I never realized ...

Obviously when you're touring you do all of your stopping at the attractions, but I wanted to try and give you taste of what it's like just driving through Oman.  These following five photos are just that - they're not wonderful photos and they've all been taken out of a moving car window, but hopefully they give you a bit of an insight.

And speaking of moving car windows ...  The posted speed limit here is 120 kms and every car has a little warning beep that goes off at 121 kms.  However - that little 'beep' only beeps 9 times and then it shuts off, regardless of whether the vehicle has slowed down or not.  So what I've learned is that average travelling speed on the open highway in Oman is closer to about 140 kms/hr... at least when you're in a big, powerful, Land Cruiser anyway.  Really hard not to get blurry photos!

Back to the touring and my first stop today was at the Amouage factory.  For those of you who don't know - and I was one of them - Amouage is a very exclusive perfumery, with the perfumes all made by hand here in Oman and sold only here too.

After that we travelled to another little town called Nizwa which has as its focal point another fort which was built in the 17th century and of course it has its own local souq as well.  Also on the agenda today was a visit to the Jabrin Castle, built in 1675, and it was an important centre of learning for astrology, medicine and Islamic law.  It's a huge old castle, with elaborately painted ceilings in many of the rooms.  Unfortunately some of them had just completely disintegrated over time and so the restoration is nothing like the originals, but fortunately some of the originals have been maintained - and you can see it in one of these photos.

Another stop today was at Bahla to see the fort there.  This one is thought to be the oldest fort in the country, built in the 12th century - but it is currently under restoration as a Unesco World Heritage Site and closed to the public, but I could at least get a photo of the outside.  The fort was also originally built with 12 kms of wall surrounding it, much of which is still visible today.

I'm overnighting tonight just outside Nizwa.  Not quite as luxurious as last night but that's fine --- it does still have a cooled swimming pool that was just the thing after a day of walking around in the heat!  I must say though, I think I am getting used to these temperatures... 44 degrees today and I didn't think I was going to die.