Birkat al Mawz 2009

After touring Manah, the group headed off for a new destination, a village at the entrance into Wadi Muaydin which leads up Jebel Akhdar.

The destination was Birkat al Mawz, literally banana pools. While the main tourist attaction is the fortified house of Bait al Radidah -- which was closed on the day we visited -- we were impressed with the collection of mud and stone houses clinging to the mountain slope above the modern village.

A falaj system meandered through the houses and, after crossing an impressive aquaduct, continued down the wadi distributing water to dozens of well-kept farms.

We spent some time exploring the abandoned houses, climbing to the top where the remains of a tower provided a spectacular view of the valley below. Some laborers, enjoying an afternoon of relaxation, joined us near the tower where everyone took photographs of one another!

Before returning to Nizwa, we purchased fresh baked bread at a tanour bakery in the new village.

Electrical lines indicate the houses had modern services	The main falaj channel	Stairs leading up through the abandoned houses	Some houses were in very good condition
The light offered different perspectives	Natural light	The ceiling timbers and matting of one house	Another view
A cat's sleep interrupted, a scarf hanging on a peg	Wall decorations	Baskets and bowls	Detail
Soot stains the walls	View looking uphill	The houses are multi-storey	The gardens below
Many houses have collapsed	Plaster fallen away to expose the flat stones used in the wall	House (right) of mud brick and stone	Exposed rock above the houses
Houses built exclusively with flat stones (slate?)	Another view of the stone houses	From the tower looking down on the village	Another view of the valley
Looking down the wadi towards the old road to Muscat	Aqueduct (left) and a fort downstream	The fort downstream	The old and new villages
Aqueduct cutting through the date gardens	Tower remains (right) and gardens below	Another view	View towards Nizwa
Some of the stone houses	Stone houses	Detail	More of the mud and stone houses
Laborers joined us near the tower	Everyone took turns photographing each other	Interior of one house	Note the fine stone wall
Peaked archway	Were those rifle slots from the original building?	One of the passage ways near the tower	Stone was the main building material for many houses
Walkways were narrow and winding	Evidence of renovations	Well-built two-storey dwelling	Falaj and pathway at lower levels of the old village
Interior of one home; were the mud walls painted?	Steel pipe used for pegs on the walls	A magnificent house	Different perspective of the magnificent house
House may have been three stories high	Another view of falaj which used for irrigation and bathing	Interior	Natural light of interior room
As at Manah, houses extended over pathways	Garden outside the village	Engraved door	Blue and yellow paint was used to decorate the door
Door bell	Double set of heavy doors on gate into village	Alley leading to the abandoned hosues	Bob making his way back to the cars