On the day that is known in Catholic Europe as Good Friday, we decided to go on a road trip to a new place, Ibra.

Living in Ireland thought me new traditions, even though I am not big on religious customs I believe some traditions are to be kept and passed on through generations.

You might laugh but…hot cross buns is something I added to my “luggage”(yes…I like, no, love food). They seem to have quite a history, dating back to the 12th century apparently when a monk marked some buns with the cross sign in honour of Good Friday. While in Orthodox Romania, Good Friday would be a day where you would fast until sunset.

The eggs are part of an egg hunt in many Catholic countries and mostly are chocolate but in Romania, I never heard of that when I was a child and the eggs are hard-boiled eggs (usually red) painted that you have with Easter lunch.

That’s for Easter traditions, being in Oman is up to you to keep them.

But a trip…mmm…a trip should be always a tradition! For any occasion!

Ibra is one of the oldest cities in Oman, about 170 km south from Muscat, you get there by taking the Nizwa/Salalah road and it splits at some point- the Sharqiyah Expressway that goes down to Sur, We went through 2 amazing newly built tunnels instead of going up and down the mountains.

I was impressed with the tunnels, 3 lanes each way, opened in 2020. Amazing and made for the future taking in consideration increased traffic.

I learned Ibra is another destination for expat, the University attracts foreign teachers with a sense of adventure.

Just by driving around I liked the place because it felt more authentic, omani…not many signs of globalisation.

Ibra old town is a honeycomb of house ruins. The double archway shows the entrance on the old village. The mud houses with one or two stories have amazing archways or doors. The effect created, door in door is photogenic. It is not your typical tourist attraction…so just get lost walking around.

The hot cross buns were definitely a a good addition to the trip ;).