OMAN is like modal jazz – think 1960s’ Johnny Hodges or Herbie Hancock – so different to the turbocharged swing of bebop that gives voice to Dubai, its brash neighbour to the north.
Driving away from Muscat’s airport, expect to see hundreds of date palms lining the road, not glitzy high-rise cityscapes, and a large frankincense tree outside the nearby luxury-brand Amouage perfumery. Frankincense is abundant in Oman, although the trees are under threat in the small number of other places where they grow, and the subtle but earthy fragrance of the aromatic resin epitomises the appeal of this country on the southeastern coast of the Arabian peninsula.
A view from Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort
The capital, Muscat, a jumble of low-rise suburbs that stretch for over 30km and enclose a formless city centre, may not pique your interest. Jebel-Akhdar (‘Green Mountain’), two hours away, is an immeasurably more rewarding destination: an 80-km-long plateau just over 2000m high, framed by the Hajar Mountains and reachable in 4WD vehicles.
Lying on the plateau’s foothills are the evocative remains – crumbling ruins, passageways and an ancient irrigation system (falaj) – of Birkat Al Mouz. Adjoining the modern town of Birkat, the abandoned villagers’ homes – some fifty of them built of clay and mud – seem doomed to a slow extinction but one of them, Bait al Sabah, has been restored as a charming heritage inn – hopefully setting an example for more extensive restoration of a location that reaches back to the seventeenth century.
The traditional village of Misfat al Abriyeen, better known as Misfah
Atop the Green Mountain, the village of Al-Aqar is where you can wander through a pomegranate orchard, walnut trees over a century old and small rose plantations (for rose water). A viewpoint is close by for watching sunsets and spotting fossils in the slate rock.
Five-star hotels are well established on the plateau, including Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort where the bedrooms profit from views of immensely dramatic canyon vistas.
Arts and crafts in Nizwa
The descent down from the Green Mountain accesses the capital of Oman’s interior, Nizwa. This ancient town and the region has beguiling suggestions of an Arabian past that is in danger of being lost to modernity. The pretty but partly gentrified souks, a shopping mall in their own way, are where craft items – leatherwork, pottery, copperware and the traditional rounded Omani caps – are on sale.
From Nizwa, it only takes 40 minutes to visit Al Hamra, a superbly well-preserved old town with a lovely oasis below it that can be strolled through. Walking through the abandoned quarter of Al Hamra feels a little like being in Pompeii – a spot of past time preserving an uncanny presence of lives once lived – although it was inhabited until only a couple of decades ago.
A characterful place to spend a night in Nizwa is recently opened Bait Al Mualleminn, a restored 400-year-old home with two suites and original features in the them that include ceiling timbers engraved with Arabic sayings; a neat spiral staircase accesses a terrace overlooking the old town.
It is almost worth planning an itinerary around being in Nizwa for the Friday-morning livestock market when goats, some very stylish in appearance, are perambulated in a circle by their owners, calling out their minimum prices and inviting higher bids.
Chandlier at Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat
The traditional village of Misfat al Abriyeen, better known as Misfah, is less than an hour from Nizwa and this is the quaintest village in the region. Seen from below its rocky 900-m-location, Misfah has a medieval, rugged look, like one of those tranquil inland villages seen from afar in Liguria.
Stepped, unordered stone-built dwellings, well over a century old, fill the crooked alleys where you might think you could get lost but cannot really because of the small scale of the place (only some 500 people live here). Standing on the terrace of the first guesthouse and restaurant to open here, Misfah Old House, you are at eye level with the top of a small oasis of date palms.
Flowers of the fruitless male trees are tied in string and placed inside female trees to pollinate them – the farming of dates has unique procedures, seen at close quarters from the terrace. Around Misfah, pomegranates, figs and mangoes are also farmed thanks to the same intricate, spring-fed irrigation system in Birkat Al Mouz.
An oasis of date palms
Muscat, your arrival and departure point, is where at least one day will be spent and there is the assurance of 5-star accommodation and restaurants. The grand Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque deserves to be seen for its outstanding architecture and spectacular chandelier with Swarovski crystals and fine gold plated metalwork.
For the wealth of other places to see and things to do in Oman, the 2024 edition of Rough Guide Oman earns a place in your luggage and Experience Oman is full of practical information.
by Sean Sheehan