I guess only few heard about : Sultanate of Oman and its capital Muscat.
But no one actually knows that the story of the young sailor (Sinbad) came from this place.
This is due to the fact the Oman location, which is open to the Indian Oceon has boosted its capabilities in ship building and martime sciences. In fact, the Omani Sailor Ahmed bin Majid has helped the Portoguse Sailor Vasco de Gamma to reach the coast of India after meeting him in Mombasa/Kenya.
As word of thanks, the Portoguse has invaded Oman for a whole century!

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The arabian tribes in Oman has managed to united to withdraw the Portoguse from the whole region and formed a big empire from Oman ruling almost all the counties in the Indian Oceon and thats why Oman is considered to be a multi cultural country as opening up to India, China, and eastern africa as well as meeting traders from the west helped the Omanis to understand other cultures quite early.
Another interesting infromation, that Oman was the 1st country to send an ambassdor to the U.S in 1840 !!
It was Ahmed bin Al Nouman who reached the U.S on a ship Called (Sultanata)!
This relation has resulted not in boosting trade, economy only but the U.S has relayed a lot on the Omani diplomacy to clear many regional complications and most recently freeing Sarah Shourd from Iran.
What makes Oman so unique from the other countires in the region is the fact that it stayed as an independant country, while the whole region was under the role of many powerful kindoms that opposed certain cultures and living styles.
Another secret : Michael Jakson lived in Oman for 3 months with Omani families I guess that he was tried from being famous

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Away from history, you should expect 2 seasons in Oman (Summer and Winter) only. The summer is extermely hot ( 45+c) and the winter is dry with but can reach to ( 2- c ) in the mountains. Due to the world change of climate we get strong cyclones occasionally.:(
Oman has a varity of lanscapes, in fact it has been known as the geologicals heaven. You have the long sandy beaches, mountains, valleys, the empty quarter desert in the south and offcourse the Tropical weather in Salalah located in the South. We have many natural reserves made specifically to protect the wild life.
We have around 1000 forts, castles, and towers here !
We have the largest carpet in the world placed in the grand mosque in Muscat.

and we have the 2nd largest cave in the world (Majles Al Jin) .. fits around 3 jambo jets !
Below is the Presidential Palace in Muscat:
This is a view of Muscat on the Natural Park, not far away from my house

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For those who are into religons, Oman was considered to be the land in which the good man (Joob) has lived and died in. Also, some researchers think that Jonas actullay lived here.
Below is a photo of Joobs grave in Salalah:
Oman is well known to export a specific type of incense (extracted from trees) to the Faroh and Roman temples called (loban). It is still used in many Chruches, temples, and mosques too.
Its still an existing business until now and the old port of Koor rori which exported loban is protected now by the UN as a world heritage site.
I hope that you enjoyed the report and looking forward to visit this wonderful peaceful spot as we are celebrating our national day these days.
The queen is around too