Muscat 4 of 6

Around about 2 hours into our excursion we stopped at a large market town called Nizwa where an ancient walled Souq (pronounced 'sook' meaning a market place) has operated for many years. Outside the market entrance, several trucks loads of goats were waiting to be auctioned at the sale yards in preparation for celebrations at the end of Ramadan in 2 days time (we will be in Dubai by then). Some of the sheep were unusual in that they had white bodies and totally black necks and heads which gave the appearance of a black head mask. They must be a Muscat breed of sheep as we'd never seen this type before. They looked very healthy and well cared for as they munched nonchalantly on their fodder sling in the back of the truck. As we stepped out of the car the incredible wave of heat hit us, so we were glad that we'd consumed a good amount of water. The heat from the roadway and the heat glare from the walls of the Souq buildings, was overwhelming. Our glasses fogged up immediately with the sudden change of air from a comfortable air-condition vehicle to outside temperature of 44⁰C. We stumbled across the road and into one of a cooler date souq where we were offered all types of dates. The flavours ranged from regular dates to caramel, cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric and others. They were very satisfying but we ended up buying half a gram bright red saffron for $6 which is a bargain as just a few strands of saffron at Coles costs $3 back home. Matthew and I will have fun experimenting with saffron recipes in the future. We wander through the souq alleyways and covered corridors stopping to admire traditional silver trinkets and all the time that we browsed the strong sweet aromas of frankincense and other spices, filled the warm air around us and added to the atmosphere of this ancient middle-eastern country.

We wandered into the food souq area where we saw hoards of men haggling for the best price for their wares of spicy prepared goat, chicken and lentil curries. They too smelt 'wonderful'. We also saw of large barrels of freshly ground spices, sun-dried lemons and capsicum and fresh home grown vegetables. We wondered why there were not huge supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables on display and were told that this was how prices were kept at a premium because when the market is 'flooded' with huge supplies of produce the prices drop. Smart businessmen here! One thing that was obvious was that we never saw one female the whole time we explored the souq shops. Our guide told us that the men do all the purchasing and haggling at the souq and their wives do the cooking within their homes.