Salalah, Oman

With today’s port call in Salalah, we have arrived in the Middle East.

Alas, I have no story to tell you.

You see, we did a wonderful tour here in 2017 that took us to see most of the highlights. This time, we wanted to visit the Al Baleed Archaeological Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ruins in the park belong to the ancient city of Z̧afār, which was an important port for frankincense trade during the medieval times.

We got as far as arranging for a driver recommended by a fellow Find Penguins blog writer. Then we found out that the museum is closed on Saturdays … a closure complicated further by the fact that Eid al-Fitr is being celebrated in Oman at this time … a three-day holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.

We considered alternatives but nothing piqued our curiosity. We also knew that the city would be pretty-much dead due to the holiday. So, we stayed on the ship.

The good news is that we now have plans in place for all of the replacement ports that have been added due to the cancelation of our call on Myanmar. Our day was a productive one.

Even better, we had dinner with friends Kadi & Brad and Geraldine & Thomas tonight, which made for a delightful end to our day.Read more