Big Fancy Mosque in Musqat

So one day of our orientation we visit the biggest and fanciest Mosque in Musqat.


I forgot the name of this mosque -- and I ask my friend Kristen and she gives me a strange look, because of course there is only one thing this mosque could actually be called -- how could I forget!

Sultan Qaboos Mosque. Everything is named after the Sultan here.

So here are some touristy pictures of the mosque. I will go into the history of Oman a little in the next post so you can understand why everything is named after him here.


The picture above is me outside the mosque in an Abaya and head scarf.

This is a picture of our little tourist group -- kind of awkard -- but nice.


The inside of the mosque is very fancy and tries to incorporate all the different styles of Arab mosques into its interior (quite intense and very ornate!)

While the mosque is most certainly beautiful, it lacks a little "je ne sais quoi" in my opinion -- mainly because it was built in the 1970s -- I mean isn't what makes the Alhambra and Al-Qaraaine in Fes so special is that they are so old and you know they were built by hand with expert craftsmen instead of modern technology?

More pics...