Nizwa is a town located about 100km in-land of Muscat. The whole area around is full of mountains and wadis. We took a weekend trip up there and after dropping the bags off at the hotel, headed straight up the roads and tracks that lead you to a view point over looking Jebel Shams.
From we drove back down the mountain and stopped at a place called Bahla... more of the on another page aswell...
Having made it back to Nizwa, and sorted out a replacement couple of tyres.... read the other pages... we settled down to an afternoon and evening by the swimming pool. A lovely dinner to follow and a few more drinks by the pool... Yes those nice flavoured drinks from bottles with corks...
The next morning brought a bright sky and a chance to go and explore the local Souq. these are basically your markets, most towns have a collection of specialised Souks for each trade. Above you can see a shot of the live animal Souk in Nizwa. Hidden just beyond view is a circle that all the owners walk around with their goats and other animals they want to sell, it’s not un-like a uk farmers market but just not a big guy in charge...
We ventured from there onto other areas, the Fish Souk was something that only smell-o-net could tell you about, the meat one not much better either. Then behind these you get to the Gold Souk and the other trinket trade shops, just like the one below...
After that we headed back out of town and up to an old fort, Jabreen Fort. This is still undergoing some renovation as are many of the cultural sites in Oman, it’s only really been open for tourism for a few years and is now financing the refurbishing of many of the historical sites.
Jabreen Fort stands in a flat desert area and was once a working garrison, as you would expect, here are just a couple of shots of the place to keep you in suspense for your visit... Hint Hint!!!
The classroom!
Between the Look Outs!
From there, we headed back toward Nizwa and to a town called Tanuf. Famous for being deserted but more for the various stories of why it was deserted, one version goes along the lines... no, we’ll save that until you get to see it for yourself.
Even from this photo you should be able to guess some of the story...
