Siwa Trip

This weekend me, Mostafa Sifinga and Madame Lotta-Tussan went to the Siwa oasis in the Western parts of Egypt, fairly close to the Libyan border. It is this tiny place in the middle of nowhere where they have their own traditions and even their own language, which is completely incomprehensible. Fortunately everyone speaks Arabic too, so we were not entirely lost. We hadn't really planned anything in advance, so it took a couple of hours after we got there to find a place to stay, but since people in Siwa are extremely friendly (as well as good business men), in the end we managed to get a nice flat with hot water and a nasty smell just for the three of us in the middle of the town.

Day 1


This is the old party of the city, which was built of mud. It is called Shali but noone lives there anymore.


After our stressful apartment hunt, we relaxed at Abdu's, really the only decent restaurant in town, with a pizza. Mostafa was mighty annoyed when he realized that my pizza had a lot more sausage on it than his, hehehe.


Day 2


This was the common means of public transport in Siwa, little 12-yo kids driving around with donkey carts.


A perplexed girl wondering where the heck the donkey went.


In Siwa women do not cover their faces before they are married, but when they do get married (often around the age of 17-18 and after having been engaged since they were 6-7) they mostly stay at home cooking, having kids and doing embroidery. On the occasions they go out, however, they are supposed to wear this type of blue embroidered sheet, with even their eyes covered. It is kind of weird watching all these ghost ladies running around or being taken around in the donkey taxis.


Biking is another great means of transportation in this place. We rented a couple of bikes and were guided around by this local dude called Mohammed that Lotta knew from an earlier trip.


Off we go!


The size of the bikes weren't exactly perfect for Mostafa's long legs but he didn't seem to let that get to him (at first).


Lots of palm trees in Siwa, it is an oasis after all, and they are big producers of dates, olives and olive oil as well as the famous Siwa water bottles of course.


Some old pharaonic monument we biked by.


Mohammad invited us for tea in his house. I'm gonna paint the walls in my house (if I ever get one) like this! :-)


This was an old cemetery we also took a look at. At this point Mostafa was complaining a lot about his bike and the hard saddle. Gee, what a city wuss!!


Anyway he got his way and we went back to the city and climbed up to the top of Shali instead, from where you could see all the brick houses in Siwa.


Or you could come up here to read a bit in the sunset.


Day 3


In the morning of day 3 we walked around a bit outside of the city center while we were waiting for our desert trip to start in the afternoon. Here comes the grocery store for example.


Some kids checking out the weird looking and stupid foreigners.


Finally out in the desert! Mostafa was thiiiiis happy!


The Sahara is really beautiful in this part, as I am sure it is in a lot of places. The contrast between soft contours and sharp edges is something extraordinary.


Almost a bit surreal at times. As if you were in a dream world.


One of the little guides roaming about in the sand.


It was even more amazing than this in the real world.


Harr harr harr, I will make it all MINE!!!


I have a feeling I have seen this exact dune in a painting by Dali or something...


Mohammed and the big weird hole.


Desert tracks in the sand. After this we went back and the next day we took the morning bus to Alexandria and the train from there back to Cairo. The rain was pouring down the whole day, so we were quite lucky we had the jeep trip the day before.


As it turned out Mohammed was going to Alexandria as well the same morning to visit his family and I took this dangerous looking photo of him.