The Walled City, or Day 119 in Muscat

Today was the big touring day that I convinced Wayne to accompany me on. However... there isn't much to tour within the city.

We woke up, again around 9, which isn't as cool as we hoped. We flagged a taxi and made it to the Muscat City Gate.

Muscat is actually a comglomerate of "three" cities, but the surrounding area covers many more. Ruwi, Muscat (the walled part we went to this morning) and Mutrah (where we are staying) are the official three, but there is Qurm and the one by the Grand Mosque that are within a couple rial cab ride.

So the gate was pretty cool, and the museum was air-conditioned, which made it much more tempting to wander a bit in there. We walked (gasp!) the last 200 meters to the seaside, where we could see the two forts and the palace that they guard. It was picturesque, but a pretty quick trip.

After stopping at the Omani-French Museum, then deciding 1 rial ($2.70) was too much to learn about 20 years, we headed to the Grand Mosque...

And got there are 11:10. Ten minutes after closing time. I managed to talk our way close to the building, but we didn't get to go inside, which disappointed Wayne more than me. The carpet inside has gone from largest to second largest after the mosque I saw in Abu Dhabi got built.

It was a chill afternoon hanging out in a mall, then having a rest. I was going to go for a sunset cruise, but glad I didn't. I made my way to the real watchtower, met an Irish guy, and watched the sun set behind some clouds.

Again, it'll probably be a meal and a drink tonight, and an early morning for boat tour and back to Dubai and Doha tomorrow!