Up North to Sindbad's Home

 This weekend, a bunch of girls and I rented a car and drove up the coast to Sohar, the home of the mythical sailor Sindbad. Along the way, we detoured to Rustaq. There was a fort, which we never found, and also Ayn al-Kesfa, which we did (after a few wrong turns and directions from a helpful lady who seemed surprised that I could ask her in Arabic).

Ayn al-Kesfa, Rustaq, al Batinah province of Oman

 The water in the spring was incredibly translucent blue-green, and very hot. It was so hot outside that swimming in a hot springs was unthinkable, without even taking into account the constraints of lady-body-coverage. Julia and I have joked about buying burq-inis, but have yet to pony up. I later learned that the temperature was 109 degrees, with 89% humidity. Saunas are fun and good for your health and all, but you're only supposed to stay in them for 15 minutes or so. What to do when the sauna is just...the environment?

 Farther down the road, and after we did the most disgusting thing I've done in a while (eat KFC), we headed off the freeway to Al-Khaboura fort.

 It sits right on the ocean - this coast has a lot of forts, as it overlooks the Gulf of Oman and was an important border to defend against invaders from (now) Pakistan and Iran across the Gulf.

 Our hotel in Sohar was a little hard to find. The map on Booking.com looked pretty simple: the town of Sohar is spread along the coast and the hotel was right off the freeway across from the port...
We drove about 40 kms extra trying to find the place - I knew it was north of the city, all the hotel rooms in the city were either booked or too expensive for us, but I had no idea how far north. And Google let me down (just the once, sorry babe), so I pulled over at the nicest beach resort in Sohar and asked the desk clerk to let me use their internet to try to find better directions to the place. It was far from my finest hour, but it was a good learning experience. I think we're so used to having our phones and GPS, as well as (let's be honest) appropriate freeway signage and offramps at appropriate intervals, that we hadn't thought of having an old-school backup. Next time, a detailed physical map will be in hand, not just the overview of Oman map!
The place in Sohar was lovely - it was also residential apartment style, like our place in Al-Khoud, but SO MUCH NICER. This place was a real apartment. There was a washer (!!!!!!), a toaster, and showers with tubs and curtains. We knew from the website that it had washers, so we brought our laundry...we must have looked like crazy overpackers, each carrying in at least two bags of luggage!

Highlight of my week

This morning, we woke up and got lost again trying to find the Sohar fort. When we finally did, it was open...kind of. It is currently under restoration, but the door into the interior open space of the fort was open. It's not trespassing if the door is ajar, right?

 Sohar's fort is distinctive because it's white - all the other forts I've seen or seen advertised in Oman are brown. The white of the fort under the brilliant sun is stunning, and reminds me of the Mediterranean. Unfortunately I think the restoration will change all of this - the central tower has been completed, and it is beige.

Unrestored interior of fort

View from Sohar Fort to the Gulf of Oman

Afterwards, we drove back south along the coast to Sawadi Beach. We missed the turnoff for that too, but eventually found our way. As I drove through Sawadi, I had to slow down for the speed bumps...and the goats.

 The goats were everywhere! There was even a goat on top of a car (see below). Goats rule the town in Sawadi.

 Sawadi Beach is 12 kms from the main highway, but worth it. There are several beautiful rock formations off the coast, and the beach is strewn with shells. You can hire a boat to take you out, or jetskis.

 The water is so incredibly blue, and it was cool (unlike the water in Muscat, which was just as warm as the air). We combed the beach for shells, and found a couple of neat fossils and coral. I would have stayed there all day, but we had promised to have the car back by 5pm.

Showing some scandalous ankle