Travelling Around Britain and the World

Monday 19 November 2018

Oman (6): Bahla, Jabreen, Al Hamra and the Jebel Shams

Pottery, Forts, Restored Mudbrick Houses and Mountains

Bahla, a Pottery and a Fort

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.

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….

….and at his kilns…

Workshop, Bahla Pottery
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.

Bahla Fort

Jabreen Castle

Jabreen Castle (spelling varies) is a few kilometres to the south.

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.

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.

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.

Date store, Jabreen Castle

Following the audio guide, we dropped in on the madrasa...

Madrasa, Jabreen Castle

…examined the calligraphy on the stairs…

Caligraphy on the stairs, Jabreen Castle

…and admired the richly decorated ceilings.

Ceiling, Jabreen Castle

Many rooms have just carpets and cushions, as at Nizwa...

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.

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.

Courtroom, Jabreen Castle

From the roof we had a view over the palms to Jabreen village.

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.

The restored and the crumbling, Al Hamra

A large house had been set out as it was in its heyday…

Restored house, Al Hamra

…and was overseen by Sultan Qaboos, who is always present, if only in effigy.

Sultan Qaboos, restored house, Al Hamra

In one large room a woman was grinding flour ….

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.

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.

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.

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>

Leaving Al Hamra for the Jebel Shams

…and climbed into a rocky wilderness.

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.

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,….

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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Location: Bahla, Oman

Sunday 18 November 2018

Oman (5): Nizwa

The Former Stronghold of the Imam of Nizwa, now a Date Trading Centre

The Descent to Nizwa and a Little History

Oman

The morning was still chilly as we left Saiq, high in the Jebel Akhdar, heading down to the inland plain and the city of Nizwa where the average overnight low is warmer than Saiq’s midday high.

Until 1970 Oman was known as the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman emphasising the difference between ‘Muscat’, the cosmopolitan city and its coastal strip, and ‘Oman’ the isolated and conservative interior. Although Sultan Said (the present Sultan’s father) was the ultimate ruler, the Imamate of Oman had considerable autonomy. In the 1950s a dispute over the allocation of oil exploration rights led to an insurrection by the Imam. Much of the fighting took place in these mountains.

Descending the Jebel Akhdar

Muscat and Oman was a British Protectorate, so in 1957 with the Imam gaining the upper hand, the British felt the need to intervene. Ground troops supported by the RAF stabilized the situation and the Imam left his capital at Nizwa to seek asylum in Saudi Arabia.

Today's journey - the short green line from the Jebel Akhdar to Nizwa

We returned to Birkat Al-Mawz (see yesterday) at the foot of the mountains and continued 25km east to Nizwa.

Nizwa

Nizwa is a long thin municipality stretched out along the banks of a watercourse that looks wide and blue on Google maps, but is harder to find in reality being generally dry, at least above ground. But it was this elusive water that caused a city to be built here, and there is enough moisture for the buildings to be embowered in date palms. Europeans are used to their countryside being green and their cities less so; in Oman the countryside is arid - rocky, stony or sandy – and wherever there is sufficient water for vegetation, there is sufficient water for people, so greenery is concentrated in urban areas.

We entered the modern, prosperous city through a long commercial strip. Beyond we found an identifiable centre, not always the case in Oman, and parked outside the souk beside a well-maintained mud wall.

Central Nizwa

Nizwa Souk

The dates of Birkat Al-Mawz, Nizwa and the surrounding town and villages come to market in Nizwa. We visited the premier date shop where a dozen or so varieties are laid out for tasting and purchase. We tried most of them, some are a little sweeter, some have a denser texture - almost toffee-like – but the differences are minor and all are the same price.

Date tasting in Nizwa

We had coffee with the shop's owner and made some purchases, dates (fardh was our chosen variety), small pots of ‘date honey’, the intensely sweet and date-y liquor that oozes from piles of stored dates under their own weight, and other goodies.

Having a coffee and some dates with the shop's owner. Nizwa

We moved on to fresh produce. Perhaps because of the National Day holiday the vegetable market had few sellers or buyers. There were no women in the market - ‘Omani men do all the shopping,’ Y said as though this was some feminist triumph – in fact there were very few women out and about at all, here or elsewhere.

Vegetable market, Nizwa

We spent more time in the spice market, and indeed more money, replenishing our stock of spices and buying sundry presents including soaps scented with frankincense and myrrh (and if gold had a scent?) We also bought some frankincense to burn, a strange decision as we would be in the heart of frankincense country in a few days’ time.

Nuts, spices and other goodies, Nizwa

The craft market did not detain us long. Again, it was not busy, but it was clean, tidy and well organised, words rarely used about middle eastern souks but that is the Omani way.

Craft souk, Nizwa

Though the street decked in flags and bunting for National Day was more lively.

National Day flags and bunting, Craft Souk, Nizwa

Outside the immediate souk area there were examples of the customary abandoned and decaying mud brick buildings….

Crumbling mud brick buildings, Nizwa

….but there were many more that had been meticulously maintained…

Well maintained mud brick buildings, Nizwa

….none more so than the biggest of them all…

Nizwa Fort


The tower, Nizwa Fort

There has been a fort at Nizwa since the 12th century, but the current building largely dates from the 1650s. It was the stronghold of the Imam of Oman, the political and spiritual leader of ‘Oman Proper’ (i.e. Oman excluding Muscat and the coastal strip) from the 8th century until the failed insurrection of the 1950s.

The Imam was a leader of the Ibadi Muslims, a denomination founded in 650 only 20 year after the death of the Prophet and predating both Sunni and Shia denominations. Once widespread, the emergence of the Sunni Caliphate pushed the Ibadis into Arabia's south east corner. Today most Omanis are Ibadis - and most Ibadis are Omanis.

Ibadis are noted for their tolerance and preference for resolving disputes by reason and discussion rather than aggression - pity about the 1955-9 insurrection, then. Venom Jets of the British Royal Air Force attacked Nizwa Fort in 1957. According to Wikipedia ‘the walls are rounded and robust, designed to withstand fierce barrages of mortar fire’ but an attack by military aircraft is another matter. Fortunately mud brick buildings are relatively easily restored and the fort, now looking as it did in its prime, has become one of Oman’s most visited national monuments.

The site is large and rambling, but visitors see the courtyard, a series of rooms and the large round tower (above).

Courtyard, Nizwa Fort

The rooms are not furnished – traditionally there was no furniture, only carpets and cushions….

Standard room in Nizwa Fort
Plenty of shelves, but no furniture. The hatches on the right give access to a murder hole above the door below.

…but they do have a collection of magnificent chests.

Just one of the many chests, Nizwa Fort

….and there is a small display area.

Exhibition area, Nizwa Fort

There is little inside the tower apart from some cannons.

Cannons in the tower, Nizwa Fort

You can climb to the battlements but not along them, 17th century safety standards leave something to be desired…

On the tower battlements, Nizwa Fort

…but there is a good view over the town and its many date palms.

Nizwa from the tower of Nizwa Fort

A Turkish Lunch in Nizwa

We had already seen how Oman borrows much of its cuisine from its neighbours, and today Y selected a Turkish restaurant for our lunch. We enjoyed the kebabs - chicken, beef and kofta – rice, vegetables and flatbread, plus the inevitable salad. Lunch for three came to 5 Rials (£10), including drinks. Tired of water, I studied the long list of fresh fruit juices before choosing lemon and mint, which was clean, sharp and refreshing.

Turkish lunch (and Vimto) Nizwa

Lynne went for Vimto which was invented as a cordial in Manchester in 1908, the carbonated version came later. On its home turf Vimto limps on as a brand with, perhaps, a rather dated image, but not so in the Arabian Peninsula where Vimto cordial is the drink of choice for iftar, the sunset breaking of the Ramadan fast. Made under licence in Saudi Arabia, it has a 90% share of the local cordial concentrated drinks market. Lynne said it made a pleasant change, but it was a bit sweet for me.

Golden Tulip Hotel, Nizwa

After lunch we checked in to the Golden Tulip, a luxurious hotel so far out on the Nizwa strip it was almost in the desert. Taking advantage of a rare free afternoon we lazed around (and in) the pool.

Relaxing in the pool, Golden Tulip, Nizwa

The evening meal was a buffet, the tables set out in the garden around the pool. It was attractive, but we wanted a lighter meal and the bar was attractive too.

The hotel’s main function room was holding a National Day dinner attended by many elderly distinguished looking men each in his best white dishdash with traditional khanjar dagger. Seeing as everyone turned up for the dinner armed it is probably a good thing they are ‘noted for their tolerance and preference for resolving disputes by reason and discussion rather than aggression’.

Being good Muslims, we saw few (none?) of them in the bar, which claims to be the hottest spot in Nizwa but never had more than seven customers while we were there. Following the earlier Turkish theme we each had a glass of rakı at a very reasonable price, at least by local standards, with some Indian nibbles. Then we had feta cheese and olives and a bowl of chips washed down with £4 cans Carlsberg – a more typical Omani price for alcohol. We did not know it, but it was the last bar we would see in Oman.

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Location: Nizwa, Oman
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