Below the highest mountain in Oman, at the mouth of a great canyon, lies the village of Wadi Ghul, where the road towards Jebel Shams leaves the plains and begins to climb. An old mud-brick village crumbles on the rocky slope above the modern houses, its ruined walls the same colour as the mountain, and the wadi behind it is the start of a gorge so deep and steep that it is often called the Grand Canyon of Arabia. Jebel Shams, the Mountain of the Sun, rises above it to around three thousand metres, catching the first light each morning.
The nearby town of Al Hamra has one of the best preserved old quarters in Oman, a cluster of two- and three-storey mud-brick houses climbing the hillside above the palm groves, some of them centuries old, and a small museum in one of the houses shows how life was lived there. A short drive away, the village of Misfat al Abriyeen hangs on the side of the mountain, with narrow lanes, stone houses and terraces watered by a falaj, and it is as lovely as any village in the country.
Further south, Bahla, about sixteen kilometres away, is home to a huge mud-brick fort, one of the oldest in Oman and a UNESCO World Heritage site, surrounded by a wall that once ran for kilometres around the oasis. The town is also known for its pottery, made from local clay and fired in traditional kilns, and for its legends of jinn, the spirits said to haunt the oasis.
The road up Jebel Shams is paved for much of the way, climbing steeply in a series of hairpins, but the upper section has been gravel for years, and conditions vary, so check before you go. At the top, a path known as the Balcony Walk runs along the rim of the canyon, with drops of hundreds of metres below. The views are extraordinary. There are no services on the mountain, apart from a few simple camps and guesthouses, so fill up in Bahla or Al Hamra, carry plenty of water, and start early, before the heat of the day.