Sultan Qaboos bin Said ruled Oman from 1970 until his death in January 2020, which was two months after our visit. Jaffar, our day-long city tour guide, explained that the sultan wanted to maintain the historical characteristics of Muscat, but also add modern features, such as large shopping malls and well-maintained highways with meticulous landscaping. We visited Oman at the beginning of November and saw festive street light decorations installed in preparation for the national holiday on November 18, the Sultan’s birthday. 

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After touring the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, we continued our very busy city tour. Our next destination was the fish market, which was much cleaner and less smelly than the central market we visited in Arequipa, Peru. We saw many fish there, but very few crab and shrimp.

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The fish market sits right beside Muttrah Port and we were fortunate to see Al Said, the large, impressive royal yacht. It is the primary vessel in the Oman Royal Yacht Squadron, which consists of seven boats.

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We walked a short distance along the Muttrah Corniche, the wide sidewalk by the harbor with ocean-themed artwork and views of Muttrah Fort. The water was still quite choppy from Cyclone Hikka, which had passed through the Arabian Sea and the southern part of Oman the week before our visit. 

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Across the street is Muttrah Souq, a traditional Arab-style market. We wandered through most of the narrow aisles and saw that many shops are somewhat organized into zones by type: toys, jewelry, clothes, shoes, housewares, hardware, antiques, and carpets. The jewelry shops were a bit different from the others because they had air conditioning and actual doors. We didn’t figure out if the doors were primarily a security feature or a temperature control device.

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Old Muscat, about 1.5 square kilometers, was our next destination. The Gulf of Oman and mountains provide natural boundaries to the east and north. A wall built in the 1600s protected the south and west sides of the old city and we found portions of the wall still standing. Until the middle of the 20th century, the old city gates were closed three hours after dusk and both the public playing of music and smoking were banned on the main streets. Currently Old Muscat includes homes, shops, museums, and government buildings, such as the Al Alam Palace.

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Built in 1972, Al Alam Palace (Flag Palace) is one of two royal palaces in Muscat. Even though we could not enter the actual palace grounds, it was still interesting to see the beautiful gardens and contemporary architecture of the sultan’s official residence, which is used when important guests visit him. The sultan lives in the other palace in Muscat most of the time.

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Just across the street from the palace is Al Mirani Fort, one of three historical forts in the old city and, unfortunately, none of them allow visitors inside. The Portuguese, who governed Muscat until about 1650, built this fort in the 1500s. The name is derived from the Portuguese word mirante, which means admiral.

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When we walked around the back side of Al Alam Palace we could easily see Al Jalali Fort, another stronghold of Portugal in the 16th and 17th centuries. It guards the east entrance to the harbor and is only accessible by a steep flight of stairs. From the 1780s until the 1970s the fort was used as a prison, serving as the main Oman prison during those last 70 years and holding about 200 inmates.

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The impressive Royal Opera House was our last tour stop with Jaffar. We learned many interesting facts about the building from him and an opera house guide. The structure is primarily made of marble, which keeps the interior cooler. The beautiful, ornate woodwork is teak and the chandeliers are imported from Europe.

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Designers of the performance hall included many moveable features. Balconies on both sides of the stage can be pulled out for use or pushed in and then covered with curtains when not needed. To enhance sound quality the ceiling can be raised or lowered. For large productions the stage can extend into the seating area. Our opera house guide explained that moving the large 5 ton pipe organ from one part of the stage to another area takes at least 20 minutes. And yes, the stage props we saw were for the musical production of Frozen. Unfortunately we were not able to attend one of the performances during our visit. 

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Each of the 1,100 audience members in the large performance hall has the option of using the translation screens featuring Arabic and English languages. The Royal Opera House is the only concert hall in the world that provides translation into Arabic.

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