Sur Town Walkabout

Had a few hours to kill in this typically Arabic small town. There was a ubiquitous Fort at the edge of the town but I gave it a miss. Like after a thousand golden Buddhas, once you see one Arabian Fort, you’ve seen them all. There’s nothing really refined about them; just savage power and cruelty.

(Please click on any thumbnail above to enlarge the whole gallery for full size sliding photos)

Here’s some blurb from Wikipedia:

History
By the 6th century, Sur was an established centre for trade with East Africa.

Ibn Battuta commented on his visit to this “roadstead of a large village on the seashore.” In the 16th century, it was under Portuguese rule but was liberated by the Omani Imam Nasir ibn Murshid and underwent an economic revival, as a trade centre with India and East Africa. This continued until the mid-19th century, when the British outlawed the slave trade. The city was further ruined by the opening of the Suez Canal, which saw it lose trade with India.

Education
The main college in Sur is the Sur College of Applied Sciences. The college has over 4000 students and offers degrees in Business, Communication, Information Technology and Design and Applied Biotechnology. It is considered one of the better institutions of higher learning in Oman. The second college is Sur University College. There is an Indian school, Indian School Sur which offers classes up to Grade 12.

Shipbuilding
It is one of the famous cities in the Persian Gulf region in building wooden ships. Its historical location gives it the hand to monitor the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. Many ships have been built in this city, like the sambuk and ghanjah. They formerly went as far as China, India, Zanzibar, Iraq and many other countries. These vessels were also used in pearl fishing.

Climate
Sur experiences a hot desert climate with very little rainfall and high temperatures. Because of its coastal location, Sur’s night-time temperatures are never very low. There is no distinct wetter season, but March tends to be the wettest month, and September the driest.

Occasionally, Sur gets battered by cyclones. In 2007, Cyclone Gonu battered the city, and in 2010, Sur was hit by Cyclone Phet.

I did what I like doing best. I found a coffee shop with shade and watched the world go.