Salalah is the modern administrative centre of the south, home to Salalah Airport and the large container port of Mina Raysut to the west.
Extensive plantations stretch between the new city and the coast. Coconut palms tower into the sky, with bananas and papayas growing close together in their shade. Small, narrow streets wind their way through this ›miniature tropics‹; fruit and coconuts are sold in small stalls at the edge of the street.
In the city area there are relics of the large medieval settlement of Al Balid, which once extended into today's plantations, on the al-Balid (High Arabic al-Balad, »the city«) promontory on the lagoon in the east of Salalah. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is now an archaeological park with the interesting Land of Frankincense museum.
The eldest neighbourhoods in Salalah are al-Husn and al-Hafah. Both have been undergoing extensive redevelopment since 2019. The dilapidated houses from the 1970s have been demolished and new infrastructure with new markets is being built. Virtually nothing remains of the old Haffa /Hafah Souq around the small mosque.
Typical products in Salalah are handicrafts, fabrics and cloths, incense blends bokhur, incense luban and perfume. The incense blends and fragrances are produced in-house according to family recipes and packaged in inconspicuous tin or plastic containers.
► more pictures from the Dhofar region
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