A Visit to Siwa Oasis - Part IV, We Experience the Culture

For our second day in Siwa, we had originally discussed a day in the desert.  We decided to put that plan aside and instead see more of the town and immediate surroundings.  We headed downtown to the Traditional Siwa House Museum located on the grounds of the public library, not far from the town square.

This small museum had a wonderful native host on duty as we entered.  The collection of Siwan artifacts is impressive and well documented.

  

 

A map drawn from a 1929 survey shows locations of the 200+ springs in the oasis at the time.

  

 

This brief description of historic Siwa is worth a closer look.

 

A collection of local crafts includes baskets, silver jewelry and clothing. We learned that silver- smithing is no longer a lucrative vocation in Siwa and so gold jewelry is now the standard, as it is in the rest of Egypt.

  

 

 

  

 

One of the more interesting crafts on exhibit are the wooden chests used to collect items for future brides.  We also saw these for sale in the local market.

 

The museum is laid out in the form of a home with an "oven room" and "winter room."  Construction shows the combined use of local materials consisting of palm logs and the karshef  made from salt and clay.

 

  

 

  

 

Leaving the Siwa House, we glanced at the library which contains primarily Arabic language works but also a very limited collection of English language items.

  

 

Out in the courtyard, a worker was busy climbing the date palms to pollinate them with the pollen from the heart of palm.

    

 

After touring the museum, we went back to the town square and sat with tea and soft drinks for a while and watched people coming and going.

 

We then headed over to the Shaly Bazaar to shop and enjoyed the displays of various crystals.  Colorful bags and baskets were also available as well as those "hope chests" we'd seen in the museum.

  

 

 

 

While looking for place for lunch, we stumbled upon the Albabenshal Hotel, a highly rated hotel, with a unique dining area.

  

    

 

Early in the afternoon, we came upon another of Siwa's interesting resources, a retired corporate employee who has taken up life in this much slower-paced part of the world.  There are apparently a small but growing number of people who have discovered Siwa and its relaxed pace. We were having an interesting talk with her at the restaurant and then she very graciously invited us to her home for more tea and conversation. Anxious to see a local apartment and continue the conversation, we readily accepted her invitation.

Back at the Siwa Safari Gardens, we enjoyed the atmosphere of the outdoor coffee lounge before heading off to our final dinner in Siwa.  On the way to dinner shortly after sunset, we noticed the prominent crescent moon with nearby brightly shining planets Jupiter and Venus.  Back home in Minnesota, we knew this view was obscured by a large blizzard dumping much snow on the Midwest.

 

We chose the top-rated Ola Restaurant just off the town square and found it to be properly rated as number one in the Oasis.

  

 

The menu is extensive and varied.   Prices are reasonable with few entrees costing over 150 EGP ($5, U.S.)

    

 

I wanted to try the arrabbiata pasta to see just how angry it was (not very) and since I had ordered a pasta dish as an entree, I had enough pasta for a week.  The lentil soup came with both lemon and pita croutons for which I give it the "best of the trip" award.  Linda tried the "Special" Onion's Meat and found it to be excellent.

  

  

After dinner, we retired once again to a coffee/tea shop on the square.  Our timing was fortuitous.  We were there on Friday evening, the traditional day for weddings.  Throughout the next two hours, three wedding parties cruised through the square with the traditional celebratory horn-honking, shouting and display of fireworks.  Perhaps one of the parties comprised the group we had seen at Cleopatra's pool on the previous day.

 

The only downside to watching the wedding celebrations was that the owner of the coffee shop was off at one of the weddings and only he knew how to prepare the cafe latte that Linda ordered.  The barista on duty had to phone his dad at the wedding for step-by-step instructions.  It turned out fine.

 

Late in the evening, we wandered across the square to the date and olive store at the corner of the Saly Bazaar and shopped for gifts to take home from Siwa.  Although Siwa is particularly known for four different variety of dates, they sell close to a dozen varieties from various other date producing countries. Sampling is a pleasure and we concur with the recommendation of at least two others in the shop on the top-rated date.

Olives are also available in abundance at this store. Olives to the ceiling!

Earlier in the day, at the Siwa House Museum, we had learned about the agricultural basis to the Siwan economy.

As usual, there are more photos available at this link to our Flickr Album.