Last Friday at Tenby and District Arts Club, Margaret Acors gave an illustrated talk on her holiday in Oman. This was the third time Margaret had visited Oman, but in this trip she went to the extreme south where frankincense comes from.

The holiday, which Margaret took this time last year, started in the capital, Muscat, with its white-painted houses and fortress built by the Portuguese in the 17th century. Muscat is beautifully located on the coast in the mountains with the Sultan's palace looking out over the shoreline, and cliffs with signatures painted by visiting sailors, including Nelson.

The Grand Mosque was built of marble and sandstone by the current Sultan who ousted his father in 1972 and built many schools and mosques. It has room for 6,000 worshippers inside, and the biggest hand-made carpet in the world. Margaret also visited the government offices, the brand new Royal Opera house, the souk and a museum with a frankincense tree in the courtyard.

The group then drove in four cars through the coastal mountains, stopping at a sinkhole with people swimming way down at the bottom, through Wadi Tiwi - a steep sided valley with palm trees and terraces leading down to vegetation at the bottom and a clear green river - viewing irrigation ditches for the terraces. Following the coast to Sur, where Sinbad the Sailor was from, they saw dhows in various stages of construction, and at midnight saw turtles laying eggs on the sand.

Next they came to the Wahiba Sands, part of the Empty Quarter, where they camped out in Bedouin tents and enjoyed the variations of colours in the sand. On through a volcanic landscape to a market town where they saw camels loaded onto pick-up trucks, goats for sale along with fodder for them. Next-door was an abandoned old town with mud-brick buildings, palm groves and winding alleys.

At Nizwah, the group visited a fort, a mosque, and a livestock market where they saw people parading around in circles with their animals for sale, and the potential buyers sitting watching before making an offer. An UNESCO site, an abandoned village which had the oldest surviving irrigation channel known anywhere, was visited on the way to a magnificent hotel in Dhofar.

Old Salalah, a recently excavated 1,000-year-old site, once the biggest town in Arabia, had a creek and palm groves, and had been part of the frankincense export trade. The Queen of Sheba's palace was built from limestone blocks over 2,000 years ago. Some frankincense was found in the stones still.

Travelling on through the desert, Margaret saw baobab trees and streams with camels drinking. They were invited in to a house for coffee, bread and halva, and their driver was dressed up as a traditional Omani hunter. That afternoon they walked up into the Wadi, seeing a large termite mound.

The journey continued to Murbat, a fishing town involved in the frankincense trade. It has a shrine to a 14th century holy man that still receives pilgrims today. Margaret heard the story of a Fijian SAS soldier who ran over open ground to a big gun and saved his unit from 300 rebels.

On the last morning they walked along the shore, with pink quartzite running through the granite rocky coves and a beautiful sea. What a pity Margaret couldn't provide the heat as well as the stunning images!

This (Friday) evening, there is a change of programme and the Rev. Chris Tolley will talk about Saint Samson. Everyone is welcome to St. Johns Hall at 7.30 pm, for only £2 members and £4 non-members, including light refreshments.