Muscat

Muscat means 'safe anchorage', and the protected harbours of Old Muscat and Mutrah, ringed by serrated mountains and watched over by 17th-century forts, comprise the heart of the capital.

This is where a visitor can watch wooden dhows (traditional Arab sailing boat) slip out to sea, haggle for Bedouin jewellery in one of Arabia's best souks; sip mint tea with gold merchants, or stroll along the corniche with Muscat's sophisticated youth.

Muscat, once centre of an East African empire, has always represented a crossroad of cultures. Omanis in their cashmere turbans, Sudanese in their yards of cotton, women from Kerala in rainbow saris, all share the same easy-going attitude to life owed to a pristine city of floral avenues and afternoon siestas.

In 1970, when the city gates were thrown open to the modern world, Muscat underwent something of a renaissance. It expanded along the coast in sparkling white suburbs with gorgeous sandy beaches and growing tourist facilities.

This is the real Arabia - the Arabia that has neither buried its head in the sands of time nor thrown out its heritage in the rush to modernise.