Muscat Travel Series: Souq Mutrah

Happy Wednesday all! 

I got a lot of responses on the Muscat posts yesterday from people asking me if I was still in Muscat, but I am not. I was there few months ago and I finally have time to blog about it. It is totally worth a visit! This travel series started with Ten Things to do in Muscat and now it continues with a new post about shopping! Muscat has few big malls that have the usual American and European big brands like Zara, Mango, Aldo, H&M and the rest. Personally, I am sick of those brands because I am surrounded by them everywhere! I was really pleased to go to the traditional Mutrah Souq.   

Shops are arranged inside, outside and all around. They all sell similar things such as key chains, lanterns, wooden boxes, jewellery, scarves, some clothes and so on. There are few cold beverage stalls around the souq. There was only two traditional desert -halwa- shops there. If you are walking around with a camera people will stare. I liked that the sales men weren't too pushy with sales, unlike Turkey and Moroco where it feels like you are being attacked by the sellers.  

It was midday when I went in, but it was sunset by the time I got out. Time really flies when you are shopping.

A little snap of the souq interior. 

After the Souq, I checked out the surrounding area. There is the sea front known as the corniche, a little museum called Bain Albarnda, few local restaurants and some lovely architecture like the one in the pictures below.

Lovely old mosque

Part of the mosque

Arches are loved & used a lot in Omani Architecture. It's part of their heritage and it looks really nice. Just look how beautiful arches make the space look:

Beautiful Islamic Patterns

If you are in Muscat, I recommend a visit to the souq. It's close to the Ritz resort. More Muscat posts are coming!