Sur, Oman

Another stifling hot day in the Middle East!  We had a very interesting tour of the town of Sur, where we started out in the local fish market on the pier early this morning.  There were lots of tuna, barracuda, red snapper (?), and other fish whose identity remained a mystery to me.  I also noticed quite a few cats skulking around -- clever things! 

The next stop was to an amazing boat yard where traditional dhows are hand made.  There is currently an absolutely enormous dhow being constructed there as a gift for the Sultan of Oman -- so interesting!

Then we visited another fort, where these lovely old pots were standing by the inner courtyard walls.  A quick detour for some more cardamom-scented coffee and dates before driving onward to the town suq.  This suq surprised us, as it wasn't anything like how we'd imagined it to be (narrow alleyways packed with shoppers, piles of spices, fruits, textiles, trinkets, etc.) -- instead it was strangely empty of people, and almost every shop sold brightly coloured bolts of fabric, to be tailored into dresses or abayas for ladies or dishdashas for men.  Even though Oman is world famous for its frankincense, we didn't see any for sale here.

A very interesting day!