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Date: February 12, 2014

I was invited to visit the Amrut Distilleries factory on Mysore Road, just outside of Bangalore city. I was going to get to see the manufacturing process for making the famed Amrut whisky — with a special guest in tow. Noted journalist, writer and TV personality Vir Sanghvi was going to drop by the factory for a tour.

Amrut whisky display Bangalore — The award-winning Amrut whisky range

Barley peat for whisky — Barley to the left, peat to the right

Amrut distillery office awards display — We were waiting for Vir Sanghvi to arrive

Amrut awards Jagdale old photo — Gave me enough time to check out the awards and the history of the company Shri Radhakrishna Jagdale founded

Amrut distillery test lab Bangalore — This is the lab where they sample and test whiskies — Amrut’s own production batches and the competition

Jagdale gifting flowers to Vir Sanghvi — Vir Sanghvi had arrived, and so had the present chairman of Amrut Distilleries, Mr. Neelakanta Rao Jagdale. After a formal greeting, the Amrut team led us all to the factory.

Amrut factory tour with Vir Sanghvi — Senior VP Surrinder Kumar led the factory tour

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Date: 26th October 2014

After the dolphin watching tour, our driver told us he would take us to a viewpoint beyond Marina Bandar Al Rowdha.

Muscat highway Oman — We drove along the highway

Consultative Assembly of Oman Muscat — Drove past the massive Consultative Assembly of Oman building

Uphill road Muscat Oman — We drove uphill

Road to resorts Muscat — And then downhill to a resort complex at the edge of the hill

Blue waters Muscat Oman — The waters are so blue (Took this on my phone)

Viewpoint Oman bay Muscat — We drove back and kept stopping at every nice looking viewpoint. Down below was a very small beach, which seemed only accessible by boat

Muscat open viewpoint Oman — This was another. We walked towards the edge.

Muscat mountains Oman panorama — Took a panorama

Majlis Oman from mountain top Muscat — Zoomed in on the majlis

Muscat rock mural road Oman — We then drove back to Muscat city

Dhow roundabout Muscat Oman — We were planning to visit the incense burner monument

Incense burner hill Muscat Oman — But when we got there

Gates locked incense burner monument Muscat — … gates were locked. Shucks!

PDO beach Muscat Oman — So we drove to a viewpoint near PDO beach

PDO is the Petroleum Development Oman, the nation’s primary petroleum company. And the above is the company’s private beach — for their employees and their families. And if a private beach wasn’t enough of a company perk…

Ras al Hamra golf club PDO Muscat Oman — … PDO owns a golf court too! Ahhh, oil money.

Palm tree shade picnic Oman — Besides that, this viewpoint is a popular picnic jaunt

Luxury houses by sea Muscat — A lot of luxury houses facing the sea

Qurum beach white sand Muscat Oman — Next, we drove down to Qurum beach

Qurum beach Muscat Oman — It’s near PDO beach but open to public

Qurum beach clear blue water Muscat — Very clear water

Al Shati beach road Muscat Oman — After that, it was off to the popular Al Shati beach road. A lot of coffee shops by the beach here.

Al Shati beach Muscat Oman — Al Shati beach in itself is okay

Crowne Plaza hotel Muscat Oman — The Crowne Plaza hotel is the big white building at the edge of the beach

Royal Opera house Muscat Oman — The next stop was the Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House Muscat sign — Unfortunately, there wasn’t much we could see of the Opera House

Inside Royal Opera house Muscat Oman — This was just a lobby, we couldn’t enter the main hall… but we were told it’s impressive! 🙂

Royal Opera house ceiling — Impressive interiors

The Cave restaurant Muscat Oman — Done with the day tour, we went to The Cave for lunch. Looks like something from The Flintstones doesn’t it?

The Cave restaurant choices Muscat Oman — You have many choices for restaurants inside The Cave

Unfortunately when we entered, there was no reservation in our names. So we had to contact the travel agent to speak to the front desk and sort things out.

The Cave restaurant buffet Muscat Oman — We settled for the buffet

Pita bread cold cut starters The Cave buffet — What I started with

Rice spring roll The Cave Muscat — Had a bit of everything

Tiger prawns mussels The Cave Muscat — We had ordered some seafood as well

Desserts The Cave restaurant Muscat — Desserts — yeah, I love my sweets!

The Cave restaurant interiors Muscat — I can’t vouch for the menu but the food we had was pretty good and the interiors of The Cave are what really sells this place

After a sumptuous lunch, our driver decided to go for a smoke break and left before us. The rest of us washed up, took some photos of the restaurant and before making our way out. But when we tried to exit the restaurant, we were stopped by one of the staff. When we asked why, she said we have to “pay first”. Stunned, we were (again) perplexed by the lack of communication. We tried to convince her that this was an organized lunch courtesy of Oman Tourism but she called the manager instead. When the manager came, we told them this was being paid for by Oman Tourism and fortunately he knew deal and understood the situation. He then just asked one of us to sign the bill, which I did.

Inside The Cave Muscat Oman — Our driver finally came back to the surprise that we were still inside. That’s him talking to the lady who stopped us from leaving. She later apologized.

Anyway, once we were ‘set free,’ we walked back to our car.

Muscat village Oman — The Cave is situated atop a hill, and this was the view from parking lot

Lulu mall Muscat Oman — Post lunch, we were dropped off at Lulu Hypermarket

Baklavah Lulu supermarket Oman — I wasn’t planning on doing all my shopping now itself. So I just prepared a list of items I planned to buy, and their prices. Baklavah was one of those items!

Grand mall Muscat Oman — After Lulu, we hopped across to Grand Mall

Inside Grand Mall Muscat Oman — Which… wasn’t that impressive to be honest. Another reminder that Muscat cannot be compared to the likes of Bahrain and Dubai when it comes to malls and shopping..

Grand Mall did have a Carrefour and Daiso though. I made note of the prices at Carrefour as well, and realized Lulu Hypermarket was cheaper (in general), and then left after buying some stuff from Daiso. By sunset, we were picked up by the driver to be dropped back at the hotel.

Saravanaa Bhavan Muscat Oman — Saravanaa Bhavan is in Muscat too!

Tiger prawns fries dinner Radisson Muscat — Dinner was at the Radisson Blu

This was our last night at the Radisson Blu. Tomorrow we would check out, visit the Grand Mosque and leave Muscat for Jebel Shams. Now I was really excited to see what more natural wonders and history Oman had to offer!

Next post(s) in this series:

Oman 2014: Day 3 (Part 1) – Sultan Qaboos mosque (Muscat’s Grand Mosque)

Oman 2014: Day 3 (Part 2) – Oman 2014: Nizwa Fort and Jabreen Castle

Oman 2014: Day 3 (Part 3) – Oman 2014: Misfah and Jebel Shams

Oman 2014: Day 4 – Jebel al Akhdar; dune bashing and overnight camp in Wahiba Sands

Oman 2014: Day 5 (Part 1) – Wadi bin Khalid; Dhow factory in Sur

Previous post(s) in this series:

Oman 2014: Day 2 (Part 1) – Dolphin watching tour in Muscat

Oman 2014: Day 1 – Landing in Muscat; Al Alam Palace, Mutrah souq and more