Ephesus and House of the Virgin Mary

Ephesus and House of the Virgin Mary

Ephesus, a great ancient trading center and a cult center for Artemis, goddess of fertility, is less than two miles from Selcuk and about 5 miles from the House of the Virgin Mary. It is believed that she came to Ephesus with Saint John, during her last days, around 37-45AD. Nun Catherine Emmerich of Germany had visions of Mary's house in the 19th century, although she had never visited the site herself. With her description of the place, local clergy initiated excavations and found an old foundation, dating as old as the 1st century. To Muslims, Mary is Meryemana, Mother Mary, who bore Isa Peygamber, the Prophet Jesus. At the site, Turks tie bits of clots to a frame and make a wish.

I loved Mary's house. I am not sure its current look reflects the actual house where she lived, but the small stone house with arches and domes was a peaceful and beautiful place to be. No pictures are allowed inside, and there is a soft music coming out of speakers, making it an enjoyable place to be. There weren't too many tourists inside the house, despite the many buses parked at the entrance. The area where the house is located is almost like a small park with fruit trees and other trees, a cafe and of course lots of souvenir shops.

The mountains and fields in this part of Turkey reminds of the place I was born in Brazil, in Minas Gerais state, specially the southern part. The flowers and fruit are starting to come out with Spring and the air is fresh. It was a very pleasant visit for me.

Down the hill from Mary's house is the ruins of Ephesus. Judging from the size of the streets and some of the constructions, this was an important town in the antiquity. When the Romans took over, Ephesus became the Roman provincial capital and Artemis became Diana.

In ancient times, the sea came much farther inland as it does today, and Ephesus was considered a port city. The sea is about six miles from Selcuk now. As you can see from the photos, this a typical classical ancient city with buildings such as a theater, colonnade streets, temples and necropolis. What this one differs a little from other classic ancient towns is the very preserved latrine, very interesting bathroom with toilets carved in stones, and the terraced houses. These are the houses of the elite of the time. They had their grandiose houses built in the center of town, as opposed to the majority of the population who went further, to the suburbs. The whole area where the terraced houses were located is being meticulously restored. Staff try to match the broken pieces of marble, walls, columns like a puzzle, to give us an idea of how people lived in antiquity.

Ephesus was definitely one of the largest ancient towns I have ever visited. Many of the objects found there are now at the Museum in town.

Afrodisias, Turkey

Afrodisias

This ancient town named after Aphrodite, the Greek godless of love and sexuality, was a popular pilgrimage site from the 6th century BC. But when the Byzantines ruled, the Temple of Aphrodite was changed into a chaste Christian church, starting in 350AD. Frankly, the Greek and pagan gods and goddess seemed a lot more fun.

Baccus, the god of wine, and Aphrodite are fine examples. The term aphrodisiac comes from this goddess. The Greek art is also filled with naked gods and goddesses, making paganism a lot more natural than Christianity or any organized religion. The notion of sin was not engrained in those days.

Anyway, this ancient city of Afrodisias is set in a beautiful valley. Walking around its ruins was like being in an open museum where the loose pieces looked like art work. A column here, an elaborate sarcophagus there, the statue of a goddess in a drape revealing one breast some where else... More or less like a sculpture museum trying to mirror ancient fragments, figures and construction objects. And this time of year, there is a bonus of witnessing the red poppies everywhere, mixed in the green fields against the mountains.

The highlight of the more preserved buildings for me was the tetrapylon, the monumental gateway to the Temple of Aphrodite. The stadium was also amazing, with place for 30,000 people, double the population of this city way back then, in its early days, when it reached 15,000 people. So, why did the stadium fit double the number of people? Maybe folks from other villages joined in a version of what we know as the Olympics.

Another highlight for me was the Hadrianic Baths. You all know by now that I am crazy about baths, hot springs, and water in general, but this is a special pool, made with marble with a sculpture of Hadrian right next to it, looking into the pool. I think it is Hadrian, although the head is missing. I could easily visualize myself sitting in one of those corners, immersed in water, gazing at the snow caped mountains early in the Spring, just about this time of the year.

The Sebastion was also interesting, a new feature in a classical ancient city for me. This is a temple to the deified Roman emperors. Yes, those guys were worshiped as divine beings despite all the killing, domination and pillage of the towns. Maybe people were “forced” to worship them. It goes with the territory, sort of speak. Things haven't changed much for some. Many citizens in the world still have to obey leaders they despise.

Finally, I really liked the Bouleterium, a place where the community met for town meetings. This is really nice. All these meeting places, are either oval or round shaped. I think people were into sharing a lot more in those days than we do now.

Afrodisias is about 75 miles from Pamukkale and on the way we passed near Laodicea. This is the place of the Seven Churches of Asia mentioned in the New Testament Book of Revelation. This is also where Cicero lived before Mark Anthony had him killed. But Laodicea is mostly in ruins nowadays, so I decided not to make the trip there. Instead, I spent a day resting at my hotel in Pamukkale, enjoying the serenity of this small town, the swimming pool and the hot springs at my hotel.

Pamukkale, Turkey

Pamukale, Turkey

It was worth coming to Turkey just to bathe in the Antique Pool in the ancient town of Hierapolis, almost 2000 years old. I could not tear myself away from this crystal clear pool, bubbling with calcium carbonate. I must say I was so excited with this water I even drank some from where it was pouring out, gushing out into the pool. It tasted like a delicious mineral water, full of calcium and magnesium among dozens of other minerals.

I massaged my back, head and my whole body, by standing under the spring that fed the pool. Ahhhh what an experience! I have been to dozens of wonderful hot springs around the world but this one topped it all. From the pool I had the view of the spectacular Roman Theater of the ancient town of Hierapolis on one side and of the mountains on the other. I didn't even care when the pool kept getting swollen with tourists. I was in total bliss under the jets of water bubbling down my face and body for four hours, nurtured by the languid 97 degrees Fahrenheit.

And I haven't even described my way into this paradise of a pool. I took my shoes off at the entrance of the travertines – shelves and pools of cotton white rock formations, marble like, above the town. The water pouring down from canals and the pools was warm, from the same spring that fed the antique pool I presume. When the warm water cooled, the calcium deposited all over the cliff edge created the effect of a mountain of snow with terraced swimming pools filled with thermal water. Wow, wow, wow! This is one of the most amazing sites I have ever seen in my life, not to mention most enjoyable!

The Romans built a large spa city, Hierapolis, to take advantage of this curative water that still flows down for us to enjoy. Hooray to the Romans. They did a lot of killing and destruction in their pursue of power and conquest but I have to take my hat off for their ability to build spas. I am still in excitement, three days after I have been there. In fact, I like the mellowness of Pamukkale so much that I am staying an extra day here doing nothing but enjoying the hot springs and sauna in my hotel. It is nothing compared to the antique pool, but more than adequate when compared to other hot springs I have been to.

Hierapolis was founded in 190 BC by Eumenes II, king of Pergamum as a cure center that prospered under the Romans and even more under the Byzantines when there was a large community of Jews and early Christians in the area. Unfortunately, the city was abandoned in 1334 after a major earthquake.

This is a typical ancient city, with Roman Baths, Roman Theater, an Agora (square), Temples, in this case there is a Temple of Apollo with an oracle that was tended by eunuch priests, and colonnaded streets. This is also the site where it is believed that Saint Philip, the apostle, was martyred. But what this ancient city may be a little different from others, besides the amazing curing spa center, aka antique pool, is the size of its necropolis. I am sure it is due to the number of people who came here already in their last days, hoping for a cure. Well, the water is fantastic, but it can only do so much.

Before I am in my last days, I just hope and pray that I will meet many more curative water sites such as this! What a place.....get here if you can.

Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul

Istanbul is the only city I know that occupies two continents at the same time. The Bhosphorus strait, between the Black and Marmara Seas, divides the city into Europe and Asia. On the western shore, European Istanbul is further divided by the Golden Horn into Old Istanbul and Beyoglu in the north. The various ferries, suspension bridges, trams, cable cars, funiculars and buses connect them all in this beautiful megalopolis. Yes, Istanbul is one of the most scenic cities this traveler has seen, if not the most.

But I feel the weather is mostly Northern European at best, and this is a minus for me. The temperatures have been hovering around 50 degrees Fahrenheit at the end of April! It is colder than Denmark right now. Tourism also seems to have picked up since the city's renaissance of the 1990's and the right to become the European Capital of Culture in 2010. The area around Sultanahmet specially now, during the Spring break, is very crowded, although very convenient to visit the main historic sites.

I spent my week visiting the obligatory Blue Mosque, Ayasofya and Topkapi Palace. Following the list were visits to hammams, which I am sure, if I stayed here longer, I would discover less touristy ones than the beautiful Cemberlitas Hammam. Designed by Sinan, the same architect who designed the Suleymaniye Mosque and many other architectural jewels across Turkey, this Turkish bath is from 1584 and it has been restored to its modern glory more recently. Although gorgeous, there were so many giggly teenagers there having their first hammam experience, that it was almost impossible to relax. It is a very touristy place!

Gedkipasa Hamman was built in 1457 by one of the viziers of Mehmet the Conqueror, one of the oldest hammams in Istanbul. It was recommended by the hotel where I was staying. Although it must have been somewhat remodeled since it was built, the walls were a bit moldy, the place did not feel very cozy, and I felt rushed by the staff to get my scrub/massage, although the place was not busy. The pool of water was also cold, so there was only a sauna and the bucket style baths to make me feel warm in the rainy day when Emma and I went there. So, if I ever return to Istanbul, I will need to do some serious research on other local Turkish baths.

One of my favorite things to do in Istanbul was to jump in a ferry or boat tour, and go to Asia for the day. There was more of a local feeling there and it was a good way to see the whole city, and enjoy the views from the boat.

The one hour and a half tour to Bhosphorus Island was very good. As we passed in front of palaces, forts and mosques, someone behind a microphone told us what we were looking at. The hot tea served on the boat kept me warm and I only ventured outside the enclosed windows a couple of times. It was a particularly cold day.

The long boat ride to Prince Island was also good. Once we disembarked, there were horse carriages and bikes for rent to explore the island, but I preferred to walk and stretch my legs after sitting on the hour and a half ride. On another day I went to Kadikoy, where the impressive Haydarpasa train station, built between 1906 and 1908 is located. An imposing Neo-Renaissance style building, it is surrounded by water on three sides.

Walking around Taksim, Pera, Karakoy, Besiktas, Kadikoy, and Beyoglu gave me a good sense of local life in this amazing city. Turks are very friendly and the food is absolutely delicious, not to mention the Turkish delights. I had to watch myself here, as my weight is starting to creep up again.

Tonight I head out to Pamukale and I have put in my request to God for warmer weather and no tourists there.

Ayasophia, Istanbul

Ayasophia, Istanbul

Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

Despite my best intentions to visit Topkapi Palace right after I arrived in Istanbul, it took me a few days to actually go inside. Every time I made my way to the entrance, I gasped at the amount of people and decided to do something else. But on my third day, I got my ticket at 9 am sharp and made a bee line to the treasure before the crowds lined up at its doors. That was the recommendation of a fellow Irish traveler and I am thankful for it. By the time I finished with my visit there and went through the harem, on the building across the street, there was over 200 people lined up.

Maybe it is the Easter Holiday, or maybe this is how Istanbul is these days, propelled by the tourist packages. Hordes of people come into this city everyday and we all seem to prefer to stay at Sultanahmet where the majority of historic Istanbul sites are. The scene is not very different from that at Disneyland. Tourists everywhere, eating, taking pictures, buying souvenirs, and lining up for the “rides.”

Topkapi Palace is a Unesco World Heritage Site, the official residence in the city of the Ottoman Sultans for about 400 years, from 1465 to 1856. It is a complex made up of four main courtyards, home to as many as 4,000 people, including a harem. Together with the treasure, this was the most interesting area of the palace for me.

It was interesting to note the precious stones of choice by sultans in those days: pearls, rubies, diamonds, jade, turquoises and emeralds. These happen to be some of my favorite stones as well. I would add sapphires and corals to that list though. The huge pendants studded with precious stones symbolized sovereignty and power.

The emerald and pearl studded daggers, specially Topkapi Dagger, was really amazing. Apparently the huge emeralds came from Colombia, the pearls from Venezuela and the gold and silver from Peru and Mexico. They were collected and shipped to Cuba, then Florida, then sent to Spain through the Atlantic Ocean. That is the exploitation of the new world for you. The Spanish then sold this goods for the rich empires of the time: Ottoman, Persian and Moghuls in India.

The sword of Suleyman the Magnificent and the Throne of Ahmed I, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and designed by the architect of the Blue Mosque were also jaw dropping.

The harem, literally, private, or “forbidden place” was another interesting concept of the time. A series of buildings connected through hallways and courtyards, this area was run by the Chief Harem Eunuch. It was the private home of the sultan, forbidden to everyone else, except his mother, wife, concubines and children. By the way, this an interesting factoid: the women in the harem had to be foreigners as Islam prohibited enslaving Muslims. Every detail of harem life was dictated by tradition, obligation and ceremony. Somehow the geisha culture comes to mind but I haven't figured out the differences and commonalities. The only “male” population allowed in the harem was the eunuch staff who ran the place.

The rest of the Palace was more ho-hum for me, specially because by that time there were so many tourists that I wanted to leave. But I forced myself to get into a line of people sticking up their necks to see the relics of the prophet Mohammed in the Sacred Safekeeping Rooms, aka Suite of the Felicitous Cloak. There we could see the several jars supposedly containing pieces of the beard of Prophet Mohammed, a golden casket containing his cloak, his footprint in clay, his tooth, sword and other objects.

The tower of Justice, the highest building in the complex was also interesting. Specially its concept: it symbolizes the eternal vigilance of the sultan against injustice. Everyone from afar was supposed to be able to see the tower to feel assured about the sultan's presence. Knowing a little history of the Ottoman
Empire, it is safe to say that justice in this case is relative at best. Maybe what it really symbolized was that the sultan had his eyes on things...control, rather than justice.

Bye Bye Cairo, Hello Istanbul

From Cairo to Istanbul

As I got on the plane en route to Istanbul a couple of days ago, the newspapers in Cairo reported another breakthrough in the Egyptian revolution of January 25th. Hosni Mubarak and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal Mubarak were jailed for 15 days pending further investigations on alleged use of force against peaceful protesters. They also face corruption charges. These news came almost a week after two million people went back to Tahrir Square. Another demonstration, even bigger, was planned for Friday, if the military in charge didn't show signs of being pro-active towards the demands of the revolutionaries.

When I first heard of Egyptian's revolution, I must say that I was a little puzzled at the level of organization of the youth that took to the streets. When we arrived in Cairo February 12th and saw people cleaning the streets, directing traffic and camping out at Tahrir Square, I didn't really understand how they were organized and even thought of conspiracy theories to explain it. But now I understand the process a little better.

Non-violent techniques to overthrow ex-President Hosni Mubarak have been brewing in Egypt since 2005, led by a trio of expatriates who live in London. Hisham Morsy, a physician, Wael Adel, a civil engineer and Ahmed, a chemist, have been giving training on civil disobedience to their compatriots since 2005. Later, the trio morphed into an organization called the Academy of Change and in 2007 published three books to disseminate the new method of resistance: “Civil Disobedience,” “Nonviolent War the 3rd Choice” and “AOC MindQuake.”

In 2008 “Shields to Protect Again Fear” came out. This was a manual/training and it helped union organizers to go on a successful strike in 2006 with later setbacks,. But the seeds and the techniques for non-violent, civil disobedience were planted, culminating on the Facebook group and the revolution itself. What three people can accomplish with training, discipline and organization, is an example of what is possible for all oppressed citizens in the world. I pray that the Egyptian revolution is successful in bringing effective changes. After being in Egypt for close to 3 ½ months, I almost feel Egyptian and already find myself missing it.

When I flew over Istanbul, it was very obvious my travels here were going to be very different. For one, it had just rained all day. Even from the air I could see that the city was all wet, there was a lot of green, a lot of water and the buildings looked all finished, unlike the landscape in Egypt, where the need of public works is obvious on the streets. Some buildings, private and public, look unfinished, and the entrances to some of them look like that were just bombed. Both cities have the same population: 16 million people, and are prawling metropolis. But the feel here in Istanbul is very much European, while Cairo is all Arab.

I was shocked to see how many tourists were arriving with me at the Istanbul International Airport. Yesterday, when I went to the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi Palace, I could not believe my eyes when I saw bus loads of people disembarking, cameras at hand, photographing palaces, mosques, grass, flowers, fingernails... I am just kidding, but you get the picture. This is a VERY touristy city and I found myself missing Egypt again, being one of the few tourists there, the pyramids and temples almost all to myself.

But I must also give justice to Istanbul. It is a very beautiful city, one of the most beautiful I have seen, surrounded by water, majestic buildings and mosques. The Phosphorus strait connects the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea and divides the city into European, the historic and economic centers, and Asian, the Anatolian side. The Golden Horn is a long, natural harbor. I took a ferry there today with my traveling partner, Emma, from the UK. We took the teleferic when we got to Eyup, at the end of the line, and had tea in the nippy weather, overlooking the great views. The number of mosques per capita must be highest in the world and they are all amazing buildings. And I haven't even gone to a hamman yet. I have just gotten here, I will give you a full update in a week.

Bahariya Oasis, Egypt

Bahariya and Eden Camp

Siwa Oasis was easy going enough and I thought I would spend more time there than I did. But after a German traveler showed me pictures of Eden Camp, at Bahariya Oasis, with hot springs in it, facing the Black desert, I knew I had to head there.

On the plus side, the trip to Bawiti, 280 miles from Cairo, on asphalted road that cut through Egypt's western desert, was a quick five hours travel, compared to the eleven long hours to Siwa. Bahariya Oasis is located in a depression covering over 1,500 square miles, surrounded by black hills made up of ferruginous quartzite and dolorite. I saw those mountains everyday from Eden Camp as I bathed on its quite ferruginous hot springs twice daily.

I joined an Egyptian group of travelers on a half a day tour around Bawiti's sites. I even got them to buy me some boxes of dates filled with almonds and olive oil – Egyptian price - at one of the several merchants in town.

We started our tour by visiting the Golden Mummies at the Bahariya Antiquities and Archaeological Center. The surrounding area and the building looked like an unfinished testing center of sorts, blood testing or chemical hazards, it is hard to tell, but the room where the mummies were laying down in an eternal sleep was more “normal.” That is, if we can attach any sense of familiarity to bodies covered in gauze with death gypsum masks stuck to their faces. They are supposed to depict lifelike faces of real people, but I must say they looked eerie. And there were baby mummies too, the first I have ever seen.

These mummies were found at the 'Valley of the Mummies', the seven-mile strip of desert around Bahariya where 5,000 - 10,000 mummies are still being excavated, the largest cache of mummies ever discovered.

Then we visited the tombs of Zad-Amun ef-Ankh and his son Bannentiu. They were rich merchants from the 26th dynasty. We descended a 30 feet steep staircase before ducking through low entrances into the main halls. The color of the frescoes looked like freshly painted bright yellow and blues, but I trust that they are the original colors of 2,500 years ago. The paint used was natural, taken from trees I was told.

I was lucky that the Egyptian family I was traveling with was fluent in English and could translate what our guide told us. Most often than not, at other temples, pyramids and tombs, I could mostly get incomprehensible half sentences, that tried to piece together stories that didn't always jive with the little I know of Egyptian history.

On these tombs, the story of afterlife, the heart of the deceased being weighted at judgment day, including some bribe to a dog who was guarding the gate to heavens, is told by figures on the walls. Thoth, in one of his dual forms as Ibis, serves as scribe of the gods, keeping meticulous track of the deceased deeds while living, only to have the whole process thwarted by a meal of a goose, given to the dog who guards the gates, to lighten the deceased's sins. This must be the basis for the bribe system so common around the around the world until current days.

Thoth, in his second form as baboon in the underworld, the god of equilibrium, re-checks that the scales are exact when weighting the deceased's heart against the feather. So, there is always a happy ending, similar to a Christian asking the priest to forgive his sins by praying a number of rosaries. Sin hasn't necessarily been an obstacle to a heavenly spot in the afterlife.

Then we visited the Temple of Alexander the Great, about 2 miles further down the road. I was disappointed to see that it was such a small temple with the wall carvings almost gone. I was told that originally, there was no ceiling to the temple and the exposure to wind and rain destroyed the carvings somehow. Now the temple sports a wooden roof to protect it. But it was nice to see the place where Alexander stopped on his way to Siwa Oasis, to consult the Oracle of Amun, the one I had just visited.

Outside the temple, there were ruins of the stone rooms where Alexander's army stayed. We also saw some objects, such as some pottery, old coins and other antiquities laying around outside the temple. From the distance, we could see the Valley of Mummies. Maybe I will be back one day to see what comes out of the excavations.

Finally, we stopped by the great salt lake in town before driving through some very odd looking conical shaped mountains and heading out to Eden Camp for a very late lunch.

Black and White Deserts, Bahariya Oasis

Black and White Deserts

It was hard to pin down Talat Abdel Mulah, the owner of Eden Camp about the price of a safari through the Black and White deserts. At first he said it was depended on the number of people and the tone of the conversation quickly slipped into jokes about the color of my underwear. The price would be depended on how bright they were. Talat is a charismatic person who runs the camp well but a bit much to take. I set my boundaries with him very clearly when I arrived but he still could not help putting his arm around me and making jokes every time he had a chance. In the end, everything worked out well. He arranged for me to join a very nice Egyptian group from Cairo and the price was the standard price he said all foreigners paid. Not completely true as I found out later, but I am happy with what I paid.

We were in a caravan of two 4X4 Jeeps. We started our safari with our drivers zooming through vast expanses of black and beige sand, with the occasional conic shaped mountains, typical of volcanic areas. We stopped at some them for a hike, and saw charcoal broiled pieces of stone all over the place. This must have been a fiery volcano, burning everything around for hundreds of miles. The Black desert, to my surprise, is a lot larger than the Western and White deserts.

The Western desert is right next to the Black and it is not less dramatic. We stopped for lunch at a protected area where the drivers set up carpets on the sand where we ate. While they prepared our lunch, me and the Egyptian group took pictures in a glacial white cave-like rock formation, in high contrast with the expanses of caramel colored sand all around us. At times, I could not find any reference, nothing that could be compared to this scenery. For all I knew, this could be the moon, or the bottom of a waterless sea.

When we got to the White desert, 125 miles away from Bahariya Oasis, heading towards the Al-Farafra Oasis in the south, the scenery got even more eerie and less familiar. The white sculptures we saw of animals, birds and mushrooms almost looked like art pieces; some burning man type artist playing with glacial arctic figurines in the moon! Yes, it was almost a pshychodelic experience.

More pictures, more wowed exclamations. This is just an amazing place.
The snow-white desert is made of chalk that has been exposed for years. Geologists call it "differential weathering," which is the erosion of soft particles, resulting in eerie protrusions of hard rock.

It reminded me of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia and Chile, a salt desert, probably also the bottom of the sea eons of time in the past. What a beautiful planet! I am so lucky I get to see it.

On our way back we stopped at a crystal mountain where I sat for a few minutes to get their pure and clear energy. Pieces of crystals were coming out of mountain and I got a few small ones that were laying on the ground. I can use all the clear energy I can get. When we got back to the jeep the drivers had tea ready for us. I love Egyptian hospitality!

By the time the sun was setting, we were driving past the Black desert again and stopped to admire another good day on earth. At least nature seemed content, just being in the moment, waiting for the next cosmic episode that would shake them out of their current blissful slumber, mutating into the next eerie, beautiful scenery for us to admire.

Bir Wahed and Sea of Sand

Bir Wahed, Egypt

I was told not to leave Siwa Oasis before I visited Bir Wahed springs in the Sahara desert right next to Siwa. Although the hot and cold springs were very much like any other spring I had experienced in town, the trip to the desert was a lot more gratifying than I expected.

Karl, a fellow traveler and I made arrangements to leave in the afternoon and spend the night at a little oasis in the desert. We traveled through massive dunes to find the hot springs in the middle of sand, like a mirage. Around it, green foliage grew, giving the space a soothing respite from the sea of sand. After soaking for almost two hours, we got into the 4X4 Jeep for another “joy ride” going up and down several feet of sand to find another spring, this time a cold one.

We drove through areas that looked like a sea in previous eras. There was even some broken shells on the ground to attest to it. In fact, all five of Siwa's salt lakes may very well be left over from an extinguished sea, and the hot springs are proof of volcanic activity in the area.

It even rained a little, a very rare occasion in the desert, but only a few drops. The clouds and slight breeze were soothing after a long soak in the hot water. We arrived at our camp in time for the sunrise. More springs surrounded by palm and olive trees. After a simple dinner and a weak coffee, it was time to call it a night. We were the only guests there and our host did not speak any English, allowing us to have a very quiet and relaxing time.

In the morning, Karl and I made a strong coffee as our cook was sleeping soundly. It was magical to be in the majestic desert with springs popping up all over the place. Our driver picked us up at 9am and when I got back to the Palm Tree Hotel I felt a little change in my being. The vastness of the desert and the gentle sloshing wind on sand reminded me that I too can be as expansive and peaceful as the desert.

Siwa Oasis

Siwa Oasis, Egypt

The 350 miles trip from Cairo to Siwa Oasis by bus through the night was long. Although it was dark, because the moon was small, I could see that there was only desert on both sides of the road for the last three hours, from Marsa Matruh to the Oasis.

When I arrived at 6am, the dusty main square populated with Berbers perched on donkey carts was not exactly the image of the Oasis that I had formed in my mind. The crumbling Siwa Shali, the ancient fortified home of Siwan families in the past, was also a great surprise to me. It is made with Karsheef, which is clay, salt and sand mixed with water and baked in the sun. I later saw that most of the older houses in the area were made with this material. I was not expecting to find a “cob” town in an Egyptian Oasis, 30 miles from the Libyan border.

Alexander the Great visited Siwa the year after he conquered Egypt in 332BC. He wanted to consult the oracle of Amun, Egypt's famous sun god. Supposedly, he reached the desert by following birds. He wanted to ask the oracle who killed his father. The answer was that his father was not dead and that Amun was his true father, making him an Egyptian Pharaoh. The temple of Amun is located on the Hill of Aghurmi, home of the abandoned fortified village of Aghurmi. I enjoyed walking around this mud building all by myself, as I rode my bike there. But as I was getting ready to leave, a large tour group was coming in.

At first, the town does not seem to justify the two weeks I allotted for this part of the trip, but the days seep away very quickly with numerous trips to the springs, temples, desert, and the long meals at Abud and the East/West restaurants. It is also a very mellow town for Egyptian standards, making it enjoyable to just be at the place and let time slip by.

Some of the five salt lakes look as large as the sea. Fatnas Island is surrounded by a great expanse of salt water and mud flats. The greenish mud is easily noticeable in areas where the water level is low throughout all the lakes. This must have been where the raw material was found for the buildings made with karsheef. By noticing the landscape, it becomes very obvious that this whole area was once part of an extinguished sea, probably from the paleolithic era. This was specially obvious when I took a safari into the Sahara and Bir Wahed hot springs (see separate post about this.)


As a hot springs lover, I rented a bicycle for a week to search for them. Riding on the dirt roads, with thousands of palm trees on both sides, I often passed by donkey carts carrying the local Siwan women. They were always dressed from head to toe, including their faces, and wrapped in traditional tarfottet, a blue embroiled garment. This must be the traditional way women have been dressing for thousands of years. On the rare occasions they were seen unaccompanied by a man, or child (male) they walked in clusters of three or four.

The first hot springs I found, Aman Ykden, five kilometers from town, behind Dakrour mountains, was my favorite. The temperature of the water was perfect and the place very well taken care of. Outside, I could get a massage from the pouring hot water out of the large pipes.

Cleopatra's Bath is the most famous spring because of its historical background. Originally, it was known as 'the Spring of the Sun' and has been mentioned since Herodotus' times. It is believed that Cleopatra enjoyed bathing in the bubbling spring when she visited the oasis to consult the Oracle of Amun. But it was not my favorite as it is a cold spring.

Abu Shrouf spring is 25 miles from town, known as a healing spring. Although the road there was very interesting, with huge expanses of salt water on both sides of the road, there was no one there when I arrived and since I was alone, I didn't want to stay there by myself. So I didn't even go into the water there.

Loffi hot springs was another favorite. Karl, a fellow British traveler and I hired a donkey cart to take the five miles from town, near Fatnas Island. It was already 5pm and I didn't want to cycle in the dark. The feeling of riding a donkey cart back to town in the dark with stars above us, added to the already high state of relaxation we were in after soaking for two hours.


I was very lucky to even have a social life while in Siwa. I met Mona, an Egyptian woman from Alexandria, a PHD student, who was teaching pottery to groups of local women in different communities. Mona knows a mutual friend, Stephan, an Austrian man I met in Dahab. She invited me to join her in some of the pottery classes.

I was mesmerized by the local women without their face veils and seeing how they interact. As they came in, they greeted everyone else in the room by shaking hands before taking their place on the floor where we were working. Some of them had beautiful faces and smiles and they all welcomed me and invited me to return.

In one of our outings, Mona and I were invited by the local sheik to visit his farm, where he was building a karsheef home surrounded by palm trees, olive groves and fruit trees. He also had cows and sheep, housed in a mud compound. It is too bad that karsheef is becoming a way of building for the richer. I've heard that as foreigners buy land and property from locals, the new houses are made of white bricks which is a third of the price of karsheef. That is too bad, because this material is not as cool and it gets very hot in the summer. Besides, this is the way Siwans traditionally built their houses but are not longer able to afford it.

I met Another friend of Stephan, Christine, an English woman who has a house in Siwa; Dirce, a Brazilian woman who lives in Alexandria and is building a house in Siwa. I also hung out with several friends of Mona, her husband, and a French Canadian couple who were staying at the the same hotel as me. We went to the hot springs together, to the Gebel al-Mawta, Mountain of the Dead, a small necropolis from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, saw the sunset at the edge of the sea of sand and had a few meals together at Abud and Siwa Shali Lodge.

On my 12th day in Siwa, Karl said he was going to Alexandria the next day to catch the train to Cairo from there and I decided to join him. I was not in for another all night trip to get out of town, so this was a perfect opportunity to slip out early on a Monday morning. This little Berber community made a strong impression on me and I may return one day.