yesterday afternoon: we visited bait al safah, the sheikh’s house in al hamra some 400 years ago, now a museum. we had coffee, ginger tea and dates in the majlis (guest lounge) and a lady showed us how to make omani bread. it’s much thinner than chapati, so much so u can see thru it.
then on to the center of al hamra, where buildings are carved into rock. reminded me of les eyzies and other medieval villages embedded in cliffs and spectacular rock formations in the dordogne (southwestern france).
finally, jabreen castle, built by imam bilarab bin sultan al yarubi around 1670 AD, when he moved his capital from nizwa to jabreen. the sun and moon room, his majlis, has 14 windows, half of them face the sun and the other half, the moon, so that the room is always filled with light. breathtaking.
