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Thursday, April 4: For the second Thursday in a row, I go up to Jebel Akhdar to see the rose gardens. This time, I take my colleague Malcolm and his lovely wife Sandy, who has come from Britain to visit Malcolm for her spring break.
We go up the mountain late in the afternoon because we only want a short walk through the sprawling rose gardens in the picturesque Al Ayn, a village perched on a huge rock-spur jutting out from the escarpment. Last week, Mario and I came up here, and there were multitudes of tiny buds on the bushes. This week, more roses seem to be in bloom, but there are still millions of buds, meaning there will still be roses to see for at least several more weeks.

we start our walk through the rose villages
We walk along the trail from Al Aqr to Al Ayn, where we see below us the large escarpment where the rose bushes and fruit trees and onions are planted.

the rose gardens on the plateau

closer up to the rose gardens

Malcolm and Sandy
We walk through a grapevine trellis, with baby vines just starting to curl through the lattice. At this point, we have to make a decision. Either we have to walk along the falaj, which is quite high in some spots and requires good balance, or through a boulder-filled wadi. We decide to walk through the wadi.

grapevines on the trellis

a little pond
We come upon a little pond full of croaking and mating frogs. We stop for quite a while laughing at their mating rituals and shenanigans.

we hear frogs croaking and see all kinds of mating rituals

reflection in the frog pond
As we climb out of the wadi, I find this solitary flower, probably a weed, clinging to the rocks.

a pretty weed
Atop the plateau now, we come upon the rose bushes with their heady fragrance.

the roses

buds

rosebuds

and more rosebuds
As we walk along the falaj, we hear female voices and see some hands reaching from beneath the bushes and plucking the roses off the bushes. One of the ladies gives me a handful of blossoms.

a gift of roses from one of the rose-picking women
As we walk a bit along the falaj, we see the rose bushes in front of the mosque.

roses and the mosque

roses in full bloom

beautiful pink roses

rosebuds
Some of the pomegranate trees have buds on them now too.

pomegranate flower
And some of the clothes lines have laundry hanging out to dry.

laundry hung out to dry
We find a pretty door lined with colorful tiles.

the tiles around a door on Jebel Akhdar
And later, as we backtrack, the ladies picking the roses have collected a bundle of blossoms, which they will take to make rosewater.

collecting roses for rosewater
We decide to walk back along the falaj instead of through the wadi, and after we make it back, I see the buds on the walnut trees have grown larger over the last week.

the bud on a walnut tree
And I see this pale starry plant huddled on the ground, trying to be inconspicuous.

a pretty pale starry plant
After our walk, we sit outside at the Sahab Hotel and I break out my red wine, while Sandy and Malcolm, Brits that they are, break out the bubbly.

Sandy and Malcolm
And we watch the sun slide behind the mountains.

Sunset at the Sahab Hotel
For once it’s not freezing cold on Jebel Akhdar. We don’t even need our jackets tonight. We brought them along though, because just one week ago, it was freezing. After wine and laughs, we go inside for the buffet dinner, quite a treat. Part of this excursion is for Sandy’s birthday, coming up next week, so we make toasts all around.

my buffet dinner at the Sahab
Happy birthday to Sandy! I hope she has all she wishes for in the coming year. 🙂
Sounds like the perfect day 🙂 Great shots.
It was lovely! Thanks so much, Suzanne! 🙂
Were the roses scented? It’s amazing to me how people even in inhospitable climates eek out growing spaces for plants, like those escarpments on top of tall rocks. That white weed flower looked to me like Datura (jimsonweed) which is highly poisonous, but maybe not.
I absolutely loved the pomegranate flower especially since I have never seen one before. As dramatic and gorgeous as the fruit itself! Also, the roses inside the bag make for a unique and romantic shot.
Yes, Annette, the roses were scented and they smelled wonderful!! There are not many places in Oman with the ability to grow such a variety of crops as Jebel Akhdar. It’s much cooler up there than down on the plains where I live. And I think it rains more frequently too. I think you’re right that the white weed is jimsonweed. Now that you say it, I think I’ve heard it before.
I love the pomegranate flowers too, and I’ve always had a hard time capturing them in a picture because they’re so small. I was pleased with how that photo turned out. And I loved that bag of roses too.
Thanks so much for all your wonderful comments! 🙂
The last picture has me feeling very hungry for a good meal! Looks so good.
Yes, Kathryn, it was good, but really not any better than any buffet. I can’t wait to get back to wonderful food in America!! 🙂
Let’s switch places??
All right, sounds great to me! 🙂
Please please please take me there again one day! Beg and his GORGEOUS (arrestingly so!) wife I would love to treat with you to some glorious wine one day again. Very time you are there it looks even more beautiful! and do you know, Beg’s wife’s name translates to “pomegranate flower”, I would love to wake up and smell the roses of Jabal Ahkdar! Such beautiful photos as always!
Well, KvKvK, it would be great to take you up to Jebel Akhdar again, but I don’t know if I will have my car. I really hope to sell it soon. Once that happens there will no more Jebel Akhdar for me! Since I was just there each of the last two weeks, I don’t feel like going back up anytime soon. We’ll have to come up with another plan. 🙂
What a lovely and interesting walk you all had. I wish I could smell those roses. 🙂 I’m sure those frogs kept you amused for quite a while, and didn’t mind you spying on their mating rituals. Happy birthday to Sandy.
Thanks, Sylvia. Yes, those frogs were hilarious! They were so noisy in their mating rituals. And the roses really do smell lovely. Sandy really enjoyed her birthday and just tonight is on her way back to cold and rainy Britain. 😦