First up this morning, well ok it wasn’t exactly early since nothing here really opens until about 9 am but the first thing we tried to do was coffee.  Sounds odd for me doesn’t it…

Still this coffee shop has a great sign ‘Life’s too short for bad coffee’.  They have real coffee, imported Italian beans and a coffee machine.  Unfortunately they were still closed when we went past so while the others went shopping, Lou and I tried to find an internet that would work.  That proved a little problematic and after the third internet shop we gave up. 

We walked past the coffee shop again to see it was still closed so decided to price the safari that we wanted to do.  We went to about 4 different places, it took the better part of the morning with one break for breakfast and coffee and fill the others in with our progress.  After that we went to one final place that we ended up being happy with so we’ll see how it goes.

This afternoon we negotiated with two of the taxi’s to take us around to some of the local things to see.  Now when I say taxi scrub out the image of a car from your mind and replace it with a donkey pulling a little cart complete with cover and seats with the words ‘Siwa Taxi’ written on the side of the cart.

In Siwa the donkey and cart are more frequent than cars and the mournful sounding bray comes from the streets instead of car horns which makes a pleasant change.

Negotiations done we headed out for our mini expedition.

Tombs of Jabel El Mawta

The Tombs of Jabel El Mawta, which means Mountain of the Dead, was our first stop.  It reminds me of a smaller version of the Tombs of the Nobles in Luxor.  We scrambled around going down into some of the small tombs that were opened for us by one of the guards.  There was also a great view of the Oasis and surrounds which made the trip worthwhile in itself.

The tombs were also used by local villagers as shelter during WWII when the Italians bombed the oasis.

Temple of the Oracle

Next was the Temple of the Oracle built in the 6th century BC and dedicated to Amun.  The Oracle was one of the most revered in the Mediterranean and it is said that rulers either travelled widely to consult with the Oracle or fearing the Oracle tried to destroy it.  It was also said that Alexander the Great came to consult with the Oracle in 331 BC and was declared to be a ‘son of the god’.

While not well preserved the Temple of the Oracle is still a sight to see with spectacular views of the surrounding Oasis.

Temple of Umm Ubayd

There really isn’t much of the Temple of Umm Ubayd left since a governor in 1896 blew up the temple to provide stones to build a mosque and the police building.  To say that there isn’t much left is an understatement.  There is one wall.

Still the Temple of Umm Ubayd was once connected to the Temple of the Oracle by a causeway and used during oracle rituals.

Cleopatra’s Bath

On the way back we stopped off at Cleopatra’s Bath (or the Spring of Cleopatra).  It was a little different that what I’d imagined.  I thought it would look a little like a large pond.  Instead it looked like a large open well with bubbles feeding from the bottom.

We decided not to go for a swim.  Swimming being slightly problematic since we’d have to go fully clothed meaning money, passports etc would have got soaked too and clothes taken ages to dry.  We watched a boy play in the spring, jumping from the top into the spring over, and over again.

Then it was time to head back to town being the end of our mini excursion.

We relaxed for a little then headed out once more to see what remains of the Fortress of Shali.

Fortress of Shali

In the centre of town are the remains of the 13th century Fortress of Shali.  Although not much remains of the Fortress today since 3 days of rain in 1926 achieved what armies, invaders, generals and rulers failed to do.  Still what remains of the Fortress of Shali today manages to dominate and catch the eye.

We climbed up the trail and into the accessible part of the fortress winding our way up to a lookout.  Its such a shame that the fortress was destroyed by rain although there are hopes that some restoration might occur.  I guess whether that happens or not remains to be seen. Still it would be worth coming back out this way to have a look if they ever did succeed.

That was the end of our day in Siwa