My second business trip to the Middle East within 2 months. We were invited to a conference also to have some follow-up meetings with the partners we met in Tehran  in January. It was an even shorter trip this time so there was very little time for sightseeing. The only attraction I managed to see was the Great Mosque, for which I had to get up at 4am German time to be able to get back before the conference started. But it was really worth it.

Once again, I was overwhelmed by the friendliness and hospitality of the people we met – very similar to our trip to Tehran in January. Hassan, an Omani business man I met by chance at lunch, made sure the hotel staff bring me some  Halwa, a typical local dessert – very tasty, to try because they served mostly only Western foods at the hotel. He also took a few of us on a nice drive along the coast outside the city and introduced us to some “nature wonder”. We were surprised as we made a stop in the middle of the road in the middle of nowhere with not much to be seen. As he put the car into neutral gear, magically, the car started rolling up-hill, no joking!, as if there were some kind of force pulling it forward on the ascending road. I’d heard about similar things about some force of gravity from the earth beneath us, but seeing it in real life was really funny. We then tried again with laying a bottle of water on the street and same thing happened (see the video below). Guess mother nature always has some surprises in play for us.

During the conference, we stayed in the Al Bustan hotel which was a spectacle in its own right: the grand foyer, Swarowsky chandeliers, 3 infinity pool, palm garden, and endless beach. Hence it’s no surprise to find out it is owned by the Sultan himself and he does pay his visit to his president suite every now and then.

Getting up so early in the morning to visit the Grand Sultan Taboos Mosque was definitely worth it. It opens for non-muslim visitors only from 8-11am. I was lucky to be there by 8am because the place got very crowded as I left around 8.45. Having been there before everyone else gave me the opportunity to fully immerse in its peacefulness and tranquility that made the whole experience even more unique. 

I took the following pictures during our sightseeing tour. It’s a very rough, dry and rocky landscape but also fascinating.

And finally here’s a video of the water bottle rolling up-hill:

 

Oman has never really been on our destination wish-list but now it certainly is. Cant wait to see more of this country.

It’s “sunday” in Tehran, actually friday Jan-8. I got to the hotel around 3am and after a short night and breakfast in Espinas hotel, I started to explore downtown. Tehran is the capital of Iran. It’s elevation is 1189m and it has 9mio inhabitants, the wider region 16mio! Here’s some pictures of places in walking distance to the hotel:

Going through the streets, the impression I got was that most of the buildings have a rather grey look (probably even more due to the rather grey weather), requiring maintenance and some have obviously even been abandoned.

However, beside the mosques there are many colourful spots like this back-entrance to a shopping-mall:

And here’s the paradise for everybody having a sweet tooth: a store full of cookies, sweets, dried fruit and nuts:

A taxi brought me to Golestan Palace (palace of flowers), the oldest historic monument in Tehran, the construction of the oldest buildings started in the 16th century as part of the former citadel. Since then it has continuosly been extended and renovated by the various emperors who used the buildings as their residence and for represenational purposes. This history ended with the disposal of Schah Reza Pahlavi in 1979. Nowadays the palace is mostly used as a museum.

The first thing you see inside the palace are the walls that are beautifully decorated with tiles. Each arc is differently styled:

There are many buildings in the area of the palace and you have to buy tickets separately for each one at the entrance.

I didn’t visit the ethnological museum though. The first building I entered was the Emarat-e Badgir, the “Building of the wind towers”. It has been constructed in the early 19th century and has 4 towers that were constructed to provide cooling for the main building:

While the building looks nice from the outside, the interior is stunning:

Looking back at two of the four wind towers while going to the next building:

Finally moving to the last building that used to be the residence and reception building of Iran’s former emperors: