Muscat’s neighbouring city Muttrah was once the heart of Oman’s trading empire, with a harbour buzzing full of ships bringing cargo from Basra, Persia, India, East Africa and beyond. Fortunes were made by the merchants of this coastal area, and chief among Muttrah’s most skilled traders were the Lawatiya. For centuries they lived in a walled quarter, Sur Al Lawatiya, which is adjacent to the souk. The Sur, as it is known, gained a reputation over the years as Oman’s ‘forbidden city’ because only members of the Lawati tribe were allowed to enter.