Nizwa - Souq and Goat Market

After checking into the hotel in Nizwa in the foothills of the mountains, we traveled to the downtown area where the souq was located. We walked through part of the souq marveling at all of the silver and gold, intricate designs on pottery and wood, fabrics and some shop items that seemed to not fit in with their "made in China" stickers on the bottom. One of my purchases was a silver fish bracelet and another was a finely woven basket with camel hide sewn to the bottom outside - a camel milk basket it is called - woven fine enough to hold milk. Dick got a hanging clay pot that is used as an air conditioner - when filled with water, the evaporation given off will cool a room - I am guessing only one pot will not do much to cool a room, but the thought of carrying more than one on the plane prevented more from being purchased.

We went to a small diner on the main street in search of good food - we were shuffled off to a side "family room" to be seated. Food was ordered - too much as usual - but good, although Carey and Chad say they have had better, we did not know any different. I, Carol, was comfortable eating rice - it looked safe. You can never be quite sure what the meat is...

As we were leaving, the moon was rising over the mountain tops - it was quite a site to see Again - you cannot ever capture the true site with a photo. By the time we made it back to the hotel, we were able to see the moon come up a second time over a different part of the mountains.

The next morning, we made our way back to the souq area of town for the 'goat market'. Hundreds of people were there along with their most prized goats and cows to sell to the highest bidder. Several men at a time would walk their animals around a large circle to show off their qualities. We are not really sure how the bidding or selling works, but saw money exchanged somehow for animals. There were hundreds of animals. Along with the Friday morning goat market, a farmer's market of sorts is set up in a parking lot - with lots

of rugs and housewares being sold. The fruit and vegetable market is also going on in a building in the souq. There is also one whole building just for the date souq, with bags and bags of dates stacked up to be sold.

Next, we went to the Nizwa Fort - it is a museum inside of an original fort - the largest fort built in Oman. Built in the 1660's, the Nizwa Fort protected it's city which is located in the interior of the country and the ancient capitol of Oman. Hot date syrup was used as a weapon - poured on unsuspecting intruders through holes in the ceilings above.