Salalah, Sultanate of Oman March 29th

Salalah is the second most important city in the Sultanate after Muscat.  The Sultan has a palace here also.  The Sultan spends more time in Salalah than Muscat due to a more moderate climate and his birthplace stronghold.  This is an area of Frankincense and Salalah was a leading exporter centuries ago.  Many people still come to this area for the Frankincense trees (boswellia) that line the stream in the mountains.

We docked in a working port and the traditional shaped dhows were in evidence.

A taxi tariff sign which no one paid any attention.

There is a very nice system of good roads leading to town and around the area.  Pardon the windshield reflection, I didn't notice it at the time.

Some roadside shots.

The gates to the palace.

“Main Street” and the entrance to the local Souk.

You can see how crowded it is.  The whole region seemed to be missing the tourist trade.

Care for some children’s outfits?

The usual Souk shops.

These are not walking canes.  The larger thick ones are for canning your wife and the smaller thinner ones are for the children.  I was going to get one, only as a souvenir of course, but I didn’t want to give Noreen any ideas.

Salalah is a very conservative area and many of the women wear the full veil.

Noreen making some spice deals

These guys are taking the raw product and turning it into the little bags and bottles of spices you buy in a booth as above with Noreen.

All the greenery is planted and irrigated.

A modern Mosque.

Modern construction equipment.  Look on the first floor and you’ll see a wheel with spokes sticking out.  That is their lifting device.  Someone turns the wheel by pulling the spokes and it rasies and lowers supplies for the constriction.

The clock tower in the center of town round-about.

You can buy many things anywhere in the world.

Nice orderly traffic, even stopped for a red light.

Some shots to show how flat the area is until the mountains.

We had a quiet day in Salalah looking over the local area and a bit of shopping.  Now back to the ship and off to Safaga, Egypt.