On the morning of January 17, 2020 I came to Siwa Oasis from a bus with AIESEC interns from Alexandria, Egypt. I remember it was sand-storming and drizzling, so the windows of my bus was so grimy. Around 7 AM, we went to Cafe Salama and had breakfast there. It was a windy morning and I had a perfect cup of coffee with a beautiful view.
Then after having a delightful breakfast in Cafe Salama, we checked in Siwa Shali Resort.
After checking in the resort we went to the Siwa Salt Lake. It was so fun, I had really great time capturing the moments in my camera and making videos in my IPhone.
After swimming and having fun in the Salt Lake we went to Fetnas Island to enjoy the perfect sunset. Fetnas Island is also known as Fetnas Eye because the sunset looks like an eye.
This small island is located 10 minutes from Siwa town. You will find dates farm in this island and it has a fresh water spring that you can swim in. It offers a spectacular view to Siwa Lake for sunset. You can reach this island by bike or donkey cart/tuk tuk(auto) from Siwa town center.
We had our dinner in the Fetnas Island with a wonderful view.
After enjoying the perfect sunset and dinner, we went to the resort. So the fun fact about our resort was it was near the desert. So I was stargazing and I thought I should take pictures of it.
The next day in the morning of January 18, 2020 we went to Cleopatra's Pool. At that point of the trip I was so worried bout my IPhone that I wasn't enjoying my trip that much. But the cafe there was really beautiful near the Cleopatra's Pool.
Then we went for the Desert Safari, it was the best thing I have ever tried in my life. And that to in he world's largest desert, 'Sahara Desert'.
After the desert safari, we had a little camp in the desert. we did sandboarding, drank the proper siwian tea, and had a lots of fun.
There was a perfect rainbow and it was drizzling and luckily i had my camera with me so I took the picture of it or else no on would believe me.
After enjoying our time in the Siwa Sahara Desert, we went to our camp. We had a really nice dinner and did jamming with the locals, they were singing he traditional siwian songs and playing guitar and darbuka. We were not allowed to record it. And there was this thing, who were properly jamming with them and enjoying the gigs, they where serving there traditional drink called Aragi, one of the strongest drink I had in my life. Aragi is a powerful drink made from the plentiful date palms in the region. Described by locals as a type of arak—an anise-flavored spirit found in parts of the Levant—aragi has no trace of licorice. Rather, it's made from fermented dates. Basically the drink Aragi helps to keep us warm and usual the body temperature.
The next day was the last day in Siwa, so we covered the main Temple of Siwa, that was The Oracle Temple of God Amun, the God of Air.
Oracle Temple is the most famous temple of Amun, now more known as the Temple of the Oracle because of Alexander's visit when he conquered Egypt. It is actually one of two temples dedicated to Amun at Siwa, the other being Umm Ubayda. It sits atop a flat rock, and is a spectacular sight. Built during the 26th Dynasty, this temple and its Oracle flourished well into the Greek and Roman periods.
There are a number of myths about the founding of this temple. One of them tells of two black priestesses from the Temple of Amun at Thebes (modern Luxor) who were banished to the desert. In this tell, one of them founded the Temple of Dodona in Greece, where she became the voice of the Oracle.
After visiting the Oracle Temple we went to the Mountains of the Dead.
The mountain contains number of tombs. The tombs, which cover every inch of its base and are situated on its terraces and on all sides of the conical part, date from the 26th dynasty , the Greek and the Roman periods, though there appear to be no Christian burials.
One of the most famous tombs is that of Si-Amun which is considered the most beautiful one in the oasis of the Western desert. The tomb dates to about the 3rd century BC. It was discovered in October,1940 and unfortunately, some of its decorations were badly damaged by soldiers in Siwa at that time, who cut away parts of the painted plaster. The tomb, as with others in the area, was robbed during the Roman period.
That's All Folks.
Have a safe day.
Thankyou.