Muscat Nov 25 - arriving in Muscat

Oman is a sultanate with a history dating back to ancient civilisations. Sultan Qaboos bin Said came to power in 1970 when the country was isolated, closed off with no roads and no means of communication and could not afford to be part of the industrial boom enjoyed by the rest of the world at the outcome of WWII.

Location of Oman, a Gulf country

One of his priorities was to improve the education of his people. In 1970 there were only three schools in Oman, now there are schools everywhere, private, public or international. There are also five top level colleges of applied science, a public university in Muscat with ten faculties; there are also private universities in other regions. More than 70% of the university students are girls. The employment of women in more significant roles (government and business leaders) is also a significant achievement.

The Ministry of Education manages four chairs abroad in Bahrain, Melbourne and Utrecht (Netherlands).

Tourism and trade are also important.

The Sultan is also very conscious of protecting the heritage and environment of the country. Many ancient forts are found throughout the country. The mountains and the coast areas are very carefully managed.

The capital of Oman is Muscat.

What, you may ask, prompted us to visit Oman as a destination? In 2015 we took a repositioning cruise which left Singapore and crossed the Indian Ocean, taking in various ports of interest along the way before arriving in Dubai, UAE. Many passengers disembarked here, but we chose to continue on through the Suez Canal to our final destination of Istanbul. Our first port after leaving Dubai, was Muscat.

Muscat is situated on the southern side of the Gulf of Oman, which in turn is south of the Straits of Hormuz which we had cruised through to get to Dubai.

Muscat is the capital of Oman

We only had half a day from docking at 12pm, to sailing at 8pm. I had been in touch with a tour guide and negotiated a busy tour for a group from the ship, taking in as much as we could in the short time we had. As a result of this contact, I made a friend for life. Nasser was such an amazing guide. So passionate about his country and very well versed in its history and culture. We developed a friendship and as a result it was decided we wanted to see more of the little-known, small country in the Middle East which is Oman.

We arrived into Muscat on an Oman Air flight from Bangkok. An airline I can recommend. Pity it does not fly into Sydney - YET!

Nasser was there to meet us. It was good to see him again. He took us to our hotel, a traditional Omani hotel, not a generic western hotel. We knew we would not be in the hotel very often. After settling in, Nasser picked us up again a little while later and we went out to see the sights of Muscat by night.