Explosive Fun

We paused for a snack in the stone village and sat on these lovely old wooden crates. . . 

Thankfully there were no hand grenades inside this one.

And no rockets in this one. 

See Food!

Our Campsite

Parents take note: The key to camping success is to have a parent tent and a kid tent. Double the pleasure, double the fun.

Rocks and Terraces, Oman

Nizwa Livestock Souk

This is the livestock souk in Nizwa, Oman on the day before Eid Al Adha. We arrived late, so there were not too many vendors left. Those who were were selling goats, sheep and cows.

Men and boys do all of the selling. Here is a young man giving the chosen goat to one of the men on the ground. Not shown is the buyer then loading said goat into the trunk of a taxi, closing the trunk, and driving away.

Nizwa Souk

The souk in Nizwa Oman is a large complex of buildings that lie behind imposing castle walls. It is organized according to the items for sale which include Fruit/Veg, Clothes, Crafts, etc.

Hardware/Houseware Section

Spices and Nuts

Snack Time

Sultan Qaboos watching from above

Earthenware

View from the Fort

Lunchtime Storytime

Nizwa Fort

Nizwa Fort was built in the 1650's and includes a maze of rooms on three levels, plus a 36 meter diameter, 30 meter tall tower.

View from the top of the tower.

Date palm plantation and un-restored buildings near the fort.

Oman for Eid Al Adha

We took a little trip to Oman for Eid Al Adha, which is a national (religious) holiday here. Muslims traditionally sacrifice lambs to share with the poor. We saw many of these as we crossed from the UAE into Oman. 

Also saw camels. Cuter and hopefully not going to be eaten.

Abandoned Village at Ibri

Driving towards the oasis city of Nizwa in Oman, we stopped in Ibri where we discovered an abandoned village at the edge of town.

The mud buildings looked ancient but were wired with electricity - we could not determine when the village had been abandoned and what caused the ruin - earthquake? flood? too hard to maintain?

The village was built on a hill so it was common that multiple rooms in one house were on different levels. The rooms were small to medium size and all had these niches with shelves set into the walls. One room usually had an alcove that looked like a fireplace - but there were no chimneys. Windows and doors were small.

A nice view of the palm oasis inside the town of Ibri.

Many rooms had painted palm trunks as roof beams. They were thatched with palm fronds above.

This is a similar structure attached to an occupied house in town. A common site to have these mud structures adjacent to newer concrete ones.