Siwa, Alexandria

While yes I acknowledge it has been three months since I last wrote in this space I think I should really add the final few chapters to my journey, as some of the places we went to last were the most interesting, and yes, some people have even pestered me to finish. So I left off when we went to Alexandria. We were there twice, split by a visit to Siwa Oasis.

Siwa was a wonderful place. It is the smallest of the desert Oasis’ near the Libyan border, a small town with no cars, only donkeys, with no people, only date groves. The traditional Siwan house is made of mud-brock, and the town is spread around several small hot-springs. We arrived by the most tortourous bus trip I had ever been on, going down a narrow desert highway for hours and hours and hours. We stopped once at a small shop about four hours between towns that sold some basic food, but was inexplicably covered in christmas lights. When we arrived in Siwa, the guy we were staying with arrived on his motorbike at the bus-station, which was not more than a seat under a covering. He sent us back to his hotel with donkeys that took ages to get through the little town. The town is very cool, mainly just small huts in between date groves and little hot-springs. Unfortunately I think some others have started to realise this and there will soon be a largish development just outside, which is a shame.

Nevertheless, we left the next day and took a long detour track to walk to the various hot-springs, one of which we bathed in, and ate at this guys restaurant which was great. He made Lee special vegetarian food after telling her off (if memory serves me well…) We walked around the mud-covered citadel as well, which was grand, and some form of temple. The main attraction was the wonderful weather and the amazing scenery. The second day we got a 4WD to take us out into the desert. We hadn’t realised that it was going to be incredibly hilly, with the 4WD struggling to make it up and down the sand-dunes (and it did have a cracked windshield which didn’t make us feel any better). It took us to a small pond and hot-spring, which was very cool, then to another, for tea. Another thing about the desert was that some of the sand was white and some of it was dark, so the effect was very weird, some of it looking so much like I’d imagine Mars.

Back in Alexandria, I was ill for a few days so I missed much of it, but we stayed at the phenomenal Crillion Hotel, which was a run-down place in the middle of town, but the people were so nice, and the furniture out of the sixties and their food, which I can still taste as that’s all I ate for about three days. Otherwise, Alexandria was full of coffee shops, which we visited, and a long seaside walk. We visited the aquarium, which was dismal, so Lee complained and then we referred it to our zoologist friend in Cairo, and we visited an expensive restaurant for Morgan’s birthday. It was apparently the best restaurant in town, with pictures of various dignitaries (Yasser Arafat anyone) dining in its hallowed halls. We ate for $20 each.

Another highlight in Alexandria was a fish restaurant that was suggested to us, but which turned out to be impossible to find. We took two cabs and walked in circles till we noticed it was actually in an alley. They cook up pippies, scallops, fish, rice, prawns, and anything else seafood related and heap it onto your plate for next to nothing. Then we were seated upstairs in probably the most squalid room I’d ever been in, but it tasted a treat. We told them we’d come back because they were very excited to see us, but unfortunately we weren’t able to find it again.

Anyway enough of my rambling. I will add the Armenia post next (probably in November…)

Siwa Oasis, ain’t it pretty…

Some of the houses where we got lost.

The town butcher. I just thought this was very cool.

The sand dunes in the desert.

One of the places out in the desert we went to.

Alexandria’s main drive up the coast.

The boats in the harbour.

I also forgot to mention we had a wonderful afternoon with an Armenian couple in Alexandria who took us to the Armenian club and fed us. It was a really nice villa, and it was nice to be amongst Armenians for a little while (nationalism).

Advertisement