|
|
|
Siwa & Marsa Matruh
21 – 25 September
After Cairo we took a bus to Siwa, a small oasis town on the
edge of the Great Sand Sea and close to the Libyan border,
about 350 km from Cairo. It’s all donkey carts, lush palm
groves, fresh springs and of course, surrounded by miles and
miles of sand. The Siwan's live a very traditional way of
life where women are expected to stay indoors and look after
the home, very rarely venture out and if they do they are
expected to be covered from head to toe. Men work and drink
tea and smoke sheeshas with their mates. The average number
of children per family appears to be 12.3.
We spent some time driving out to the edge of the Great Sand
Sea and hooned around in a 4 x 4 going up, down and around
the spectacular sand dunes. Its exactly what I always
imagined the desert to look like. We even did a spot of
sandboarding on a board which was shaped like a snowboard
but that was where the similarities ended. There were two
straps which kept your feet in place if you didn’t move
around too much and one had a bit of wire holding it
together.
We also hired some rickety old bikes and explored the area,
riding through beautiful palm groves where aside from a few
donkeys and some farmers we were the only people in the
vicinity. Visited Cleopatra's Spring, one of the many in
Siwa and cooled off with a dip - I never dreamed it could be
that beautiful, swimming in a crystal clear spring
surrounded by palm trees.
If it were not for the fact that May’s family own one of the
best hotels in Marsa Matruh, we probably wouldn’t have
stopped there. There really isn’t much to do besides hang
out at the beach - and what an amazing beach it is. White
sand and turquoise waters. And I’m talking a milky blue
turquoise colour – my mouth dropped when the water first
came to view. But as it is not a place frequented by
independent travelers we found ourselves hanging out with
the blue rinse set for two days.
|
|
|
