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Before I even start to sort and post any gorgeous Dubrovnik pictures I should clean up my photo queue esp. the Nizwa trip late last month.

The second day in Oman I got myself a rental car at the airport with the intention to drive to Nizwa which is about 90 minutes away from Muscat in the Omani desert. I got to the airport, found the small Sixt rental booth and waited about 20 minutes for my Nissan Sunny. Apparently there was nothing bigger available. When the helping hand of the agent turned up with the car it had a flat tire. Another ten minutes later he showed up with a new(er) Nissan Sunny. With 54444 km on the clock it wasn't anything spectacular but should be able to do the trip. I kinda was hoping for a nice upgrade as Sixt Platinum. To make things worse the contract had a mileage restriction and showed the wrong meter reading. The fuel tank wasn't topped off. Color me underwhelmed for that experience.

I took the car to the next gas station to get some gas and water (for me). Off I was driving straight into the desert. Roads were much like their UAE counterparts with lighting, speed cams and good conditions in general.





The ride was quite relaxing (as long as the a/c unit was on). For whatever reason the car made itself heard and required a tire change. It's been a few years since I last changed a tire and the heat outside did not help either. I actually burnt my hands in the process but was over with the tedious work 15 minutes later.



First thing to do when I arrived in Nizwa was to find a restaurant to have a local bite to eat. With only few options I turned to the Lonely Planet approved Bin Atique restaurant serving up traditional Omani dishes in a local setting.







I was ready to explore and headed across the street for the fort area. I passed the closed souq bound to the fort museum.





Throughout the entire trip I've only seem some six to eight tourists which made it a pleasant experience.















Before continuing outside I spend the better part of an hour inside the fort reading upon the history and looking at numerous exhibits. Finally I took the long way up the stairs into the tower.













Soon later I started my journey back to Muscat and eventually back home via Istanbul and Berlin. Once at the airport I returned my car but did not get any sorry or whatnot for the flat tire and general bad shape of the car.
I had some trouble getting airside at the airport so many hours before my flight. A Oman Air official checked me in and printed my Turkish Airlines boarding passes, though. Thanks! A few days before the trip I thought about booking a fast roundtrip to a random destination to kill some time in the evening. I should have booked one of the 30 Euro Oman Air roundtrips since that would have gotten me into the airport right away. With a few hours to spare I headed for the lounge which got the better online reviews for the showers but was once more disappointed by the offerings. I started to raid the buffet for something edible.

I spent my leftover Omani money on a pizza and some cheap cigarettes before some lounge-hopping. Eventually I settled into a lounge chair and caught up on Flyertalk, emails and the web in general.