The day started at sunrise because the Sinaw weekly camel auction starts in the early morning and lasts slightly more than an hour. The camels were trotting in a pen led by their owners, who loudly announced their starting price, mostly “arbaeumiaya” (four hundred), and then, depending on the age and the characteristics of the camel, the price could go up a lot or a little. Round and round they went like in a carousel, the men in their kandura, long dress, as white as snow in contrast with their faces, brown like terracotta dried by the sun and crossed by long wrinkles that told the story of their life.

Small children pushed the camels while helping their fathers or grandfathers in a ritual that has been going on for centuries. Impossible to miss when visiting Oman. We had the luck of being led by Abdul Rahman Al Abri, a guide and a native of Misfat Al Abriyeen, a small mountain village whose name derives from the Al Abri tribe, that has become a model for many other Omani villages. Very close to Al Hamra and not even an hour away from the more famous Nizwa, Misfat is a conglomeration of old mud houses in the middle of an oasis at 900 meters (3000 feet) above sea level in the Western Al Hajar mountains, which include Jebel Akhdar, the “green mountain,” so named for its lush vegetation.

Perched on a rock, which acts as a natural fortification, Misfat is characterized by narrow roads and houses built with mud-brick, stone, and sarooj, a traditional water-resistant mortar used in Persian architecture, probably a heritage from the Persians who, approximately 1500 years ago, built Rogan castle.

Although there must have been a settlement here since approximately 500 years ago, the village itself is 300 years old, and it is home to an extensive “falaj,” a water canalization system, dating back to over a thousand years ago. Examples of this type of irrigation system, which is a UNESCO-protected patrimony, can be seen all over Oman, but in Misfat Al Abriyeen it is especially striking as the little canals are carved through the mountain rock. This irrigation system was exported by the Arabs to Sicily and Spain in the Middle Ages, and it is still in use today not only in Misfat but also in some parts of Sicily. Misfat’s falaj today still supplies the village with water and is used to irrigate the terraced fields where, next to date palm trees, grow mangoes, pomegranates, lemons, figs, and olives.

Water is allotted to the various farmers by hours depending on their needs in a very respected schedule that sees the little canals being closed with rags to allow the water to flow to the designated recipient for that specific time. Abdul took us through the terraces and showed us the various stages of the growth and harvest of dates, of which there are dozens of types, all different in taste. To harvest dates, the flowers must be pollinated, a work carried out by the farmer who puts the male flower inside the female flower ties them up, and then waits for dates to be produced in 5-6 months. A single palm can produce up to 100 kilos of dates, but the good farmer knows whether to cut some of the bunches to have better quality dates.

Held by simple ropes (originally made with the palm itself but now mostly made with synthetic materials because of their longer life) and carrying a basket made with palm leaves, the farmer harvests the dates that are then dried. Cultivated for thousands of years, dates derive their name from the Greek daktylos, finger, and are very beneficial for their rich content of vitamins, minerals, and fibers as well as antioxidants. In Oman, one will tend to eat a lot of dates, as in all the shops; thanks to the unique Omani hospitality, they are always offered together with Omani coffee, which tastes of spices like cardamom and cloves. They are sweet and hard to pass by, but the ideal quantity is 2-3 dates per day, an optimal source of energy at any time. In one of the artisanal stores in Misfat, we also had a chance to taste the unique Ziziphus honey, believed to be the most valuable honey in the Arabian peninsula.

Ziziphus Spina-Christi, known as Christ's thorn jujube, is an evergreen tree or plant native to the Levant, East Africa, and Mesopotamia. Very aromatic, this honey can taste from crisp sweet-tart like an apple to a crossing between a date and an apple, depending on the maturity. For us, it was like flying into the magic of an Arabian night filled with the perfume of jasmine and orange blossom scent. To top the tasting of the day, juice of lemon and mint on the terrace of a guest house opened the way to visiting Abdul’s ancestral family house which has been turned into a museum by his cousin.

We saw the various rooms, and he helped us imagine how life was here until around 40 years ago. For us, he wore a *khanjar, the Omani single-blade curved dagger with a handle and a sheath made of precious metals and decorated with intricate designs representing the owner’s family, tribe, or community, that is worn around the waist for ceremonies but that is also a symbol of Oman.

This dagger can be found on the national flag and banknotes. Walking under the shade of palm trees along the irrigation canals, with great nostalgia, Abdul told us of the flavor of the freshly made bread that woke him up every morning, while the muezzin called people to pray, and the village started moving with all the sounds of the early morning. Since Abdul was a young boy, many things have changed in Misfat, and most of the population has moved across the valley or to Al Hamra on the plateau. In recent years, Misfat has undergone extensive restoration with the creation of new heritage houses and guest houses and has been placed in the Best Tourism Villages list by the World Tourism Organization in 2021. The experiment has been so successful that other Omani villages are following Misfat’s restoration example.

With no vehicle access to the village and plantations and only donkeys being used to transport goods up and down the hill, being here is like going back in time, and once we get back in the car, we give a last glance, already feeling a longing to return to an oasis, which is not only literal but also symbolic and metaphysical.