Weekend in Hajar Mountains

We were hosting my friend for a week and during the weekend we decided to show her Hajar Mountains, Jebel Shams and Al Jabal Al Akhdar/Sayq Plateau where we had actually been before. But this time we had rented a 4WD with a low gear, so we were brave enough to take also some smaller and steeper roads. 

On Friday, we left Muscat rather early to see Nizwa's Souq (market) at its best. We arrived around 10am and the market started to calm down by then already but yet we could see trucks with cows, cages with pigeons and hens, besides more usual products like vegetables and crafts. 

Nizwa's Souq:

After visiting the souq we also had a quick visit to Nizwa Fort:

Then we headed to Jabel Shams. We had taken warm clothes with us but this time it was really warm up there.
Al Khitaym village:

Ancient village Misfat Al Abriyyin:

We planned to visit Al Jabal Al Akhdar next day, so we had decided before it was wiser to stay overnight in the area to avoid driving forth and back to Muscat. We stayed near Bahla in one hotel apartment of 3-bedrooms. It was actually the very first time we stayed at hotel here in Oman. Just a side note, we had dinner at one restaurant nearby and had really delicious food including grand fresh juices and we paid only around 15€ for 3 adults and 2 (3) kids. 

On Saturday we headed to the Green Mountains, to Sayq Plateau.

View to Al Fayyadhiyah:

Doing a small hike in Wadi Bani Habib, to old village ruins:

View from Al Fayyadhiyah:

When driving down in Sayq Plateau there are also escape lanes for emergency:

Actually, I have always thought it is difficult to take photos of mountains to show the real wow-effect. One must experience it, feel it, see it. 

By the way, we use Explorer's Oman Off-Road book when planning and doing our weekend trips. Must-have literature for exploring Oman!

Muscat Festival

For a whole month (from 22nd Jan til 23rd Feb), for 7 afternoons and evenings per week, Muscat Festival took place. There were different venues in different part of the city as well as out of the city. It is the festival where one can buy some Arabic food, see Omanis traditional handicrafts, listen and watch concerts and shows, plus much more. 

The festival venues were of course richly decorated:

Heritage Village in the festival:

Concerts:

Camel rides:

 Camel racing:

Air show of UAE Aerobatic Team:

Al Jabal Al Akhdar, Sayq Plateau and Ar Ruus

We spent another Friday by discovering Oman. This time our destination was Al Jabal Al Akhdar and Sayq Plateau, around 155 km from Muscat. Al Jabal Al Akhdar is also called "Green Mountains". Yes, there were more green bushes and trees than we usually see around here, yet for our Estonian-lots-of-forests background it was grayish mountains with some green bushes ;) Sayq Plateau is also called for high land of Oman because most of the roads go between 2000 and 2400m height. 

Before entering the area there is a military checkpoint. I got to read that the area was closed for public until 2004 because it was and part of it still is a military land. The checkpoint is to check one's ID-card and check if the car is good enough to drive in the mountains. It is said only 4WD can drive there, yet some of Andres' colleagues who had 4WD were not allowed further from the checkpoint and they had to rent "a better car" from there (a car with a driver costs for about 70€, yet some were successful with bargaining the price to around 50€). Andres and me were wondering if they were just to make some money but later we experienced a good 4WD was indeed essential. We were allowed to drive our Subaru Forrester but the higher we got the more Andres missed low gear that our car does not have. That's why we could not drive to Diana's Viewpoint (a place that has got its name after Princess Diana's visit), the road there was too steep, so we turned back. It is a place where we would like to go back but then with a car that had low gear as well.

Instead, we took a road on Sayq Plateau to Ar Ruus village. Our guide book said that very few tourists make it as far as this and we were wondering whether it was because of awful (=too steep) road or whether it was too far away. Neither, we would say. The road was drivable (ok, here and there we were keeping quiet from the horror to look down) with spectacular views and it was around 45 km from the military checkpoint. When we arrived at Ar Ruus no other tourists were there (later we met only some British couple) but a friendly local guy who invited us to kind of "watch tower" to take photos from, we had a nice chat with him, and soon some other local guys invited us to dates and kahwa (local coffee with cardamon). Friendly people, breathtaking views and quiet, o-so-quiet place!

Starting the way up:

 At around 2km height, it was around 14C

Donkeys:

Views from Ar Ruus village:

Somewhere up there: