Muttrah Oman

The Sultanate of Oman is a country in Southwest Asia, on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders the United Arab Emirates in the northwest, Saudi Arabia in the west and Yemen in the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea in the south and east, and the Gulf of Oman in the northeast. The country also contains Madha, an enclave enclosed by the United Arab Emirates, and Musandam, an exclave also separated by Emirati territory. (Wikipedia) One of its most famous landmarks is the Muttrah District – Oman’s old but well sealed market centre. Many people especially expatriate whose primary concern is to take a break from their busy schedule and foreigners who are in travel visits Mutrrah District. In my case, visiting Muttraq Corniche was not planned at all, really not that touristy purpose travel type because originally, me and my friend were only visiting one of our former colleague who live and work in Muscat to get in touch with, and since his place is just 30 minutes drive away from Muttrah, we decided not to go back to Sohar that day and spent the night in his house, so after leisury walk around City Muscat Center and take our dinner, we went to his villa and retired early to be able visit Mutrrah in the next day with full energy.

Start of adventure
As we get too much sleep, we were up almost 6AM, maybe because of exhaustion from last day travel from Sohar to Muscat,so due to limited time, we did not able to take our breakfast in the villa since we will meet our boss before 7 am to accompany us to Muttrah with his Indian friend who volunteer to provide us with a ride, so packed in record time, we were able to got a taxi down by 7 AM and met him at 8 AM.

First Stop: Sultan Quaboos Grand Mosque
We were nearing our destination, before entering our way to Muttrah, we first stopped at Sultan Quaboos Grand Mosque, this mosques penned in 2001 and the only mosque in Oman open to non-Muslims and one of the largest in the Gulf, with room for an estimated 20,000 worshippers in the two prayer halls and surrounding courtyard. The mosque itself sits within a walled compound with a minaret at each corner, plus a fifth, larger minaret halfway along the northern wall

Second Stop: Muttrah District Proper 

Muttrah, (Arabic: مطرح‎) administratively a district, is located in the Muscat province of Oman. Before the discovery of oil, Muttrah was the center of commerce in Oman (Muscat). It is still a center of commerce as one of the largest sea ports of the region is located there. Other landmarks include Souq Muttrah, a traditional bazaar and Sour Al-Lawatiah, a small community of houses surrounded by an old wall. To the south lies Muscat District (wikipedia)

Marina Bandar Al Rowdha –it is located on Sidab Street (in Sidab) between the Al Bustan Palace and the Sultan’s Palace, 

Third Stop: Al Alam Palace

The palace has a history of over 200 years, built by Imam Sultan bin Ahmed the 7th direct grandfather of the current Sultan. The existing palace, which has a facade of gold and blue, was rebuilt as a royal residence in 1972. Visitors are not allowed inside the palace, despite the fact that His Majesty normally lives elsewhere in Oman, but it remains a popular area to walk next to and take photos. Al Alam Palace is surrounded by the Mirani and Jalali Forts built in the 16th century by the Portuguese. The Palace is used for official functions and receiving distinguished visitors and in January 2012, the Sultan received Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands at Al Alam Palace during her state visit to Oman .(Wikipedia)

playing while shooting

Fourth Stop: Muttrah Corniche and Souq

Later afternoon , we were dropped off by our Indian friend at Muttrah Corniche because he has an important meeting to attend to, by then, we began to walked all over the places and continue to stroll along the souq for the souvenir items.

Muttrah Souq is a popular tourist attraction in Muttrah District, probably the most popular souq in the country

Port Sultan Qaboos harbour with the third largest super yacht Al Said owned by Sultan Qaboos of Oman

Wall climbing or rock climbing, same same..hehe .still struggling to get to the top

Finally, I'm on the top of the world

view of Mutrrah Corniche from the top

don't know his name, he just want me to take picture of him, portrait photography!!!

The sun set and grew dark, so for us, it is time to get the bag up and prepare for our trip back to our accommodation. All in all, the tour was amazing; we loved every minute of it