Sinbad the Sailor

If you haven’t heard of the explorer Tim Severin, I would recommend looking him up as he is most interesting.

Couldn’t believe the time when my eyes opened this morning, so it was jump up, get ready asap and get down for breakfast. Muscat is much hotter than Dubai and Hilde says it’s because of the [stone] mountains that encircle it.

At the border, I bought 1GB of data to use up in a day and as I had just 40 minutes left with nearly all of it still remaining; I posted some pictures on FB AND got my blip for yesterday in! Wey hey! G & I then went for a drive to our two favourite spots whilst our friend tidied up after breakfast and got ready for the next day.

Our first stop was the roundabout of the Al Bustan Palace Hotel which showcases this real honest-to-goodness dhow. I say that because this isn’t a replica or symbolic boat, it has actually sailed across the seven seas to China – recreating a voyage that Sinbad would have done, in 1980 when Oman celebrated its 10th National Day! Sinbad, it is reckoned is the collective stories of Omani sailors all put into one super (sailor) hero sort of thing! True story! J

The next stop was Muttrah seafront where I managed to get a decent shot of the bay but didn’t want to do a collage today. Lunched at D’Arcy’s Kitchen – Muscat’s oldest Western-style café apparently - before finally starting to head for home at 3:30pm for the 5-6 hours it takes. Got in at 8:30 and unpacked within 10 minutes!!! Need to head for bed now...