Well, Wadi ya know - Lausanne to Muscat 2018 Day 6 (Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque)

BONZO · 4 Mar 18, 07:45 PM

Cast:
Me: Shaun
Alison (who edits and adds comments to these reports before I post them!)
Link to Index is here https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1065039

We were up early again this morning for our last full day – mainly because we needed an early start as we were going to Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque.

We had a lovely breakfast on the lounge patio – we were the only ones out there and we made the most of the opportunity to take some photos.

The mosque is open from 8:00 am to 11:00 am for non-Muslims every day except Friday and there is no charge for entry.

We'd checked taxi cost again before leaving the hotel and our driver was spot on with the price (6OMR – about £12)so we were off to a good start. After being dropped off near the entrance the taxi driver asked if we wanted him to wait for us for the return trip.

We thought about it for a little while and agreed as the main road was very busy and I’m not sure if we’d be able to flag another taxi down in this area. We knew he’d wait for us as we didn’t pay him for the outward journey (he was trusting!)

Our first view of the mosque was that it was very imposing and impressive, clean lines, modern and immaculately presented with an army of staff going around cleaning and tidying up the gardens.

At first we couldn’t find the entrance and spent some time wandering around the entire perimeter wall before finally finding the non-Muslim entrance.

We had checked out what the dress code was as over the last couple of years we’d visited a number of temples and other religious buildings so we were aware there would be some restrictions. I had long trousers and a sweatshirt in my bag! (It was cold when we left London and I didn’t have anything else long-sleeved with me). Alison had long trousers, T-shirt, long sleeved blouse and headscarf.

Before you can enter the building you need your dress code checked by the waiting staff, just for compliance. If you didn’t have anything suitable then a dish-dasha was available for men and coverings available for ladies. I took my sweatshirt out of the bag but the guy said that my T-shirt would be fine as I’d be too hot. Things weren’t as straight forward or as lenient for Alison though as we soon found out.

Alison took advice on the correct way of place the headscarf around herself and all seemed fine. She did struggle a bit to keep it in place and a member of staff helped tie it on correctly. However it started to come loose so was duly sent back to the shop where she purchased a pashmina which was a better fit.

So far so good but security insisted that she buttoned up her blouse to the top despite a crew neck t-shirt was underneath. They also had a short discussion about Alison’s sandals and ankles showing but they let us through all the same.

So, after letting me off my bare arms they were really strict with Alison about too much ankle showing, blouse undone and a slipped headscarf, oh well, when in Rome etc. and we are always mindful to respect other people’s religious beliefs.

First attempt

Second attempt:

And finally we could head in!

Now for the history and technical bit: -

In 1992 Sultan Qaboos directed that his country of Oman should have a Grand Mosque. A competition for its design took place in 1993 and after a site was chosen at Bausher construction commenced in December 1994. Building work, which was undertaken by Carillion Alawi LLC took six years and seven months.

The mosque is built from 300,000 tonnes of Indian sandstone. The main musalla (prayer hall) is square (external dimensions 74.4 x 74.4 metres) with a central dome rising to a height of fifty metres above the floor. The dome and the main minaret (90 metres) and four flanking minarets (45.5 metres) are the mosque’s chief visual features. The main musalla can hold over 6,500 worshippers, while the women’s musalla can accommodate 750 worshipers. The outer paved ground can hold 8,000 worshipers and there is additional space available in the interior courtyard and the passageways, making a total capacity of up to 20,000 worshipers.

The mosque is built on a site occupying 416,000 square metres and the complex extends to cover an area of 40,000 square metres. The newly built Grand Mosque was inaugurated by Sultan of Oman on May 4, 2001

A major feature of the design of the interior is the prayer carpet which covers the floor of the prayer hall. It contains, 1,700,000,000 knots, weighs 21 tonnes and took four years to produce, and brings together the classical Persian Tabriz, Kashan and Isfahan design traditions. 28 colours in varying shades were used, the majority obtained from traditional vegetable dyes. It is the second largest single piece carpet in the world. This hand-woven carpet was produced by Iran Carpet Company

The chandelier above the praying hall is 14 meters tall and was manufactured by company Faustig from Italy. It is the world’s largest chandelier

So, some impressive facts and figures there but how did we find it?

Well, I thought it was a truly magnificent building of immense proportions but perhaps too new for my taste, I prefer something with a bit more age and character like the mosques in Marrakech, saying that, we were not at all disappointed in visiting it though.

After about an hour or so we left the building and found our waiting taxi who took us back to the hotel just in time for a second breakfast session in the lounge just before 9 o’clock. We had a quick discussion to see if there was anything else we wanted to do (given that it was our last full day) but we decided to just make the most of the nice weather and relax as that was really the purpose of this trip.

For the rest of the morning we just relaxed down by the pool area until around lunchtime before taking a short stroll along the beach to a café called Candles.

It was an interesting small place where we appeared to be the only tourists here although this time of year is really off peak so not such a surprise. Lovely beachside café selling snacks with locals passing the time of day eating, drinking, and hookah pipes whilst playing backgammon. We settled on 1 salad, 1 wrap and chips with soft drinks (total 4.3OMR about £8.50) and watched the waves break over the sand. Lovely!

Afterwards we wandered along beach to stretch our legs and see if any other food places were around that we could visit later.

A pleasant enough stroll but hardly anywhere else to eat apart from an upscale café towards the end of the beach. I guess that as we are in or near the embassy quarter there’s not much call for this type of thing.

We ambled back along the beach and settled down by the pool for a while watching the large OPEC conference have lunch in the gardens, complete with all their bodyguards and security.

We enjoyed reading, snoozing and relaxing before heading up to the lounge for afternoon tea where Alison managed to break the coffee machine but Jenny came to the rescue though and saved the day. (Alison here: Cheek! It just ran out of something – coffee beans I think!)

Once back in our room we got changed and on the way back downstairs took a couple of photos of the impressive hotel lobby:

Then we headed down to the sea for a last swim but took the Go Pro with us this time. Blimey, the sea was a bit choppy today as other days had been as calm as a mill pond. We thrashed around for a while before getting startled by some small fish actually leaping out of the water in front of us. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to hang around much longer as I didn’t know if anything had been chasing them!

After a while we decided to call it a day and headed back to the room to shower and change for our usual drinks and snacks in the lounge – as always they were big enough to be our dinner!

After ‘dinner’ we decided to go to Rakan café for coffee and once again we were the only tourists here. We settled down with a coffee and some snacks and I ordered a mint flavoured hookah. My goodness it was strong, and I struggled not to cough too loudly looking like some amateur and I think I got away with it.

We watched some premier and Spanish league football, had a few more coughing fits and decided to call it a night before taking a slow walk along the beach back to the hotel.

Glee Fan · 7 Jun 18, 04:41 PM

Really interesting place. I’m enjoying reading.

4 Mar 18, 07:45 PM	#1
	4 Mar 18, 07:45 PM BONZO Imagineer
BONZO Imagineer Join Date: Mar 02	Well, Wadi ya know - Lausanne to Muscat 2018 Day 6 (Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque) Cast: Me: Shaun Alison (who edits and adds comments to these reports before I post them!) Link to Index is here https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1065039 We were up early again this morning for our last full day – mainly because we needed an early start as we were going to Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. We had a lovely breakfast on the lounge patio – we were the only ones out there and we made the most of the opportunity to take some photos. The mosque is open from 8:00 am to 11:00 am for non-Muslims every day except Friday and there is no charge for entry. We'd checked taxi cost again before leaving the hotel and our driver was spot on with the price (6OMR – about £12)so we were off to a good start. After being dropped off near the entrance the taxi driver asked if we wanted him to wait for us for the return trip. We thought about it for a little while and agreed as the main road was very busy and I’m not sure if we’d be able to flag another taxi down in this area. We knew he’d wait for us as we didn’t pay him for the outward journey (he was trusting!) Our first view of the mosque was that it was very imposing and impressive, clean lines, modern and immaculately presented with an army of staff going around cleaning and tidying up the gardens. At first we couldn’t find the entrance and spent some time wandering around the entire perimeter wall before finally finding the non-Muslim entrance. We had checked out what the dress code was as over the last couple of years we’d visited a number of temples and other religious buildings so we were aware there would be some restrictions. I had long trousers and a sweatshirt in my bag! (It was cold when we left London and I didn’t have anything else long-sleeved with me). Alison had long trousers, T-shirt, long sleeved blouse and headscarf. Before you can enter the building you need your dress code checked by the waiting staff, just for compliance. If you didn’t have anything suitable then a dish-dasha was available for men and coverings available for ladies. I took my sweatshirt out of the bag but the guy said that my T-shirt would be fine as I’d be too hot. Things weren’t as straight forward or as lenient for Alison though as we soon found out. Alison took advice on the correct way of place the headscarf around herself and all seemed fine. She did struggle a bit to keep it in place and a member of staff helped tie it on correctly. However it started to come loose so was duly sent back to the shop where she purchased a pashmina which was a better fit. So far so good but security insisted that she buttoned up her blouse to the top despite a crew neck t-shirt was underneath. They also had a short discussion about Alison’s sandals and ankles showing but they let us through all the same. So, after letting me off my bare arms they were really strict with Alison about too much ankle showing, blouse undone and a slipped headscarf, oh well, when in Rome etc. and we are always mindful to respect other people’s religious beliefs. First attempt Second attempt: And finally we could head in! Now for the history and technical bit: - In 1992 Sultan Qaboos directed that his country of Oman should have a Grand Mosque. A competition for its design took place in 1993 and after a site was chosen at Bausher construction commenced in December 1994. Building work, which was undertaken by Carillion Alawi LLC took six years and seven months. The mosque is built from 300,000 tonnes of Indian sandstone. The main musalla (prayer hall) is square (external dimensions 74.4 x 74.4 metres) with a central dome rising to a height of fifty metres above the floor. The dome and the main minaret (90 metres) and four flanking minarets (45.5 metres) are the mosque’s chief visual features. The main musalla can hold over 6,500 worshippers, while the women’s musalla can accommodate 750 worshipers. The outer paved ground can hold 8,000 worshipers and there is additional space available in the interior courtyard and the passageways, making a total capacity of up to 20,000 worshipers. The mosque is built on a site occupying 416,000 square metres and the complex extends to cover an area of 40,000 square metres. The newly built Grand Mosque was inaugurated by Sultan of Oman on May 4, 2001 A major feature of the design of the interior is the prayer carpet which covers the floor of the prayer hall. It contains, 1,700,000,000 knots, weighs 21 tonnes and took four years to produce, and brings together the classical Persian Tabriz, Kashan and Isfahan design traditions. 28 colours in varying shades were used, the majority obtained from traditional vegetable dyes. It is the second largest single piece carpet in the world. This hand-woven carpet was produced by Iran Carpet Company The chandelier above the praying hall is 14 meters tall and was manufactured by company Faustig from Italy. It is the world’s largest chandelier So, some impressive facts and figures there but how did we find it? Well, I thought it was a truly magnificent building of immense proportions but perhaps too new for my taste, I prefer something with a bit more age and character like the mosques in Marrakech, saying that, we were not at all disappointed in visiting it though. After about an hour or so we left the building and found our waiting taxi who took us back to the hotel just in time for a second breakfast session in the lounge just before 9 o’clock. We had a quick discussion to see if there was anything else we wanted to do (given that it was our last full day) but we decided to just make the most of the nice weather and relax as that was really the purpose of this trip. For the rest of the morning we just relaxed down by the pool area until around lunchtime before taking a short stroll along the beach to a café called Candles. It was an interesting small place where we appeared to be the only tourists here although this time of year is really off peak so not such a surprise. Lovely beachside café selling snacks with locals passing the time of day eating, drinking, and hookah pipes whilst playing backgammon. We settled on 1 salad, 1 wrap and chips with soft drinks (total 4.3OMR about £8.50) and watched the waves break over the sand. Lovely! Afterwards we wandered along beach to stretch our legs and see if any other food places were around that we could visit later. A pleasant enough stroll but hardly anywhere else to eat apart from an upscale café towards the end of the beach. I guess that as we are in or near the embassy quarter there’s not much call for this type of thing. We ambled back along the beach and settled down by the pool for a while watching the large OPEC conference have lunch in the gardens, complete with all their bodyguards and security. We enjoyed reading, snoozing and relaxing before heading up to the lounge for afternoon tea where Alison managed to break the coffee machine but Jenny came to the rescue though and saved the day. (Alison here: Cheek! It just ran out of something – coffee beans I think!) Once back in our room we got changed and on the way back downstairs took a couple of photos of the impressive hotel lobby: Then we headed down to the sea for a last swim but took the Go Pro with us this time. Blimey, the sea was a bit choppy today as other days had been as calm as a mill pond. We thrashed around for a while before getting startled by some small fish actually leaping out of the water in front of us. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to hang around much longer as I didn’t know if anything had been chasing them! After a while we decided to call it a day and headed back to the room to shower and change for our usual drinks and snacks in the lounge – as always they were big enough to be our dinner! After ‘dinner’ we decided to go to Rakan café for coffee and once again we were the only tourists here. We settled down with a coffee and some snacks and I ordered a mint flavoured hookah. My goodness it was strong, and I struggled not to cough too loudly looking like some amateur and I think I got away with it. We watched some premier and Spanish league football, had a few more coughing fits and decided to call it a night before taking a slow walk along the beach back to the hotel. __________________ http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sign...igpic534_1.gif 1988 ~ Contemporary ~ Honeymoon 1989 ~ Off site 1994 ~ EuroDisney ~ Santa Fe 1999 ~ Off site 2001 ~ CBR (Aruba) ~ Poly (Tahiti) 2003 ~ WL & HRH 2004 ~ Pop Century, RPH, CSR, PBH, Contemporary 2006 ~ DLP ~ Newport Bay 2007 ~ POR ~ HRH ~ GF 2008 ~ All star sports, BCV, RPH, Vero Beach, VWL 2010 ~ OKW ~ BCV ~ HRH ~POP Century ~ Vero Beach ~ VWL 2013 ~ AKL ~ HRH ~ BCV ~ Vero Beach ~ VWL Edited at 09:24 PM.