Oman Study Tour Day 2

Day 2

Today we had an amazing day seeing Nizwa and seeing many castles in Oman. It was an hour and 45 minute drive to the souq in Nizwa, so our guide Abdul educated us about Omani etiquette, female rights, marriage, camels, temperatures, and the governments. For example, if guests come they must stay for a whole meal. In the Dhofar region hosts will even put a camel or goat head in the center of a table to show that the animals was freshly killed for the guests. We learned that Oman is the only country that gives free land to its women and that there is complete equality between genders. In fact, females are involved in all parts of the Omani government. Marriage in Oman is a big deal, weddings are normally three days. The first is for family, the second is for hospitality (normally with a minimum of 500 people), and the third day is for the husband’s family, the wife’s family, and their neighbors. In Oman, men can legally have a maximum of 4 wives, but need to build a house for each wife so that they’re treated equally. To propose to a girl a male must go to a family’s door and ask the parents of a girl. They’ll then search up the male’s history and learn about them to see if they’re a good person and well educated. Then within two days they’ll say yes or no to the man. Camels in Oman are all domestic because humans need to help camels reproduce. Camel cost over $10000 in Oman because of their importance. Lastly we learned about the Sultan in Oman, who all of the citizens love. He is unproblematic and wants all of its citizens to thrive. 

We then arrives at the Nizwa, which used to be the capital of Oman. We can here first to visit the Souq. This Souq is very famous in this region of Oman, and is known for its silver and gold. Along with silver and gold you could find dates, spices, pottery, honey, rosewater, and so much more in the markets.

 

I ended up buying two bags of dates for 1,200 rial, which is about 3 USD.  I also bought rosewater, which is used frequently in Oman for its fragrance and for flavoring.

At the date shop in the Souq they gave us complimentary coffee, which was very strong.

After visiting the souq we went into the fort, which was built in 1650. We learned that in 

the 17th century the Portuguese invaded Oman and tried to take control of Oman but 

failed. One way Oman made sure that they would keep control was by building traps in   the fort. There are 4 points in the 60 steps of the fort where there is a 15 meter fall. Portuguese soldiers who were unaware of these holes would fall down, they Omani soldiers would pour boiling date syrup on the injured Portuguese soldiers to kill them. We also saw three beautiful views from the forts: the farms, the city, and the souq. 

Outside of the fort I bought some arabic bread from an older woman, and I got to use my amazing arabic skills to ask her myself :)

Afterwards we visited the Jabreen Castle, which was a palace made by son of the builder of the Nizwa Fort. He made this after his dad died. This castle, though, was not for defense (unlike the fort). Instead, it became Oman’s most decorative castle and was occupied by about 150 people. One section of this castle was Imams tomb. This was where political or religious leaders of the castle were buried. There was also the moon and the sun room, where prayer took place and people were taught. 

One interesting thing we learned was that deaf people were hired to serve coffee to guests during a confession-type thing because deaf people are unable to hear confidential information. This room had seven windows to represent each day of the week. 

This palace also holds the oldest mandoos (boxes of silver, gold, and more that a groom gives his bride) in Oman.

Lastly, we visited the Bahla Fort from a distance. This is said to be a magical city. This is the oldest fort in Oman, even though nobody knows when it was built. This fort is said to have genies - Muslim genies and bad genies. People believe this due to the fact that genies are mentioned in the Quran.

 To see this fort we went on a mountain and got to overlook the city, which was amazing and beautiful.

For lunch today we ate at a buffet. Here we had some really amazing arabic bread, rice, lamb, camel, and tuna. It was my first time trying camel, and I have to say, it was amazing and not as scary as I thought it would be. We were also all seated on the floor and the plates went on a plastic sheet.

For dinner we went to a Shawarma restaurant which was more or less like a fast food restaurant. Sean, an atlas program representative, told us that he had gone a few days earlier and people would honk their cars to have waiters go out to take their order. There was chicken shawarma and falafel shawarma. Everything was so amazing as always.

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Fun fact- if you litter in Oman, you go to jail for 24 hours.