Muscat

Muscat runs along the shore between black mountains and the Sea of Oman, low and white, with nothing tall breaking the line. The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque holds a Persian carpet woven in a single piece by more than six hundred workers over four years, under a crystal chandelier of nearly eight tonnes. On the waterfront, the Mutrah Corniche lights up at dusk and the Mutrah Souq smells of frankincense, sandalwood and dried lime. Behind the city the mountains split open into gorges: the river and waterfalls of Wadi Shab, the green pools of Wadi Bani Khalid, the turquoise shaft of the Bimmah Sinkhole. On the terraces of Jebel Akhdar, Damask roses have been distilled into rosewater for generations, and Jebel Shams stands above a canyon a thousand metres deep. Further down the coast, green turtles haul up the beach at night to lay. Shuwa, lamb cooked underground, arrives with dates and cardamom coffee.