Oman
Ubar
In 1992 satellite radar found the Atlantis of the Sands, collapsed into its own sinkhole.
Low stone walls gather around a collapsed limestone hollow at Shisr, with the desert opening beyond them. Caravans once watered here on the frankincense road, and the legends grew taller than anything that still stands.
Shisr is where the Ubar legend touches the ground. Ptolemy marked a trading centre in this desert in the second century, storytellers called it the Atlantis of the Sands, and in 1992 an expedition guided by NASA satellite and shuttle radar imagery found the remains here: a caravan oasis of the frankincense trade, the last water before the Empty Quarter. Much of it had collapsed into the limestone sinkhole it was built over, which is why the walls sit low. The ruins are a stop on the desert itineraries out of Salalah, two hours south, and the story is the architecture.
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Solo
Ride the frankincense-route itinerary and take the site with its story told; alone and unbriefed, it is low walls in wind.
Couple
Pair Shisr with the Empty Quarter's edge on one desert day, legend at noon and dunes at sunset.
- The site at Shisr was found in 1992 with the help of NASA satellite and shuttle radar imagery.
- Legend calls it the Atlantis of the Sands, and Ptolemy marked a trading centre in this desert in the second century.
- Much of the old settlement collapsed into the limestone sinkhole it was built over, which is why so little stands.
- This was a caravan oasis of the frankincense trade, the last water before the Empty Quarter.
There is nothing to eat at Shisr; everything you eat by the ruins crossed the desert with you.
Salalah's kitchens sit 170 km south, and most visits eat there on either side of the desert run.
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