A whirlwind tour of Salalah, Oman - pt 1

We docked in Salalah, Oman around 8 a.m. this morning. Salalah is the second largest city in Oman, but the biggest in Dhofar, and is home to the largest seaport in the Arab Peninsula. It has a population of 448,000 persons. Although the port is huge, there is hardly anything around it and there were no Oceania shuttles to take tourists into the city. So our choices were a ship excursion, hiring a cab to go sightseeing or staying on the ship.

 

shipping port - Salalah, Oman

We hadn’t booked an excursion and debated not even getting off the ship. But at the last minute we decided to ride the shuttle to the end of the port just to see what if anything there was to see and perhaps use their wifi. So we hopped on the shuttle and rode to the front of the (very huge) port to discover..…nothing. Nothing except a dozen or more cab drivers all vying to take tourists around the city. There were several couples besides ourselves trying to figure out what to do. Two of the couples were talking to a cab driver who they had already identified as being able to understand and speak English. Long story short, when they learned that he could carry 6 persons in his cab (which would divide his charge 3 ways instead of 2) they offered for us to go with them, bringing the price down to $40 per person. We accepted their offer as a good way for us to see some of Salalah.

The guy negotiating with the driver had previously read up on the excursion offerings and already knew what high points he wanted to visit. After negotiating the rate he sat in the front seat in order to communicate with the driver, who turned out be very helpful and accommodating. In short, we spent pretty much the entire day with him, seeing twice if not almost 3 times what we would have seen with a ship excursion. Another bonus was that he would stop for photo ops at our request.

Yesterday was the end of Ramadan, but today was still considered a holiday so most everything was closed. That was actually to our advantage because there were fewer people out and about so less traffic than usual. That allowed us to make better time and see more things. Ronnie and I were basically along for the ride, so the man who coordinated it told the driver everywhere he wanted him to take us.

First stop: Grand Mosque. In all honesty, I’ve never had a desire to visit a mosque but that was on our impromptu tour guide’s agenda so off we went. I was not dressed appropriately (my arms or legs from knees down were not covered) and of course I was lacking the appropriate head covering.

 

Grand Mosque - Salalah, Oman

So when we arrived at the mosque, our driver whipped out a head covering and put it on me so after removing my shoes I was “good to go.” We walked through the court area only and it was pretty much empty so I snapped a few photos. 

preparing to go inside

 

almosque ready

 

shoes off!

 

wash up here

entrance into courtyard

one of many beautiful fixtures

empty court yard - Grand Mosque

Next we stopped nearby to see the Al Hosn or Sultan’s Palace. It was surrounded by high walls and of course no one is allowed inside the grounds so I was only able to snap a photo of the top portion. 

 

partial view of nearby Sultan's Palace

Next stop - a small market where only a few vendors were selling their wares – mainly souvenir type stuff with a heavy emphasis on incense, frankincense and trinkets. Since this was an unplanned outing, we only had $5 between us – that was it! Our driver told us before we went into the market area not to pay full price but instead gave us an example of how to bargain. In every country, I try to find 2 postcards and 2 Christmas ornaments (or items that could be used as such). I was looking for those when Ronnie spotted a knife he wanted to get for Henry. We showed our driver what we wanted but told him we had only $5. He did all the talking and guess what? Our total came to $5! 😊 The booth keepers were a little pushy but nothing like some we’ve encountered that couldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. 

 

small market with a few vendors open

 

happy customer

 

There are lots of coconuts and bananas grown here so there are lots of coconut and banana stands along the roads. We stopped at one and some of us had fresh coconut water. Each of us were given a small bag of “baby” bananas. They’re sweeter than a regular size banana.

 

 

lots and lots of bananas

 

 

bananas, fresh coconuts, passion fruits and more

   

 

Ronnie and our guide

After leaving the banana stand, the driver stopped at the Museum of the Frankincense Land located in the Al Baleed Archaeological Park, an open air archaeological site. The museum was closed but we saw a couple of frankincense trees growing inside the gate. 

 

Al Baleed Archaeological Park

frankincense tree (in back)

Museum of the Frankincense Land (closed)

 

Actually, I think it was best that everything was closed because there's no way we would have had time to go through some of these places even if they were open. And it allowed us to see more than if we had made real visits to them.

We did stop when we saw a bunch of camels in a place where we could pull over. We got out to snap some photos and our driver started feeding them bananas. They were not afraid of us at all!

 

camels free range along the beaches and highways