Travel guide Oman

In 1983, Sultan Qaboos decided to call upon a French nose, Guy Robert, to create a line of luxurious fragrances. By mixing more than 120 ingredients, including frankincense and rose, Gold, the first fragrance of the Amouage brand, was born. To this day, it is one of the most expensive fragrances in the world. It is handcrafted.

A symbol of Omani power, this traditional wooden sailing ship is the pride of the Sultanate. Partially replaced by motor cargo ships, dhows are still omnipresent in Oman where they are used for fishing, pleasure boating and merchant transport. The city of Sur, in the west, perpetuates its centuries-old building tradition.

Quite simply THE national drink: a black coffee with a unique taste, without sugar, flavoured with cardamom and served with dates to reduce the bitterness. Symbol of hospitality, kawa is offered at every meeting and is tasted in tiny cups, everywhere, all the time, at home or in tourist places.

Fruit that you give with the cardamom coffee as a sign of welcome. Product of the date palm, an omnipresent tree in Oman, whose cultivation gives rhythm to the life of many Bedouin tribes. The sultanate would count several dozen different varieties especially harvested in the hot months. A single palm tree could produce up to 100 kg of dates.

More than two thirds of the country is occupied by desert: the sands of Sharqiyah in the east, the arid stretches of the Rub Al Khali on the borders of Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Elsewhere, mountains take over, culminating up to 3,020 metres for the highest of them all, the Jebel al-Akhdar, in the Hajar massif, the backbone of the country.

And not camels because they only have one hump! Omnipresent and intimately linked to the local traditional culture, they roam almost freely, roaming the desert in search of greenery. There are pack camels for domestic use, riding or racing camels whose value can exceed that of the best purebred Arabian horses.

Aromatic gum that is extracted by making an incision in a Boswellia type tree. It is to its trade that the country owed its prosperity well before the Christian era. The Boswellia sacra tree grows in Dhofar and produces the purest incense in the world or hojari, a particularity that has enabled the country to be classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

An ancestral irrigation system consisting of capturing a source of water and transporting it through underground galleries or a surface canal to villages (ablution, toilet, household use) and plantations. Present throughout the territory and representative of the traditional sultanate, the aflaj network is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The sultanate would count more than 500 of them, majestic witnesses of a bellicose past. If the forts and citadels were intended for a warlike and protective use, the castles were mainly used as residences and administrative centres. Nowadays, these jewels of heritage are the subject of a vast safeguard plan and are renovated for tourism.

A national and traditional Omani dessert made of rose water, brown sugar, flour, sesame seeds and spices that are cooked for hours in a large copper pot. Popular with locals and flavoured in many different ways depending on the region (cardamom, saffron, walnuts, almonds...), halwa is eaten cold, usually with coffee.

It is the country's emblem: a dagger with a curved blade that Omanis wear on special occasions or official ceremonies. Sculpted in silver, wood or horn, it fits into a belt that tightens the dishdasha (traditional tunic) at the waist. An essential accessory of the costume, it denotes the social status of the wearer.

The kumma is the traditional hat worn by the men of the sultanate. It is a small round cotton hat, embroidered with various motifs (especially floral) and stitched with small holes for ventilation. The kummas come in a variety of colours to match the tones of the dishdashas. Young people wear it in many different ways, flattened, pinched or swollen.