Ras Al-Hadd Castle

  Some people ask me whether it’s easy for foreigners with little or no Arabic knowledge to get around Oman.  It is extremely easy as English signs are everywhere to guide the curious traveller.  I, for example, didn’t even know there was a castle at Ras Al-Hadd until I saw this sign while exploring the area!  The castle of Ras Al Hadd marks the easternmost corner of the Arabian Peninsula; the first area of Oman (and the entire Arabian peninsula, for that matter) to be greeted with the sun’s rays!   This restored fort, which is more than 450 years old, was an important site for ancient seafarers.   You don’t see many of these “hazardous to visitors” types of warnings around!    It must not be forgotten that the chief end of such forts was not tourism but defense.  This castle has three towers and a large courtyard and took ten years to build.  I read that the courtyard was big enough to provide shelter for the villagers, who would come inside for protection whenever the town was threatened with invasion.  There is an underground escape tunnel that extends from the largest tower and comes out 200 m away outside the fort into what was then the local village.  The main door (or “gate”) to the castle.  Notice the “door-within-a-door” which is a cool feature on many of the forts of Oman I’ve visited.