Your Oman itinerary, day 1

Because, after you read all about Sultan Qaboos, you will surely want to be on the next plane to Oman, I wanted to share a few highlights of my itinerary. This is the Oman in Four Days With A lot of Driving Mountains and Coast Tour. There is much to see in this lovely country, and my suggestions represent the merest fraction.

Nonetheless, here they are:

Day 1: Drive to the beautiful mountain town of Nizwa, which is dominated by a lovingly restored fort (see previous entry), complete with a squat round tower built by the imams who ruled this part of Oman in the 17th century. The mosque, with its green and blue tiled dome and minaret, stands right outside the fort, which also houses the traditional souq (a must-see!) On Thursday mornings, there is a livestock souq, which JL and I were privileged to witness. It featured mostly goats and cattle from the surrounding region, paraded through an open area outside the main souq (for obvious reasons of cleanliness). Men wearing dishdashas and the traditional woven (and jaunty) cap or pastel turban gathered to bargain and inspect, but a few women also dove right in. Traditional Omani women from Nizwa wear brightly colored head scarves, long tunics, baggy trousers with intricated embroidered cuffs and black, beak-like masks (similar to the gold ones worn by some women in the UAE). Unfortunately, there were no camels at this livestock souq.

After the souq, drive to the Al-Hoota Cave (the name alone is worth the price of admission). Nestled in a barren moonscaped wadi (valley), this cave was discovered in the 1950s during the Jebel Wars and was a hideout for noncombatants. Since then, it has been restored and lit--all the better to reveal its cool stalagmite and stalagtites, especially the formation shaped like a lion. Most of the cave is underwater, and in this water live very small blind fish (they have evolved so that they no longer have eyes!) If you are luckier than JL and I, the cute zippy train that takes you down to the cave's entrance will be working. Otherwise, you'll have to walk along the tracks, which isn't so bad. No photos in the cave, but you can take photos along the track, so pay no attention to the signs that ask you to leave your camera at the front desk (like we did).

When you finish up at the cave, the village of Misfat is just a short 20 kms away. This is possibly one of the coolest places in Oman, if not the whole world. The entire village is surrounded by the same moonscape as the Al-Hoota Cave. Except, the village itself is in a wadi with a natural spring, which runs year round. As a result, you drive up a barren mountain and turn the corner into a lush valley where bananas grow! I am not kidding! The villagers have devised an ingenious system of irrigation canals and terraced farming that allows them to harvest bananas, oranges and other non-desert crops. They have also (generously) opened their village up to tourists who are guided through the place on well-marked trails (that are also used by the villagers, of course). The greenery is stunning--and less than a kilometer away, it is easy to tell where the water runs out and the barren rocks begin. JL and I hiked down the wadi and back up around the other side before heading as close to the top of Jebel Shams (a nearby mountain) as we could go

It turned out we couldn't get far (nowhere near the summit in our rental Corolla) but we drove until the pavement ended, and we got out and took pictures. The craggy peaks rose in all directions. I'd recommend a 4WD, if you can swing it because the view from the top would have been truly stunning. As it was, we turned back around all too soon and pointed the car toward our final stop of the day: Jabreen Castle.

Jabreen Castle sits in the middle of a desert plain, a huge structure and former residence of a powerful imam in the 16th century. The site has been restored but is still being developed as a tourist destination. So, it is in that cool stage where everything is open and looks great, but there are not the distractions of a gift shop, safety rails, Do Not Enter signs, guided tours and crowds of people. JL and I played in the castle for about an hour, climbing any staircase we wanted, peeking into rooms (finished and unfinished) and creating our own postcards without any competition from (or need to mimic) the real thing. We both decided that we wouldn't mind having a castle of our own, especially one with so many back passageways and little rooms. As I find myself in these desert forts and castles, I think a lot about what it must have been like to live there. As someone who has never craved much furniture, I love, love, love the rooms full of carpets and lounging pillows rather than couches and chairs. I love the thick clay-mud walls made to keep the place cool in the summer and hold the heat in the winter. I love looking out the windows at the date palms in the distance. The desert, whether it's in Oman or California, is a peaceful, gorgeous place, especially (I realize) in December when there's a cool breeze blowing off the mountains and it's possible to leave the house without melting.

JL and I did all of that in one day--our first full day in Oman. The very, very first day was spent driving from Abu Dhabi, settling in to our horrible, gross, dirty, yucky hotel, making plans to change hotels and trying to find some dinner (which we did, eventually, though it took a long time). The above itineray was our first day as actual tourists, and, though we packed a lot in, we arrived back in Nizwa in time to do some Interneting and shopping. Our new-and-improved hotel served us much better (in addition to providing a yummy dinner buffet) and got us ready for Day 2.

Stay tuned: camels, Bedouin fashion, Omani coffee and ghost towns are coming up next!