Egypte / Egypt 2002

July 17, 2002 – Siwa Oasis

Today, nothing special was prepared. I only decide with Mike to rent Youssef caretta for the day and visit Siwa at a good pace.

So that means a later wake up and I will have time to pack my bag as I leave Siwa tonight by bus to reach Alexandria. I join Mike at the hotel at 10am when Youssef tells me that he has to fix the problem with his carretta so he will be late. Ok, no problem. We take the usual breakfast here.

Finally at 10:30, we are going very slowly to the first Siwan attraction, the oracle temple where a lot of people came in the past to hear their future through the Oracle (Alexander the Great was one of them). There is not so much evidence remining here but the temple was located in the village and from this village you have a great view on the palm grove that surround the city.

The oracle temple among the ruins

We resume the visit with the temple of Amon but it only remains a wall and 3 or 4 columns on the ground because a police officer, at the beginning of the 20^th century, has the brilliant idea to use the temple as a quarry to build the police station and the mosque of Siwa. Youssef, Mike and Khaled have a lot of fun on these ruins.

After the historical part, we have some distraction at the Cleopatra spring, a great swimming pool in the middle of the oasis. But our arrival coincides with the beginning of a fire in the refreshment room near the sping. The place is entirely burned despite the efforts of the fire department of Siwa.

After this incident, we spend a lot of time in the water playing with all the kids around. The temperature is terribly hot and when you walk on the ground the heat burns your feet.

At 3pm, we are back in Siwa where we will sleep until 5pm because it is too hot. In the mean time Youssef must bring again his carretta to the garage because he still have problems with his wheel.

I take some time to have a look at Shali once more before leaving. I also o to the bus ticket office to buy my place in the 10pm bus.

Shali

Finally at 6:30, we are moving at a very slow pace (the donkey is nearly dead!!) to Fatnas Island for the sunset.

At the location, Mike doesn’t resist and dive in the spring but as I will take the bus tonight, I can’t follow him.

I meet Mohammed a young boy who works for a French woman married to an Egyptian. So he knows some French. I invite all the new friends to have a cup of tea and I thank them for all the good moments I spent there during the last 2 days.

At 10pm, I have bought the sandwiches for the trip at the restaurant East West and I say goodbye to Siwa during another power failure

The night bus has a broken air conditioning system so we will spend the entire trip the windows opened to refresh the passengers. The same film is running so I will know the beginning of the movie.

Main expenses of the day :

Bus to Alexandria : 27 EGP

Caretta : 10 EGP for the day so 5 EGP each

Breakfast : 5 EGP

Drinks (water, soft drinks, tea…) + evening meal : 11 EGP

Other travels

Contact

D1 : Luxembourg – Amsterdam – Cairo

D2 : Cairo (part 1) (part 2)

D3 : Cairo

D4 : Cairo

D5 : Aswan