Monday, May 7, 2012
Monumental D.C.
After a very early flight from Prague (with an ugly stop-over in Heathrow), we arrive in Washington D.C. in mid-afternoon. We check into our hotel and have the rest of the day off. Joanne and I roam around the DuPont Circle area a little, check out a couple of restaurants for later. We will be meeting at 8:30 a.m to receive our final set of scavvenge From Bill. Pamela has joined us here in Washington, and the change In Bill is astounding. His 3 week-long scowl is gone, and he agrees to answer questions civily instead of sarcastically or defensively .We joind for dinner with "Team Commonwealth" the whole group opt for an early night. Next morning we wake up way too early due to jet lag so we go out to find some breakfast and enjoy the peace and quiet of the morning. We reconvene at 8:30 and the winners of the European leg are revealed. Today's scavenges will not make any difference to the final standings (unless the current leader comes in dead last) but we all go off and give it a go. We take the Metro to "the Mall". We visit the WW II memorial (and find Kilroy), F.D.R. memorial (and find Fala), the Vietnam war memorial and the new Martin Luther King Jr. memorial (stunning). We visit the Lincoln monument and meander along the Potomac. We locate a kayak rental place and go for a paddle around Roosevelt Island and check out the Kennedy Centre. We take the subway to Woodley Park in Alexandria and ride the free cable car down King Street to Gadsby's Tavern. Apparently George Washington used to eat here on occasion. We meander to the river to catch a ferry back to D.C.but discover that the next one doesn't go until 3:30, which would make us late for our final check in, so, back to the subway. We also do a quick run via Bethesda on the way back to our hotel. Our scores are quickly tallied and awards are handed out. Katrina and Fiona finally win a leg (beating us by a mere 5 points, and we are happy for them). But it's not quite enough for the big win. Saskia and Andrew are crowned "The World's Greatest Travelers" and they certainly earned it. They all played fair and worked extremely hard, as did Katrina and Fiona, the second place (by a hair) team. As well as being great competitors, these teams were just plain fun to travel with. They never stopped smiling even when conditions were tough. They should all be very proud of what they accomplished. We had a great bunch of fellow travellers this time around - the best ever! Thank you all, you made the trip fun
Go Team Commonwealth!
Roman holiday and Prague crackdown
After a 3:30 a.m. wakeup call we're off to the airport for our 5 a.m. flight to Athens for a brief stopover and then on to Rome. We arrive and get settled into our hotel by noon. the group has a quick pizza lunch and the final leg begins. We have until 9 p.m.Thursday to get to Prague for the final check in. Rome is, of course, on holiday and most tourist sites and businesses are not open on May 1. We have only a couple of hours to get into the Colliseum and the Forum before they close for 2 days. A few other sites, such as the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps remain accessible, of course. We also need to figure out how we will get ourselves to Prague. This year we have fewer route options as there are mandatory scavenges in Rome, Vienna, Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Prague, with optional ones in Bologna, Venice, Trieste, Salzburg and Linz. Having been in all the Austrian destinations only 2 years previously with GSH, we really don't want to repeat those same scavenges. We had hoped to see Venice on the way north but discover that no trains seats are available until late in the evening or the next day. After much waiting in queues and running back and forth between various ticket agents (who universally did their best to be as unhelpful as possible in finding alternate routings) we finally decide to just head to Prague and see as much of it as we can. We are sorely tempted to just fly there, since that will cost about 1/3 of the train fare. Instead, we board a train that will take us to Vienna and arrive there in the middle of the night having shared a small compartment sitting kneecap to kneecap with 4 large Austrians. Two of them disembark in Bologna, but the remaining couple seem to take up the same amount of space. In Vienna, we catch another train to Brno in the Czech Republic. We arrive very early in the morning and check into our hotel for a shower and a nap. Brno is a very pleasant surprise. It has a beautiful square (actually more of a triangle) in the middle of the "old town". We climb to the top of St. Peter & Paul Cathedral and have a visit with the mummies in the crypt. The old town hall that we're supposed to visit is closed for renovations. We knock off a mandatory and have Nutella and banana crepes for lunch, teeth achingly sweet but good. Early afternoon we board another train, this time to Olomouc, and this one is an even slower train than the previous two. We arrive a little after 5 p.m. and catch a tram to the old square. We find the tourist information office and discover that one of the scavenge locations is about to close. We hop into a taxi and rush off to the immense Gothic St. Wenceslas Cathedral just before its massive door closes at 6 p.m. Back to the square to locate the Trinity Column which is a baroque 35 m column with a tiny chapel in it, built in 1754. We also locate the Astronomical Clock (an ugly Stalinist revision of the original machine) and discover that the legendary founder of the city was Caesar. The next Prague train will get us in at midnight, so we decide to get a hotel here and head for Prague first thing in the morning. We find a great hotel right off the main square and get ourselves settled for our first real sleep in 36 hours. We find an outdoor cafe and have a leisurely dinner (first one in days). We order a mandatory `smazeny syr`` for a starter only to discover that it`s a large slab of fried cheese: tastes great, but the coronary arteries are not impressed. As with the majority of our GSH food challenges, we have the requisite bite and leave the rest. An early night is needed and we`re in bed by 9 p.m. The next morning we`re up early (too early for the included hotel breakfast) and catch the 6 a.m. train to Prague. We arrive at 9:30, dump our luggage at our hotel and are off and running again in 15 minutes. As with all European cities, all things evolve from the main square and so we start there. Beautifully preserved classic buildings surround us. We find another astronomical clock, circa 1410, find where Franz Kafka used to hang out and visit the Havelska Market. From there we make our way to the Charles Bridge and find it jam packed with tourists. We slowly make our way across the bridge while counting the 29 statures that line its sides, and fight our way to St. Vitus Cathedral. The church sits high atop a hill and the view of Prague from here is amazing. We visit the cottages of the "Golden Lane" at the Prague castle, the Stiassney Jubilee Synagogue, the Venice of Prague and find a sculpture known as "Proudy". We finish our day in the U Fleku Beer Hall with a very large beer and some very bad (mandatory) food. "Dobro chut" as they say here. At 9 p.m. we hurry through heavy rain to check in with the gang at our Prague Hotel. We have missed a couple of "mandatory" challenges because of not stopping in Ljubljana, but hope that we will receive only a relatively minor penalty as incurred by other teams' infractions on previous legs. No such luck this time - our scavenges are not even going to be reviewed. Now we really regret not flying after all, and are VERY glad that we had not paid large entrance fees for fleeting visits to sites like the Jewish Ghetto Cemetery in Prague. A depressing end to the leg as we get our bags packed and ready to head to Washington D.C. on an early flight the next morning.
After a 3:30 a.m. wakeup call we're off to the airport for our 5 a.m. flight to Athens for a brief stopover and then on to Rome. We arrive and get settled into our hotel by noon. the group has a quick pizza lunch and the final leg begins. We have until 9 p.m.Thursday to get to Prague for the final check in. Rome is, of course, on holiday and most tourist sites and businesses are not open on May 1. We have only a couple of hours to get into the Colliseum and the Forum before they close for 2 days. A few other sites, such as the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps remain accessible, of course. We also need to figure out how we will get ourselves to Prague. This year we have fewer route options as there are mandatory scavenges in Rome, Vienna, Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Prague, with optional ones in Bologna, Venice, Trieste, Salzburg and Linz. Having been in all the Austrian destinations only 2 years previously with GSH, we really don't want to repeat those same scavenges. We had hoped to see Venice on the way north but discover that no trains seats are available until late in the evening or the next day. After much waiting in queues and running back and forth between various ticket agents (who universally did their best to be as unhelpful as possible in finding alternate routings) we finally decide to just head to Prague and see as much of it as we can. We are sorely tempted to just fly there, since that will cost about 1/3 of the train fare. Instead, we board a train that will take us to Vienna and arrive there in the middle of the night having shared a small compartment sitting kneecap to kneecap with 4 large Austrians. Two of them disembark in Bologna, but the remaining couple seem to take up the same amount of space. In Vienna, we catch another train to Brno in the Czech Republic. We arrive very early in the morning and check into our hotel for a shower and a nap. Brno is a very pleasant surprise. It has a beautiful square (actually more of a triangle) in the middle of the "old town". We climb to the top of St. Peter & Paul Cathedral and have a visit with the mummies in the crypt. The old town hall that we're supposed to visit is closed for renovations. We knock off a mandatory and have Nutella and banana crepes for lunch, teeth achingly sweet but good. Early afternoon we board another train, this time to Olomouc, and this one is an even slower train than the previous two. We arrive a little after 5 p.m. and catch a tram to the old square. We find the tourist information office and discover that one of the scavenge locations is about to close. We hop into a taxi and rush off to the immense Gothic St. Wenceslas Cathedral just before its massive door closes at 6 p.m. Back to the square to locate the Trinity Column which is a baroque 35 m column with a tiny chapel in it, built in 1754. We also locate the Astronomical Clock (an ugly Stalinist revision of the original machine) and discover that the legendary founder of the city was Caesar. The next Prague train will get us in at midnight, so we decide to get a hotel here and head for Prague first thing in the morning. We find a great hotel right off the main square and get ourselves settled for our first real sleep in 36 hours. We find an outdoor cafe and have a leisurely dinner (first one in days). We order a mandatory `smazeny syr`` for a starter only to discover that it`s a large slab of fried cheese: tastes great, but the coronary arteries are not impressed. As with the majority of our GSH food challenges, we have the requisite bite and leave the rest. An early night is needed and we`re in bed by 9 p.m. The next morning we`re up early (too early for the included hotel breakfast) and catch the 6 a.m. train to Prague. We arrive at 9:30, dump our luggage at our hotel and are off and running again in 15 minutes. As with all European cities, all things evolve from the main square and so we start there. Beautifully preserved classic buildings surround us. We find another astronomical clock, circa 1410, find where Franz Kafka used to hang out and visit the Havelska Market. From there we make our way to the Charles Bridge and find it jam packed with tourists. We slowly make our way across the bridge while counting the 29 statures that line its sides, and fight our way to St. Vitus Cathedral. The church sits high atop a hill and the view of Prague from here is amazing. We visit the cottages of the "Golden Lane" at the Prague castle, the Stiassney Jubilee Synagogue, the Venice of Prague and find a sculpture known as "Proudy". We finish our day in the U Fleku Beer Hall with a very large beer and some very bad (mandatory) food. "Dobro chut" as they say here. At 9 p.m. we hurry through heavy rain to check in with the gang at our Prague Hotel. We have missed a couple of "mandatory" challenges because of not stopping in Ljubljana, but hope that we will receive only a relatively minor penalty as incurred by other teams' infractions on previous legs. No such luck this time - our scavenges are not even going to be reviewed. Now we really regret not flying after all, and are VERY glad that we had not paid large entrance fees for fleeting visits to sites like the Jewish Ghetto Cemetery in Prague. A depressing end to the leg as we get our bags packed and ready to head to Washington D.C. on an early flight the next morning.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Cypriot castle climbs and crossings
Five am from 30,000 ft over the Mediteranean.
We've just had a fun, if sleep deprived 1 1/2 days in Cyprus. Hazy 4 decade old recollections of blue helmeted Canadian troops and Archbishop Makarios have transformed to real appreciation of a magical island with a rich history (both ancient and new), friendly people (both Turks and Greeks - though not necessarily to each other) and great food. This is a location that we would like to return to and explore more fully. The original plan was to have 2+ days here, but that was reduced, limiting our ability to travel much outside the walled city of Nicosia. The east-west "green line" that divides the Turkish occupied north from the Greek south adds to the complexity of getting around. Crossing is straightforward for us, but must be done at a handful of checkpoints in the country. Entertainingly (unless you are trying to find scavenges) each partition's maps leave the other sector's blank, and the locals claim ignorance of thinks like bus depots on "the other side". A not so friendly rivalry exists. Cyprus Delight is sold on the Greek side, "far superior" to the Turkish Delight of the north (although not noticible different to us). We are to drink some KEO beer. When we ask for it in the north at a taverna, the owner says Turkish beer is far better that Greek KEO and offers to par for ours if we don't agree. And he is correct (KEO is like US beer), so honesty prevents us taking him up on his offer.
Nicosia (aka Lefkosia) old town lies within a wall built by the Venetians in the 1500. Two of the border crossings are here, with a no-man's land (UN controlled)separating the 2 sides. We will go through several times in the time we are here, although the locals only recently regained the right to do the same. Our hunting begins after our 3 pm meeting at the Hilton: we have until 6:30 pm the next day. It is the weekend here (Saturday afternoon + Sunday) so MANY potential scavenges (most museums etc) are closed for the weekend, or for renovation, or were recently destroyed by fire! So we roam the city centres (South and North), determine potential bus travel (limited), visit a gothic mosque and a caravanserei. We try for a hammam (closed) so settle for bouzouki music instead before heading home to bed. Tomorrow we will bus to Kyrenia (aka Girne) on the north coast.
Most teams opt for a leisurely start complete with sit down breakfast (likely our last for the next 4-5 days). We Greek taxi to the border crossing, change taxis to Turkish, and arrive at an unrecognizably minimalist "bus depot" - tiny offices/kiosks surrounding a parking lot full of mini buses. A 35 minute ride through the coastal mountains takes us to Kyrenia, a pretty port town with an excellent harbour guarded by a castle. We tour there, search for icons, then taxi to the first of 2 crusader castle ruins high in the mountains overlooking Kyrenia. We can drive part way there, but at Buffavento (literally "wind-buffeted") Castle, a 30 minute climb awaits as we snake up the cliff face to the remnants of an ancient fortress. The view is splendid. Down we go, looking out for snakes and moufflon, but seeing neither, although lots of "sheep poo" on the path suggests that they are around. On to St. Hilarion Castle, a somewhat better preserved ruin with less of a climb required. We bus back to Nicosia, and spend the last 2 hours of the hunt tracking down dactyla, Cyprus coffee and cocktails, Arabian chewing gum (like retsina, it's an aquired taste). Will finish this later, on the plane on our way to Rome.
Five am from 30,000 ft over the Mediteranean.
We've just had a fun, if sleep deprived 1 1/2 days in Cyprus. Hazy 4 decade old recollections of blue helmeted Canadian troops and Archbishop Makarios have transformed to real appreciation of a magical island with a rich history (both ancient and new), friendly people (both Turks and Greeks - though not necessarily to each other) and great food. This is a location that we would like to return to and explore more fully. The original plan was to have 2+ days here, but that was reduced, limiting our ability to travel much outside the walled city of Nicosia. The east-west "green line" that divides the Turkish occupied north from the Greek south adds to the complexity of getting around. Crossing is straightforward for us, but must be done at a handful of checkpoints in the country. Entertainingly (unless you are trying to find scavenges) each partition's maps leave the other sector's blank, and the locals claim ignorance of thinks like bus depots on "the other side". A not so friendly rivalry exists. Cyprus Delight is sold on the Greek side, "far superior" to the Turkish Delight of the north (although not noticible different to us). We are to drink some KEO beer. When we ask for it in the north at a taverna, the owner says Turkish beer is far better that Greek KEO and offers to par for ours if we don't agree. And he is correct (KEO is like US beer), so honesty prevents us taking him up on his offer.
Nicosia (aka Lefkosia) old town lies within a wall built by the Venetians in the 1500. Two of the border crossings are here, with a no-man's land (UN controlled)separating the 2 sides. We will go through several times in the time we are here, although the locals only recently regained the right to do the same. Our hunting begins after our 3 pm meeting at the Hilton: we have until 6:30 pm the next day. It is the weekend here (Saturday afternoon + Sunday) so MANY potential scavenges (most museums etc) are closed for the weekend, or for renovation, or were recently destroyed by fire! So we roam the city centres (South and North), determine potential bus travel (limited), visit a gothic mosque and a caravanserei. We try for a hammam (closed) so settle for bouzouki music instead before heading home to bed. Tomorrow we will bus to Kyrenia (aka Girne) on the north coast.
Most teams opt for a leisurely start complete with sit down breakfast (likely our last for the next 4-5 days). We Greek taxi to the border crossing, change taxis to Turkish, and arrive at an unrecognizably minimalist "bus depot" - tiny offices/kiosks surrounding a parking lot full of mini buses. A 35 minute ride through the coastal mountains takes us to Kyrenia, a pretty port town with an excellent harbour guarded by a castle. We tour there, search for icons, then taxi to the first of 2 crusader castle ruins high in the mountains overlooking Kyrenia. We can drive part way there, but at Buffavento (literally "wind-buffeted") Castle, a 30 minute climb awaits as we snake up the cliff face to the remnants of an ancient fortress. The view is splendid. Down we go, looking out for snakes and moufflon, but seeing neither, although lots of "sheep poo" on the path suggests that they are around. On to St. Hilarion Castle, a somewhat better preserved ruin with less of a climb required. We bus back to Nicosia, and spend the last 2 hours of the hunt tracking down dactyla, Cyprus coffee and cocktails, Arabian chewing gum (like retsina, it's an aquired taste). Will finish this later, on the plane on our way to Rome.
Surviving driving in Oman
Surviving driving Oman (but it's a dry heat)
We step off the plane in Oman into warm evening air - and no humidity! And not raining!
Our bus takes us to the hotel in the dark. It's near midnight, and we can make out rugged hills all around us as we come down a long and winding but wide paved road to the opulent resort that will be our home for 3 nights (or about 15 hours, as it turns out). It is actually a complex of 3 hotels on the coast outside Muscat. We are to meet at 9:00 a.m. to find out what we will be hunting for, so we try to sleep fast. An interesting rule change for this leg is the unusual, although not unprecedented, option of renting a car while in Oman. We soon discover that without a car, one can see nothing here, so we happily join up with fellow dirt-trackers Shane and Scott to do our scavenges. First stop is the old port of Muscat with its 2 forts guarding the harbour, and the Sultan's palace in between them, Sadly, the forts are not accessible to the public (the first of MANY forts we will visit in Oman that can only be viewed from the exterior). Still, they are highly photogenic. We pick up the requisite stamps for sending postcards to the Dictator`s Director's children (they will arrive by the truckload at this rate), then head south to the town of Sur, stopping at another closed fort in Quryat on the way. The motorway is an engineering marvel, although the Humvees (bristling with machine guns ) under camoflage nets at the toll booths give us pause. I guess they take toll-dodging seriously? But after a quick passport check we are on our way again. Seems that traffic accidents pose a greater risk to us here than the army. We're told that the highway death toll here is astronomical, and in fact later read that a family of 7 was killed on the same highway that day. The highway passes through rugged mountain passes, then along the ocean to Sur, a sleepy fishing village. Quaint, but not worth the points for a 2 hour (each way) drive.To help pass the time, our chauffeurs purchase CD`s at a gas station and we listen to disco music in heavy rotation until our ears bleed (just joking, Shane ; ) We get back to Muscat (crossing the Tropic of Cancer en route) and head to the Mutrah corniche for a sunset stroll. We explore the Mutrah souk, pricing frankincense, ouds, khanjars, arsaas,and kumas. We eat some halwa and lokhemat and buy a do-it-yourself henna tattoo kit.
The plan for the next day is to drive inland for 2 hours to catch the live animal market in Nizwa, so "wheels up" at 6 am. Sadly, the breakfast buffet opens at 6:30 a.m. We reach Nizwa just in time for the goat auction. There's an arena filled with men (mostly) and their goats, all milling around while the "black moving objects" (the wives in full burkah) sit in the shade around the walls. The scene looks like it hasn't changed in hundreds of years, except for ubiquitous cell phones. Much easier for checking the going price (about 200 R) per goat. Several pickup trucks have small herds of goats in the back -we aren't sure if they are recently purchased or yet to be sold and the goats seem similarly unsure, but unperturbed. We roam the souk, visit the date market and sample 4 varieties to find the best, then head to the fort to admire the slots used for pouring boiling date syrup on attacking infidels. Good to know that you're being scalded by only the finest variety of date juice.
Onward to Al Hamra, the oldest Omani village, just one of several ancient towns that we will visit in this area. Mud brick construction (unlike the modern ornate concrete buildings of the newer towns here). These towns seem to survive now on tourism. A new resort is being built nearby to accommodate trekkers and 4x4-wheelers who come to explore giant caves and climb in the rugged terrain. We head up into exactly that wild country as we drive up Wadi Ghul. Before long the pavement ends and we continue for 2 hours on gravel, climbing steadily to over 2000 m in a wide expanse of barren lava-like rock. Tall angular peaks surround us on all sides, with a massive gorge (deeper than Grand Canyon??) waiting for us to fall into. Our gutless Suzuki baby 4x4 makes steady, if hard, progress up one S curve after another until we reach Jabel Shans (aka The Mountains of the Sun) and Oman's highest peak. Ther route down is significantly quicker. One team allegedly made the drive in a 2 wheel drive car: Bravo!
On to the village of Balad Sayt, although through a miscommunication (?) with the locals (everybody lies), we miss the actual site that we are supposed to find. More specific clues would have helped here (and elsewhere in Oman): we later learn that other teams also failed to find this remarkable location which we hear requires a lengthy hike to reach. Really disappointing after all that driving. At least gas is cheap, about $.30/litre. Guess we'll have to come back some day? We're not sure that this giant hilly gravel pit of a country is one we will rush back to, although it does have a certain stark beauty. The people are immensely friendly and hospitable, but women are CLEARLY second class. Certain locations are off limits to Kit and me, and the locals direct all questions/answers to our male "protectors". Even when we order food, it comes to the guys first, and the ladies room is often an outside shed, rather than the indoor gents. They all stink, though.
We visit another fort, this one at Bahla, and on the Unesco World Heritage list. Again, not open to the public, as it's being refurbished, but the adjacent 10 km long city wall is public. And then, the 2 hour drive back to the coast, with Kit behind the wheel. Astoundingly it is only about 2 pm as we get back to our hotel after what feels like a long day. We could revisit Muscat, but as it is Friday, many sites are closed to us, including the Grand Mosque (recently built, it can accommodate 15,000 and boasts the world's largest carpet and chandelier). So we do the unthinkable, and goof off for a few hours. We complete our henna tattoos, dip our toes in the Sea of Oman, stroll the grounds, write up our score sheets and catch up on laundry. We find a hotel happy-hour and even have a (mediocre) sit-down dinner of tapas. It all seems so wrong, but as the hotel is an isolated self-contained resort far from town, dining in Muscat seems pointless. We know that the serious contenders are still out there battling for every point since this year the outcome is not (yet) a given. At 9 we all reconvene. Some happy teams have driven the sand dunes, some have ridden camels and others have gone dolphin watching. Some have completed their scavenges successfully, others....? Let's just say it will be an interesting finale if let to take its course. A lot will depend on the next 2 or 3 legs. We will depart at 4:45 am tomorrow - no breakfast, again : ( - and are off to Bahrain (stop-over only)and then to......
Cyprus
We step off the plane in Oman into warm evening air - and no humidity! And not raining!
Our bus takes us to the hotel in the dark. It's near midnight, and we can make out rugged hills all around us as we come down a long and winding but wide paved road to the opulent resort that will be our home for 3 nights (or about 15 hours, as it turns out). It is actually a complex of 3 hotels on the coast outside Muscat. We are to meet at 9:00 a.m. to find out what we will be hunting for, so we try to sleep fast. An interesting rule change for this leg is the unusual, although not unprecedented, option of renting a car while in Oman. We soon discover that without a car, one can see nothing here, so we happily join up with fellow dirt-trackers Shane and Scott to do our scavenges. First stop is the old port of Muscat with its 2 forts guarding the harbour, and the Sultan's palace in between them, Sadly, the forts are not accessible to the public (the first of MANY forts we will visit in Oman that can only be viewed from the exterior). Still, they are highly photogenic. We pick up the requisite stamps for sending postcards to the Dictator`s Director's children (they will arrive by the truckload at this rate), then head south to the town of Sur, stopping at another closed fort in Quryat on the way. The motorway is an engineering marvel, although the Humvees (bristling with machine guns ) under camoflage nets at the toll booths give us pause. I guess they take toll-dodging seriously? But after a quick passport check we are on our way again. Seems that traffic accidents pose a greater risk to us here than the army. We're told that the highway death toll here is astronomical, and in fact later read that a family of 7 was killed on the same highway that day. The highway passes through rugged mountain passes, then along the ocean to Sur, a sleepy fishing village. Quaint, but not worth the points for a 2 hour (each way) drive.To help pass the time, our chauffeurs purchase CD`s at a gas station and we listen to disco music in heavy rotation until our ears bleed (just joking, Shane ; ) We get back to Muscat (crossing the Tropic of Cancer en route) and head to the Mutrah corniche for a sunset stroll. We explore the Mutrah souk, pricing frankincense, ouds, khanjars, arsaas,and kumas. We eat some halwa and lokhemat and buy a do-it-yourself henna tattoo kit.
The plan for the next day is to drive inland for 2 hours to catch the live animal market in Nizwa, so "wheels up" at 6 am. Sadly, the breakfast buffet opens at 6:30 a.m. We reach Nizwa just in time for the goat auction. There's an arena filled with men (mostly) and their goats, all milling around while the "black moving objects" (the wives in full burkah) sit in the shade around the walls. The scene looks like it hasn't changed in hundreds of years, except for ubiquitous cell phones. Much easier for checking the going price (about 200 R) per goat. Several pickup trucks have small herds of goats in the back -we aren't sure if they are recently purchased or yet to be sold and the goats seem similarly unsure, but unperturbed. We roam the souk, visit the date market and sample 4 varieties to find the best, then head to the fort to admire the slots used for pouring boiling date syrup on attacking infidels. Good to know that you're being scalded by only the finest variety of date juice.
Onward to Al Hamra, the oldest Omani village, just one of several ancient towns that we will visit in this area. Mud brick construction (unlike the modern ornate concrete buildings of the newer towns here). These towns seem to survive now on tourism. A new resort is being built nearby to accommodate trekkers and 4x4-wheelers who come to explore giant caves and climb in the rugged terrain. We head up into exactly that wild country as we drive up Wadi Ghul. Before long the pavement ends and we continue for 2 hours on gravel, climbing steadily to over 2000 m in a wide expanse of barren lava-like rock. Tall angular peaks surround us on all sides, with a massive gorge (deeper than Grand Canyon??) waiting for us to fall into. Our gutless Suzuki baby 4x4 makes steady, if hard, progress up one S curve after another until we reach Jabel Shans (aka The Mountains of the Sun) and Oman's highest peak. Ther route down is significantly quicker. One team allegedly made the drive in a 2 wheel drive car: Bravo!
On to the village of Balad Sayt, although through a miscommunication (?) with the locals (everybody lies), we miss the actual site that we are supposed to find. More specific clues would have helped here (and elsewhere in Oman): we later learn that other teams also failed to find this remarkable location which we hear requires a lengthy hike to reach. Really disappointing after all that driving. At least gas is cheap, about $.30/litre. Guess we'll have to come back some day? We're not sure that this giant hilly gravel pit of a country is one we will rush back to, although it does have a certain stark beauty. The people are immensely friendly and hospitable, but women are CLEARLY second class. Certain locations are off limits to Kit and me, and the locals direct all questions/answers to our male "protectors". Even when we order food, it comes to the guys first, and the ladies room is often an outside shed, rather than the indoor gents. They all stink, though.
We visit another fort, this one at Bahla, and on the Unesco World Heritage list. Again, not open to the public, as it's being refurbished, but the adjacent 10 km long city wall is public. And then, the 2 hour drive back to the coast, with Kit behind the wheel. Astoundingly it is only about 2 pm as we get back to our hotel after what feels like a long day. We could revisit Muscat, but as it is Friday, many sites are closed to us, including the Grand Mosque (recently built, it can accommodate 15,000 and boasts the world's largest carpet and chandelier). So we do the unthinkable, and goof off for a few hours. We complete our henna tattoos, dip our toes in the Sea of Oman, stroll the grounds, write up our score sheets and catch up on laundry. We find a hotel happy-hour and even have a (mediocre) sit-down dinner of tapas. It all seems so wrong, but as the hotel is an isolated self-contained resort far from town, dining in Muscat seems pointless. We know that the serious contenders are still out there battling for every point since this year the outcome is not (yet) a given. At 9 we all reconvene. Some happy teams have driven the sand dunes, some have ridden camels and others have gone dolphin watching. Some have completed their scavenges successfully, others....? Let's just say it will be an interesting finale if let to take its course. A lot will depend on the next 2 or 3 legs. We will depart at 4:45 am tomorrow - no breakfast, again : ( - and are off to Bahrain (stop-over only)and then to......
Cyprus
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)