OMAN ~Bahla Fort-UNESCO~

...Received my first card from Oman...fantastic fort view in an amazing desert landscape...and it's a new UNESCO site...Many thanks Cresalde!!

With two great definitive stamps from a set of 4 issued in 2001
showing the traditional Omani dagger Al-Khanjar  A'Suri.

Bahla Fort is one of four historic fortresses situated at the foot of the Djebel Akhdar highlands in Oman. It was built in the 13th and 14th centuries, when the oasis of Bahla was prosperous under the control of the Banu Nebhan tribe. The fort's ruined adobe walls and towers rise some 165 feet above its sandstone foundations.

Due to its delicate building materials, it became dilapidated after many rainy seasons and was put on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1988. After extensive restoration it was removed from the list in 2004.

The town of Bahla, including the oasis, suq and palm grove, is itself surrounded by adobe walls some 12 km long. The town is well known for its pottery, no home in Oman is complete without several pieces of Bahla pottery.

The Sultanate of Oman is in the Middle East, on the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders the United Arab Emirates in the northwest, Saudi Arabia in the west, and Yemen in the southwest with capital Muscat. Oman has two exclaves separated from it by the United Arab Emirates, the Musandam Peninsula and Madha. Head of State is His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said (since 1970)