Travel Guide

My favourite places in Muscat were the Mutrah souk and the various museums on Omani heritage and nature. I’m fascinated by traditional styles of jewellery, clothing, architecture and arts and crafts in general so Oman’s rich variety of all of the above were especially thrilling. In particular I enjoyed the Omani Museum which included sections on Omani ship building, jewellery and architecture, as well as sections on Omani history and geography. The most stunning thing about this museum though is the wonderful carved wooden front door which the museum attendent kindly closed so that I could take a photo of it.
Silver shop

Mutrah souk silver shop

I had a lot of fun browsing in the Mutrah souk, with its colourful displays of fabrics and traditional clothing, glittering gold jewellery shops and the enticing smells of the spice market. I spent ages browsing the various shops selling traditional style silver jewellery and ornaments, an Omani specialty. The designs are fascinating, many including brass or gold ornamentation work into the silver. Typical pieces include a variety of amulet holders, kohl boxes, incense burners, hair ornaments and all manner of heavy necklaces and evil looking bracelets decorated with spikes and thorns. My favourite piece was a circular hair ornament with a six sided star in the centre with the points highlighted with gold plate and the lower half of the circle ornamented with little chains holding ‘hamsas’ or ‘hands of Fatima’, a traditional good luck symbol in many parts of the Middle East.One of the most pleasant things about wandering the Mutrah souk was that unlike other souk that I’ve been to, here the merchants let you browse at will without pressuring you to buy.
Khanjars
Khanjars on display in the souk

The curved khanjar dagger, Oman’s national symbol, is also available in a variety of designs in the souk silver shops. Some of the cheaper designs had plastic worked into the handle and flimsy blades, more expensive ones looked as thought they were meant for cutting steak, with very solid sharp blades and beautifully decorated handles, some including intertwined gold and silver threads. They were all pretty expensive though and I didn’t feel like freaking out airport security by returning home with a dagger in my luggage!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

More:

1. Muscat CityThe Omani capital is dramatically located against the backdrop of dark craggy mountains on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other. The beaches are lovely, especially good for relaxing walks in the early evening when the weather gets...
2. Traditions of BahrainCoffee pot making These traditional coffee pots were made commonly in copper or very specially in silver, and there are special craftsmen for this dying craft who used to stamp their own variations of the pot designs in a similar...
3. Shopping in BahrainOne of the great pleasures of Bahrain is the shopping. And it is not just the variety and range of goods we are talking about. Walking around the souk is a great way to spend an evening. It is a...
4. Oman Frankincense InformationAnother famous Omani product is incense, especially frankincense for which Oman is famous as the world’s biggest producer. The frankincense resin producing trees only grow in two other places, the Hadhramaut region in Yemen and in northern Somalia. In ancient...
5. Forts in OmanOver the centuries forts were built all over Oman because of its strategic location on the south-east corner of Arabia on the Straits of Hormuz and the Indian Ocean. Forts were built by the Omanis themselves, as well as a...
6. Tips for Expats living in BruneiYou can buy most things here in Brunei. Except alcohol ! If you are after your old favourites from home then choice can sometimes be limited or stock comes and goes. You soon learn to buy your favourite food items...