Offroad the Canyon & Exploring Castles

Today, it was time to take our car on a real test drive. When planning this trip, it was suggested to hire a 4x4 vehicle as some roads in the mountains are a bit tricky to drive without an all-wheel-drive. And as luck had it, we got a free upgrade at the airport for having to wait 15 minutes to get our car. So now, we had a Nissa X-Terra - half a house!

Anyway, as we explored the canyon from the top yesterday (i.e. hiking along the balcony walk), this time, we would drive through the canyon at the bottom. To be clear, there is no paved road. Instead, we would follow a dried out riverbed with lots of gravel, tight turns, ups and downs, etc - in short, lots and lots of fun.

To follow the path, we definitely needed a 4x4 car, as the car slid left, right and centre, going through shallow water, underneath palm trees, tight turns bordered by rocks and unstable gravel, pretty much the entire time. The setting was spectacular, though, as we drove through the dramatic canyon that was rising up all the way to the sky all around us. It was a really cool and fun drive.

My mom and I enjoyed it very much, even though the uneven surface was properly shaking the car in all directions - washing machine style. My dad enjoyed it at the beginning, but at some point it was a bit too ‚adventerous' for him and I think a couple of times he suggested to best turn around. Well, I wasn't turning around, since I had too much fun (and mom was on my side, haha).

At the end of the road, we stopped the car, walked a bit further into the canyon and admired the breath-taking landscape that was unfolding in front of us. A truly majestic sight! Yeah, that was a real adventerous drive with stunning views the entire way. I absolutely loved it!

Back in our accomodation, we packed up and were heading to our next destination. On the way, however, we did a quick pitstop to visit one of the most beautiful castles in Oman - Jabreen Castle.

The fortress, made out of large stones and dark gray sandstones held together with thick layers of sand and gypsum, was build in 1675 by an Imam and is beautifully restored and perfect to explore. It's intricate interiors, variety of rooms (date storage, two courtyards, residency, welcome hall, etc.) made it very interesting to wander through and to think about when the castle was in operations hundreds of years ago.

It also provided a nice cool climate as the sun and temperatures outside were again raging in the mid-40s by now. We took our time walking through the castle, learning about its fascinating history and taking some cool snaps before having a light lunch at a nearby cafe.

Afterwards, we had a long drive to the city of Ibra, where we would stay for the night. Once arrived, we checked in, went off to dinner (Yemeni again, including camel and lamb), before walking through a little but underwhelming market.

Once again, it was an interesting and varied day, starting with an adventerous drive through a canyon and exploring the history and architecture of a beautiful Omani castle.

Tomorrow would be another amazing day, full of seeing new things and hopefully with something amazing and unique for mom and dad.Read more