This weekend is a busy one for The Nomads. Last Friday, together with our friend, Doctor Saji, we left our hometown of Ibra. We took our lunch and shopped in Muscat. At around 2:00pm, we were joined by Ma’am Fanny and her daughter Janjan. We checked in at Naseem Hotel in Muttrah. Did some window shopping and strolled along the Muttrah Corniche. Then, we left the Bay of Oman and travelled to the mountains to reach the town of Nizwa. And really, what a weekend it was.
The Looonnnggg Trip to Nizwa
We left Carrefour Seeb, Muscat at around 11:00am. The day is quite hot but our excitement of reaching yet another interesting place here in Oman can’t turn us back. Luckily, as almost in all of Oman, the road is of excellent condition and there is no delay due to traffic.
Along the way, we feasted our eyes on the beautiful sights of the old and new villages. We saw majestic government buildings. The sight of the rocky mountains give an impression that we are in the Grand Canyon based on what we see from the American movies.
Doctor Saji navigated thru the aid of Waze, a very helpful smartphone app and so we reached Nizwa after almost two hours of continuous driving.
The Nizwa Souq
Our main target in coming to Nizwa is the Fort. We parked in front and walked our way to find an entrance. We entered thru a gate where a post office is located which turned out to be an entrance to the souq. This area is where pots and souvenir items are being sold. The shops have not opened yet when we came so we just took our time to take photos of the place.
… and the kids.
… and the tourist?
The Nizwa Fort and Its Tower of Power
A bit of history: Nizwa used to be the capital of Oman and hence it holds the power and wealth of the Sultanate during the old times. In order to protect its wealth and its leaders, the people built the Fort. The entrance by itself is a nice setting for a groupie and so we obliged.
We paid the entrance fee of one riyal and then we are allowed to enter and have a taste of this fort’s rich history. The picture below is a miniature of the fort which has the tower that stands higher that the other buildings around it.
The tower stands 30m above the ground and is said to have a foundation that is also 30m deep. The walls are built to withstand hails of bullets and mortar. If the Omanis decide to return fire, the tower has 24 holes around the top that is armed with one cannon each. If they deem that cannons are not enough, additional gun-ports, 480 of them are ready for musket and pistol firing.
We managed to reach the top of the tower after getting lost in a maze of different quarters and here is a view of the top of the tower.
And here’s the view of the city from the top of the tower.
We had our fill of the beautiful scenery and went down from the tower thinking that our tour is over. In our search for drinking water, we unknowingly found another piece of attraction inside the Nizwa Fort. We discovered that there is an exhibit that features the day-to-day lives of the Omani people through the ages. And here are the pictures that we took inside.
To sum it all up, our trip and tour of the Nizwa Fort is worth all the effort that we had. The joy in our hearts can be pictured in the smile of the two kids here. We saw them at the entrance gate of Nizwa Fort, trying to play seesaw with one of the canons.
Have you been to the Nizwa Fort? Tell us of your experience in the comments section below.
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