For day two of our guided tour of the interior of Oman we covered a circle that sort of mirrored our trip yesterday, but to the west. It looked like this.
It was another aggressive day in the wilds of Oman with our fantastic guide Valentina. What we didn’t know was that much of it was off road driving in the Al Hajar mountains. For some reason I thought today’s tour was just ancient villages and oases. So you can imagine my surprise when Valentina pressed the 4WD button in the Land Cruiser.
It started off innocently enough with our visit to the ancient fort at Nakhl. This fort dates to the pre-Islamic age somewhere in the 8th century and it towers over the town now known as Nakhl.
At the entrance to the fort we found this fine fellow who was manning the door.
The town itself is the gateway to the Al Hajar mountains which you can see in the background below.
As you can see the view from the top of the fort is incredible. Something we keep saying about Oman!
Nakhl is also home to a lovely oasis that local use for swimming.
There’s even a swimming pool where the water is coming directly out of the mountain.
And then the, ahem, fun began. After Nakhl we went off road and directly up a mountain called Jebel Akhdar, which means Green Mountain in Arabic.
While the scenery was incredible it was also terrifying. Most of the time the road looked like this.
So my eyes were firmly shut for much of the drive. Here are a few more mountain pictures.
Really amazing surroundings. Below is Little Snake Canyon and apparently is a hikers paradise.
And more.
One more before we get to the top. In the picture below you can see part of the road we traveled to get to this vista.
And finally after two hours of professional nail biting we arrived at the top.
See the ribbon of dirt road down there? That’s what we were driving. Terrifying but wow was the view amazing. Now that we’re back on flat ground I can say it was worth it but on that day, at that moment, I was having a hard time understanding how I made the colossal mistake to book this tour! But we lived to tell the tale and that’s what is important.
Imagine my surprise when Valentina pressed the 4WD button in the Land Cruiser
On the other side of the crest the topography of the mountains changes completely. Rather than jagged and vertical it is curvy and sloped. Very odd, but it meant that on the other side of crest the road could be paved. So to my great relief the trip down was not nearly as frightening as the trip up.
Our next destination was Nizwa and an ancient abandoned village nearby called Birkat Al Mouz.
The buildings have been left to crumble and so you have to be super careful as you scamper around them but they hold a real beauty that was arresting, especially in the late afternoon light.
The old village also has an oasis with date palms shading many of the old and new homes.
It was amazing how much cooler it felt under the palms.
One interesting piece of history about this village is that the canal they used (which still runs) was built in the Roman style, meaning above ground in an aqueduct. So there must have been some Roman influence on the town.
The canal is known as Falaj Daris, and is the largest still working water canal system in Oman and is only one of four UNESCO World Heritage sites in the country.
Jeff did us the honors of climbing up the frightening stone stairs to see the canal.
We finished our day with a much deserved refreshment stop at a tea shop on the way back to Muscat where we enjoyed Omani tea and shared ragag.
Omani tea is essentially chai with cardamon and saffron. Lick your lips delicious.
Ragag is traditional Omani bread (very thin, thinner than a crepe), filled with a creamy cheese that has melted inside and then the whole thing is drizzled with date syrup. Also lick your lips delicious. If you’re in Oman, don’t be afraid to try it, you’ll love it.
This was our last full day in Oman. Tomorrow we embark for our final stop, the imperial city of Vienna.
