7.11. Sultan Qaboos Mosque by day, Royal Opera House Muscat

What gets us out of bed is the fact that at 8:15 a guy from the rental company is supposed to come to change the car for us. Also, the mosque that we saw at night from outside is open for non-Muslims from 8-11am. We wait in the parking lot and there is no one, after 10 minutes a guy writes that he will be there in 10 minutes, I convince Ota that we are going to wait for a room, it is already warm again. We wake up the children, have breakfast and the guy writes at regular intervals that he will be there soon.

Finally, we go to the mosque so that they don't close it to us. I go ahead with the children and Ota takes over the car really soon (around 10 am). A guide is offered at the entrance, but we refuse, it's a bit of a shame, but the children don't speak English that well and it would bore them. It's only 31 degrees Celsius, but the sun is burning. We pass through the vast complex first to the women's prayer room and then to the men's main hall. We are beginning to understand what is wrong with Islam, if it commands them to take refuge in a cold mosque 5 times a day, then there is something to it. What is interesting about this building is that it is a relatively young building, it was built in the years 1995-2001 by the then Sultan Qaboos, a building of such a scale is something not quite usual in modern history. We admire stone columns with carved ornaments, stone inlays, carved wooden doors and artistic ceramic tiles. At 11 a.m. the area really closes, we just made it. I don't know if it's still the off-season, but there were surprisingly few people here and the Muslim security guards were very nice. Men wearing long pants and women fully covered, including a head scarf, are allowed to enter the area. I didn't know how it was for the girls, so I also had a long shirt and a scarf for them, and the guards immediately came to say that they don't need it, that they are still children. Even if the girls from the local school were younger than the girls, they were veiled.

After the tour, it is clear to us that we will not give another souvenir, the children did a great job, they liked it, but everything in moderation. We are looking at a "new" car that is older than the one before (fortunately, because you really don't want some gadgets like an automatically closing trunk that advertises whenever something goes a little too far...). Unfortunately, it is a 7-seater and has two seats in the trunk, which are folded to the side, but take up a lot of space. We are writing to the rental company to see if they could take them out. The rear tire is underinflated and the warning light is on. We have to add to the positive that the car has a nice garden on the roof and it could be used if we buy some rubber bands for tying it and bags to protect it from dust. We still have to sort out the cooking bomb (will it fit our stove?) and a few other things. We decide to visit Ikea, have lunch there and get some big bags. We braved the worst heat in the mall, bought some food, but couldn't solve everything. We inflated the tires, the warning light is still on, the rental company says that the seats cannot be removed and that we should not notice the warning lights, ok.

The children have been promised a beach and it's about time. We decide to meet someone new. And that was not a good idea... We want to go to Turtle Bay on Ras al Hambra, but the navigation repeatedly takes us to roads that are either private or blocked by a gate or barrier. We discover a beach that is not on the map, we look around it, but the children conclude that there are no waves and that we are going to the one with a view. Second mistake. In the meantime, the afternoon peak is forming and we are moving forward in stride. The overlooked beach is surrounded by a construction fence and inaccessible, there is another right next to it and people swim there, hooray. It's getting dark in a while, but we can take a quick swim. We wonder why the police car is there, but we park in the parking lot. When the children are half dressed, one of the policemen comes to inform us that the beach is closing in 10 minutes.

We return back in the evening rush hour, it's getting dark fast and we try to calm down the situation in the back rows. It's not every day that everything works out and we're not thrilled either. Our agitation is successful and the children agree to an outdoor tour of the illuminated Royal Opera House Muscat, which was also built by Sultan Qaboos and was the first opera house on the Arabian Peninsula. The tour is quick and fun, the children discovered a gecko there, which significantly increases the attractiveness. Finally, at a quarter to seven, the security guard kicks us out saying that it is closing there (How? It is not clear to us, the area cannot be closed and it also includes a restaurant and a shopping mall.) We go to the accommodation and cook potatoes and corn. In the evening we play toucans and we have to plan what to do next.