Entranceway leads to Nakhl Fort, 50 miles west of Muscat, once considered invulnerable by Omanis. The fort's defenders are known to have doused attackers with asal, a sticky, boiling syrup made from dates. Badly damaged by cannon fire during a siege in 1769, the fort was restored in 1990 by a Moroccan team using local wood and mortar. (Photograph by Nicolas Sapieha)