The sun rises like a fiery ball from the blue-black depths of the Arabian Sea. As Darkness retreats across the Hajar mountains, the barren landscape changes from grayish - brown to beige and copper. It is the birth of a new day in the Sultanate of Oman, a legendary home of Sindbad the sailor and the fabled source of frankincense for the queen of Sheba. The dawn light - & - shadow show is a spectacular curtain raiser to a host of attractions that have made Oman one of the newest and most unusual tourist destinations of the world.