'One great distinguishing feature of Muscat', noted James Silk Buckingham, an English traveller writing in 1816, 'is the respect and civility shown by all classes of its inhabitants to Europeans.'  The same observation could be made today, not just towards Europeans but to all visitors to this cosmopolitan city.

Indeed, it's not so much the physical structures (the buildings, the museums, the streets) that make Muscat memorable, it's the people. Omanis in their cashmere turbans, the Sudanese in their yards of cotton, women from Kerala in rainbow saris and the occasional pink-skinned Brit who liked Muscat too well to leave, they all share the same easy-going attitude to life owed to a pristine city of low crime, floral avenues, afternoon siestas, barbecues on the beach and long chats in coffee shops over a sheesha (water pipe) and a dish of dates.

Even the tropical cyclone of June 2007, which tore through the city, uprooting trees, scalping roads and sending an avalanche of mud into the suburbs, failed to rob the city of its natural conviviality and bonhomie - a positive attitude to life that is helping in the speedy recovery of the capital's former impeccability.

The name 'Muscat' is derived from a term meaning 'safe anchorage' and as the recent tropical cyclone showed, it is an apt description. While the modern suburbs on the low-lying plains of Greater Muscat suffered the full force of 160kph (100mph) gales, the protected harbours of Old Muscat and Mutrah, ringed by serrated mountains and watched over by 17th-century forts, escaped with only minor damage.

And thank goodness for that, because these two areas comprise the heart of the capital. This is where a visitor can watch the early morning catch arrive on shore and the wooden dhows (traditional Arab sailing boat) slip back out to sea; this is where you can haggle for genuine Bedouin jewellery in one of Arabia's best souks, while sipping mint tea with gossiping traders; and this is where to get a feel for Muscat's historical importance as a trading post in the days when Oman had large East African colonies.

Until relatively recently Muscat comprised only this small area. Then in 1970, under the much esteemed leadership of Sultan Qaboos, the city gates were quite literally thrown open to the modern world. Since this 'Renaissance', the city has expanded along the coast in a series of sparkling white suburbs with gorgeous sandy beaches and growing tourist facilities.

With tantalising off-the-beaten-track adventure lies a step beyond the city limits, Muscat is justifiably earning the reputation as being the best place in the Middle East to sample the real Arabia - the Arabia that has neither buried its head in the sands of time nor thrown out its heritage in the rush to modernise.