Oh, man, destination of the day is Muscat, Oman! The Muttrah souq was filled with the smell of frankincense and oud, and there were sellers every meter selling “cashmere” and “brand” merchandise. But what caught my attention more than anything else were the myriad of cats everywhere. The poor things… some places they had been given food, but there were so many sick, injured, starving and precious cats. I wanted to take them all home. But I couldn’t.

After getting lost in the labyrinth of the souq, we walked down to the corniche, a splendid promenade between the sea and the cliffs. On the cliffs there were forts and along the streets were Omani flags lined up as far as you could see. In the background I could hear the Friday mosque prayers. We continued down the road in the sweltering heat with a stop at a beach to cool our feet, but even the water was hot. At the end of the road we reached the Sultan’s palace. What a site. And what a view. I bet it takes him a week to clean that enormous abode.

The heat got the better of us and we took a taxi back and returned to the cool AC and pool on our ship.

Our evening on the ship was quite special. It was spent at one of the specialty restaurants, Eden, which is designed to bring land and garden greenery into the ship surrounded by sea, and also features an open kitchen. We ordered extra dishes and tried some premium wines (which they didn’t charge for, woohoo!). The service was impeccable just like everywhere else on the ship and we had an interesting chat with the chef at the end of the evening. A surefire sign of a good evening is when you fall asleep with your makeup and clothes on. Tonight was no exception.