DIESER ARTIKEL IST AUCH AUF DEUTSCH VERFÜGBAR

Salalah, 02.05. – 12.05.2016

Salalah – the second and main stop of my trip to the Sultanate of Oman.
I´ve left the capital Muscat after 3 days of excitement with a two-hour domestic flight and in Salalah relaxation has been the most important thing in the very south of the country.
The main part of my stay was spent in the beach hotel, but one day I explored the capital of the incense area Dhofar with the rental car.
As Muscat, Salalah doesn´t have a real city center. So I´ve already thought about the things I want to see here in advance.
I´m proud to indruduce them 🙂

DO´s

• Visit the sources of Ayn Razat – a fascinating oasis in the middle of the desert!
• Get yourself some fresh fruits at the stalls along the coastal road – caribbean feeling!
• Visit the old souk in the evening – don´t forget to buy original Salalah frankincense!
• Admire the sunset from the top of the Dhofar-mountains – unique!
• Rent a car WITH GPS – it is built on every corner..!

Most of the time in Salalah I´ve spent at my beach hotel – click here for the report about my stay in the Hotel Salalah Rotana Resort.

The first stop of my day trip were the sources of Ayn Razat.
After about 20 minutes by car I reached an almost unreal oasis in the middle of the burning sun and shade temperatures high above 40 ° C.

 Crystal clear water is coming out of small gaps between dry stones and boulders. As a small stram it leads running through the area all through the year. The best view of the entire oasis is from a small, shady cave above the area.

Beside the stream there is a perfectly well-kept, small botanical garden.
During my one-hour stay there were no other visitors but 5 gardeners who took care of the beauty of the park.

I continued my the trip to the main part of Salalah. On the way there, I saw some road signs that are very rarely in Europe ;). But…

… they were absolutely correct, as it turned out a few minutes later.

It took almost 10 minutes until the hike of some dromedaries was over.
A great experience because I was able to see it from the first row in front of many other cars 😉

On the fertile soils along the Salalah coastal road, mangos, papayas, sugar canes and numerous banana plants thrive very well in the shade of tall coconut trees.

The prices for these fresh goodies are really low. For example, a coconut costs not even 0,50 €.
Additional I bought some of the small, delicious bananas and the friendly Indian guy hasn´t stopped smiling as I gave him 2 € tip. What great joy you can do with little effort!

To recover from alomst inhuman temperatures high above 40 ° C , I went to the well air conditioned Salalah Gardens Mall.
Although the malls, both in Salalah and Muscat, aren´t as large as the ones in Dubai, here they´re extraordinary clean and well maintained – both inside the mall and outside.
As I already wrote in my report about Muscat, the Omanis obviously like tissue-boxes… 😉

An impressive day in Salalah ended after 10 hours, as I watched the sunset from a viewing platform high up in the Dhofar Mountains.
Hundreds of years ago, the sailors have looked at the Indian Ocean before they´ve begun their cruise to bring frankincense, dates and other precious goods in distant countries.

Martin goes Sindbad – a European in the Orient.
Anyway, it was wonderful! 🙂