Our arrival at dawn was greeted by fire boats, giving us a nice salute. It was great fun watching as the ship squeezed into the tiny harbor. The old city is compact, capped by a fort built by the Portuguese, and ringed by rugged mountains. Muscat has been important since Biblical times, as here is where grows the frankincense tree. It's been a stop ever since between Europe and the Far East. Of coarse now it's fabulously wealthy from the oil trade. It's friendly, super clean (they mop the sidewalks!), has a great souq (marketplace), and it's ruler is Sultan Qaboos (say caboose). I hear he's single! That's odd..., in the mid east , land of many wives. Just had a fun, easy day wandering around, taking photos and checking it all out. I did buy frankincense from the two gentlemen in the photo. Departure was really cool with the fire boats following us out to sea, whistles blasting.
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