Pottery, Forts, Restored Mudbrick Houses and Mountains
Bahla, a Pottery and a Fort
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| Oman |
After a leisurely start and a good breakfast (ful again again, see Ibra, we left the upmarket Golden Tulip, drove back into central Nizwa and continued 40 km east to Bahla, a slightly smaller though still substantial town.
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| Today's journey roughly follows the purple line from Nizwa to Bahla and the Jebel Shams |
The last couple of decades have seen much of the Omani population rehoused in efficient modern accommodation. As we saw in Ibra the old mudbrick houses have often been left to rot – and without frequent maintenance such buildings deteriorate quickly. In Bahla some restoration is taking place under the guidance of UNESCO. Y drove us through old narrow streets to visit a pottery.
The potter is a friend of Y, but unfortunately, he was out. In his absence we had a quick look round his workshop….
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| Workshop, Bahla Pottery |
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| Kilns at Bahla Pottery |
…and drove out of town to yet another viewpoint by a telephone mast where we could look back on Bahla and its fort. Originally a late medieval construction the fort has undergone a restoration so extensive it tipped over into renovation and Bahla almost lost its UNESCO World Heritage listing. Y told us it will be open to the public soon, other sources say it already is; either way it looks impressive from a distance.
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| Bahla Fort |
Jabreen Castle
Jabreen Castle (spelling varies) is a few kilometres to the south.
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| Jabreen Castle |
In 1624 Nasir bin Murshid al Yaruba established the Yaruba dynasty of hereditary Imams who would rule for the next 120 years. He set about removing the Portuguese, who had held the coastal strip from Muscat to Sur since the 1580s, but died before the job was completed. His cousin Sultan bin Saif succeeded him in 1649 and by the end of his thirty-year reign Oman was free, united and prosperous.
His son, Bil'arab bin Sultan had spent the final decade of his father’s rule building Jabreen Castle and on becoming Imam in 1679 he moved the capital there from Nizwa.
As a residence and centre of government Jabreen is a castle rather than merely a fort and there is much to see; conscientiously following the audio guide filled the remainder of our morning.
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| Courtyard, Jabreen Castle |
Unfortunately, Bil’arab’s reign was largely spent fighting his brother Saif who fancied being Imam himself. In 1692 Bil’arab was besieged in Jabreen, all seemed lost and faced with defeat it is said he prayed that he might die. God granted the request and he is buried in a small crypt near the entrance. Maybe the story is true, or maybe he killed himself or was murdered by his own men. Bil’arab might have our sympathy, but Saif became a wise and conscientious ruler who greatly improved the lot of his people.
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| The grave of Bil'arab bin Sultan, Jabreen Castle |
On the same level are the stores where dates were piled for eating during the six months when there are no fresh ones. Under their own weight they ooze ‘date honey’ which was collected in the channels. It is best eaten, but in extremis can be boiled up and poured through murder holes onto the heads of unwelcome visitors.
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| Date store, Jabreen Castle |
Following the audio guide, we dropped in on the madrasa...
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| Madrasa, Jabreen Castle |
…examined the calligraphy on the stairs…
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| Caligraphy on the stairs, Jabreen Castle |
…and admired the richly decorated ceilings.
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| Ceiling, Jabreen Castle |
Many rooms have just carpets and cushions, as at Nizwa...
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| One of the plainer rooms, Jabreen Castle |
...but the Sun and Moon Hall, where the Imam met his advisers and received important guests has 14 windows in two rows designed to catch the light of the sun by day and moon by night – and moonlight in Oman’s cloudless skies can be extraordinarily bright, as we discovered while attempting to star gaze. The rows of unglazed windows also work as a wind tower providing natural air conditioning.
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| The Sun and Moon Hall, Jabreen Castle |
The courtroom is remarkable only in having two doors, one of normal size and one much smaller through which convicted miscreants were made to exit, bowing low in penance.
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| Courtroom, Jabreen Castle |
From the roof we had a view over the palms to Jabreen village.
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| View from the castle roof, Jabreen |
Al Hamra
Our tour over we located Y and drove 30km north to the small town of Al Hamra where we ate lunch in an Indian restaurant set in a row of modern businesses. Spicy chicken in a curry sauce with rice, bread and salad was more basic than other Omani lunches, but pleasant enough.
The older quarters of Al Hamra have their quota of the familiar abandoned and decaying mud brick buildings, but some have been restored and opened to visitors.
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| The restored and the crumbling, Al Hamra |
A large house had been set out as it was in its heyday…
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| Restored house, Al Hamra |
…and was overseen by Sultan Qaboos, who is always present, if only in effigy.
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| Sultan Qaboos, restored house, Al Hamra |
In one large room a woman was grinding flour ….
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| Grinding corn, Al Hamra |
…while another was making Omani bread. The same technique of wiping dough onto a hot-plate by hand is used in India for making roti, but Omani bread is much thinner and crisps quickly.
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| Making bread, Al Hamra |
Once we had tasted the bread and pronounced it good the bread-maker turned her attention to producing cooking oil, pounding beans (of unknown origin) by hand.
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| Extracting vegetable oil, El Hamra |
Having observed all this domestic activity, we retired to the sitting room for coffee. Omani coffee, strong, black, sweet and laced with cardamom is always worth lingering over.
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| Taking coffee, Al Hamra |
We had previously seen very few Omani women. – the few women we had encountered at work, like the receptionists at Sur and the bar tender at Nizwa, were Filipinas but here there were not only the kitchen workers but a young woman who walked round the house with the air of being the person in charge. I doubt, though, that even she would have taken coffee with the men, which Lynne was expected to do as a matter of course.
Jebel Shams
The Al-Hajar mountains form a high rocky crescent following the shape of the coast but 50-100km inland. On Saturday we had driven from Birkat Al-Mawz into the Jebel Akhdar area of the Al-Hajar, descending on Monday morning. We would now return to the mountains, Al Hamra being the the starting point for the road up Jebel Shams (lit: Mountain of the Sun) at 3,009m (9,872ft) the highest point in Oman.
We quickly left behind the relative green of Al Hamra…/p>
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| Leaving Al Hamra for the Jebel Shams |
…and climbed into a rocky wilderness.
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| Rocky wilderness, Jebel Shams |
The road up Jebel Akhdar is well made and fairly gently graded and yet there was a police check-point at the bottom allowing only four-wheel drive vehicles through and offering advice on mountain driving. The Jebel Shams road is not so well made – not all of it has tarmac – but there was no police presence.
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| The road up Jebel Shams |
We paused to stare into Oman’s ‘Grand Canyon’ – it does not seem to have a name of its own. Although not as big - or as commercialised - as its Arizona namesake it is, by any standards, a large canyon. We had the viewing platform to ourselves,….
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| Viewing platform for Oman's 'Grand Canyon' |
….but canyons are difficult to photograph. The bottom could not be seen without taking a long and perilous walk, or flying a drone.
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| Oman's 'Grand Canyon' |
We did, though, spot a village at the end of the canyon its cultivation terraces cut down a vertiginous rock wall. The village has long been deserted, but we could only wonder what drove people to make their home there.
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| Village at the head of Oman's 'Grand Canyon' |
The road comes to a stop somewhere around the top of the Jebel Shams. Like Jebel Akhdar it is a high rocky plateau riven with deep valleys but devoid of towering peaks. The Jebel Shams Resort, a crescent of linked bungalows where the road ends, provided us with a pleasant room with a sliding door giving access to a picnic table and barbeque pit. In the shade the air was already cool, and once the sun disappeared sitting at the picnic table would require thermals.
We went for a walk in the last of the light. Jebel Shams has two high points, the north ‘summit’, occupied by a military base, is off-limits while the lower southern ‘summit’, just under 3000m was nearer. I can only make an informed guess at how high we were, but Google satellite view put the military base a couple of kilometres away and the land rose very gently in that direction. We followed a trail, maybe W4 which leads to the southern summit, and maybe that is it behind us in the photograph. We were warm enough in direct sunlight, but in the shade the temperature was already plummeting. We headed back to the hotel, picking up a collection of plastic bottles discarded on the trail as we went; it was a small contribution, but better than nothing.
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| A selfie on the Jebel Shams |
Dinner was a routine buffet, but at least the restaurant was warm (experience in China and Mexico have taught us not to take that for granted.)
Part 1: Muscat, an Unusual Capital
Part 2: Sur and Turtles
Part 3: Wadi Bani Khalid and the Wahiba Sands
Part 4: Ibra, Birkat al-Mawz and the Jebel Akhdar
Part 5: Nizwa
Part 6: Bahla, Jabreen, al Hamra and the Jebel Shams
Part 7: Misfat Al Abriyyin, Wadi Bani Awf and Nakhl
Part 8: Salalah and the South Coast
Part 9: Salalah, the City
Part 10: To the Edge of the Empty Quarter
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