Other landmarks include Souq Muttrah, a traditional bazaar and Sour Al-Lawatiah, a small community of houses surrounded by an old wall.

[7] It was named after darkness because of the crowded stalls and lanes where the sunrays do not infiltrate during the day and the shoppers need lamps to know their destinations.

The name of the market has been drawn specifically from the part that extends from Al Lawatiya Mosque to Khour Bimba where the place is really full of stores and stalls and the narrow area of lanes does not allow the sunlight to enter.

There are also tiny shops (on the side streets and alleyways leading up to the souq) with Omani silver, stalls of white dishdashas and embroidered kumahs,[clarification needed] brightly colored cloth, and multicolored head scarves.

[citation needed] Other items sold at the souq include Omani pots, paintings, hookah pipes, framed khanjars (daggers), leatherwork, and incense.

[9] The souq goes by various names: Market of Darkness, due to its myriad of alleys and roads lined by shops that block the sun during the day.

Situated in a natural harbour 250 km south of the Strait of Hormuz on the Indian Ocean coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

Port Sultan Qaboos' location makes it an ideal hub, not only for the Persian Gulf but also the Indian sub-continent and markets in East and South Africa.

The already impressive infrastructure, skilled manpower, fast and efficient handling operations and documentation clearance system in PSC will be further enhanced this year.

Maritime activity was limited to the import of essential items, mainly from India by old-style wooden dhows.

With the advent of containerisation, PSQ developed two of its berths to handle container vessels and these facilities were fully operational by 1983–1984.