Sanuk Canadian

Part one of this series is HERE .  To view other posts in this series, just change the number at the end of "part-" on the web address. My friend and I continued our full day tour to Nizwa, about 2 hours away from the port city of Muscat, in Oman. First, was a visit to the Nizwa market.  Every Friday, the area shown in the photograph below is filled with goats, as well as other livestock. Our guide said it's the biggest event in Nizwa. For more photos of the goat market, click HERE . (via Living If blog, by author, LOCAVORista) We entered the Nizwa Souq, via this ornate gate:  Inside, our guide took us on a date....(laugh) not really. This was a date market. The white bags were filled with dates, a popular sweet in the Arab states. A poster showing the enormous variety of dates in the area: (click photo to enlarge)  The counter staff showcased these pots filled with dates in a sticky, somewhat hard, taffy-like confectionary: Free sam...

Part one of this series is HERE . Our ship, the Costa Fortuna, pulled into the port of Muscat, Oman in the early morning of March 2nd. We would be docked here for two days. I was excited as Oman is not such a well known country; when visiting the Middle East, most people stick to the U.A.E. I had booked two tours, one a full day excursion to Nizwa, the other,  a city tour. Both were through the private company, Orient Tours . Here are the photos from our first day in Oman: This tugboat pulled along side us while just outside the port. I think it was the harbor staff: View of Muscat port: The ship in this photo is the German cruise ship, Aida.  Oman is famous for military forts, located all over the country. Here is one example: The men's dress in Oman. It looked very comfortable! All cruise passengers received this before disembarking -- a tourist visa: I had booked a private tour for my friend and I, which was to last 9 hours. We would drive from ...

Part one of this series is HERE .  Day two in Dubai would be spent entirely onboard the Costa Fortuna , as it cruised North. My friend and I enjoyed the day exploring the ship and attending dinner. Here are the photos from our leisurely day: The Grand Bar, on deck 5: On some evenings, ballroom dancing was held here. Huge atrium area with glass elevators:  The Rex Theater, Decks 3 ~ 5:  One great part about cruising: enjoying nightly entertainment shows. On the outside deck, I got a view of the Dubai Cruise Terminal . Inside were: money changers, souvenir shops, tour operators, etc. It was a very nice set up. The ship's casino.  I was really surprised to find some unique prizes inside the UFO catcher machines -- this was an iPad 4! Other machines had iPhones. Sorry, I didn't gamble.  Our cabin was on Deck 7, inside. Despite being 13 square meters, there was actually a lot of space inside and it was perfectly comfortable for two...