Muscat for Insiders

Kasper was going to host a Portuguese girl the next night and she arrived from Salalah (1000 km south of Muscat) at 5 in the morning. She was waiting already a while at the Coffee shop where we were going to meet her. After a few minutes chatting and figuring out that she works in Berlin we went for some breakfast/lunch and thought we could combine this with a bit of a tour around Mathra and Muscat. Driving down the Motorways in Muscat I slowly got used to driving here, I knew where I was going and which exit to take. This time in Mathra we also went up the fortress and found the massive wooden door unlocked and no sign telling us not to enter.

The three of us were all alone in the fortress and had great view from the top of the tower which had to be conquered by rope. On the way back to the entrance we were caught by a watchman who said "We got problem!".

Next stop for us was Old Muscat and the Sultan's Palace again. At this time it was already a bit late to be heading off to Western Hajar, which was actually my plan for the day, so I deciced to stay one more night in Muscat and leave early tomorrow morning. So our tour around Muscat could continue.

We actually didn't get any food yet and Kaspar suggested a bit of fancy place outside behind the hills. This was a secluded 5 star resort Al Jissa, nestled in the rocks on the Gulf of Oman.

We were greeted by shiny blue Rolls Royce Silver Phantom rolling up the road contrasted by the beige, rocky background. It really fit into the scenery with the yachts and fancy Hotel set in the rocks.
Unfortunately the fancy Hotel didnt have a parking spot left (or so the security guard at the gate told us) and we had to drive back, stopping at small marina on the way to another place that Kasper suggested. The Golden Oryx, a Chinese restaurant. Daniela, the Portuguese girl invited us (Kasper for the couch and me for the driving) and we really enjoyed the food.

Since we had some time to waste we went to the next coffee shop on the Al Shati road (a sort of promenade where people just drive up and down to show off their cars). We had a stroll on the beach as well and then headed over to a newly built up area called the Wave, where we just stayed on the beach until the sun set. Since I wanted to rearrange my things and have a quite night I went back to the Sun City Hotel around 10. This day turned out quite nice and I got a few inside views of Muscat that I wouldn't have gotten without the couchsurfing experience.