A coastal fish souk, an imposing fort, mountain passes in an exhilarating off-road drive, a steep-sided gorge and wadi, and ancient mountain villages.
Early one morning we left Muscat heading for the Hajar Mountains, with a couple of stops on the way. First was Seeb,north west of Oman along the coast. We headed straight to the bustling fish souk, much busier and with more produce displayed than the fish market we'd visited in Muscat, but it was much earlier in the day.
Originally a fishing village but it looks as if it won't be too long before it becomes part of the suburbs of Muscat.
We saw some extremely curious very long, thin, red fish. Their snouts were incredibly long in relation to the body, a quarter to a third of the total length. These I later identified as red cornetfish.
We moved on to the fish preparation area where you can take the fish you've just bought and the men will gut and descale them, chop off the head, tail and fins.
Each of the counters had an entrails repository - there was literally a lot of blood and guts around!
And finally a butchery - more gore!
We travelled on to Nakhl, which was on our route into the Hajar Mountains.
Nakhl Fort is magnificent. It was undergoing renovations at the time so we were only able to walk around the outside.
A defensive structure may have stood on this rocky outcrop for over 1500 years, but most of what we see today is the result of rebuilding and renovations since the seventeenth century.
Leaving the fort Kareem, our guide, took us to al Thowarah hot spring where the local people bathe and picnic.
The water cascading from the pool is very warm and the stream running away down the wadi very clear.
Our final stop in Nakhl was a coffee shop where we had our first taste of traditional Omani bread, very thin and made with all kinds of fillings - we had one egg and one cheese, absolutely delicious, as was the cardamom and saffron tea.
Heading up into the Hajar Mountains and the highest peak of the range, Jebel Shams, Mountain of the Sun, which gets its name because it is the first mountain that the sun strikes at dawn.
This involved some exhilarating off-road driving by Kareem, who fortunately loves it. On several stretches there were vertiginous drops directly alongside the rocky track - not for the faint-hearted!
A rocky descent leads down to the towering cliffs of Snake Gorge and Wadi Bani Awf, a spectacular cleft in the mountains with the wadi running through it.
In fact the scenery is nothing short of spectacular all the way.
Flash floods have caused deaths in Snake Gorge but the weather was good and had been for days so we were fine. Kareem only told us as we walked back out that there are actually snakes here!
More adventurous off-road driving as we left Snake Gorge and climbed again until we were high above it. Following its course far below, we drove west until we were able to see the entrance on the other side.
As we got closer to the village of Bilad Sayt we were extremely surprised to spot a pristine football pitch in the valley below. Audi built it as part of a commercial, and as it's artificial grass it remains for the benefit of the villagers.
A tiny settlement deep in the Hajar mountains.
Separated from Bilad Sayt by a ridge of the Hajar Mountains, a few homes nestle deep in a valley surrounded by date palms. Kareem told us that they were very old, probably Persian in origin, so a tiny settlement may have existed here for over a thousand years. It is thought that the Persians introduced the irrigation system known as falaj, enabling cultivation of crops in dry environments by bringing water down from the mountains.
Travelling on through the mountains - and still on the receiving end of what Kareem called a "very good massage" on the rocky track - we passed the village of Al Hajir, south east of Bilad Sayt, where we could see the falaj - the irrigation system - in use.
Water runs down from the mountains in narrow channels, for use by the farmers. Each has a designated period of time when they can receive water from the system.
More spectacular landscape as we travelled on through the Hajar mountains south and west to the lovely mountain village of Misfat al Abriyeen.
We stopped at a point where the views were particularly impressive, if a little hazy in the distance. It was incredibly windy though, and quite hard to take photographs.
Part way to the village we were back on tarmac roads.
The cluster of old houses which makes up Misfat is surrounded by a lush date palm plantation, which thrives thanks to the falaj system running down from the mountains and through the village.
We visited a honey shop, Kareem knew the owners - he seems to know everyone everywhere!
We tasted three different honeys - the acacia honey was almost black and had a very strong taste, nothing like traditional honey which I'm not fond of.
Then we went for a good walk in the date palm plantation, coming across the falaj, its channels running with water.
Not only date palms flourish here, there are also banana and papaya as well as crops grown at ground level.
