked for hummingbirds.

 Caleb really liked to give out hugs today!

 A sweet moment of dad and his boys.

 Then the boys found a fake lizard. Caleb was very scared of it at first, but Ben man-handled it like he was a lizard wrestler. Ben finally decided to take the lizard off of the table and run away. Caleb is feverishly chasing him trying to get it back. It was pretty funny!

And the lizard made a good distraction for a picture too.

 We stopped by the playground to run around and have a picnic.

 It was a fun day, and we are so glad to be here!