A Visit to Siwa Oasis - Part V, We Return to Cairo

After a comfortable night's sleep at the Siwa Safari Oasis Hotel, we had another pleasant breakfast and some conversation with proprietor/manager, Suzi, as we paid our bill and checked out.  The hotel was only full on our first night with just a few visitors on the next two nights.  This was an excellent choice for our visit; close to town but not too close.  It is nice to travel here and only have to pay the quoted rate with no additional taxes and fees.  We paid 900 EGP ($30 U.S.) per night for a wonderful double room including breakfast.

We left the hotel about 10:45 a.m.  It was only a short drive before we were clearly out of the oasis and into the desert.

We stopped at the "Smile Market" gas station and convenience store to gas up.  The sign above the window says, more or less, "if you have any complaints, please see the management."

Just two hours into the drive north toward Marsa Matruh, we again reached the "halfway well" rest stop and took advantage of the opportunity to stretch our legs.  The remodeling of the former Mr. Amo Cafeteria had been proceeding at a smart pace over the previous two days.  We noted that the fancy new "coffee shop" ceramic tiles were now fully in place across the front and side of the new addition to the building.  (previous photo on left, below)  I think that I have seen this pattern in some kitchens in Cairo apartments for sale - it has a nice "American breakfast feel" to it.

  

  

As I approached the restrooms, a young man held up a puppy for inspection and invited me to come seem mom and the litter.  She was a bit defensive as I leaned in to count the puppies. She looked like a good mother and seemed to be taking good care of them.

Another couple of hours on the road brought us out of the harsh stone desert, past the camels grazing on sagebrush and into the sheep-herding territory along coast highway 40.  I believe we showed our passports to the security forces four times to get out just as we had to get in to the area.

I had forgotten to mention this prominent piece of sculpture at the junction of the coast highway with the Marsa Matruh - Siwa Oasis road.  I would love to explain the symbolism but have come up empty.  Neither our driver nor our guide had any explanation either. Here is hoping some commenter will explain to us all the meaning of the intertwined, multicolored noodles topped by a disco ball.

The next 100 miles toward el Alamein is sheer agony because of the road construction.  It took close to three hours to cover this route.  Our driver diverted to the south at el Dabaa onto another massive ten-lane freeway that doesn't show up yet on Google maps.  It will be interesting to see if all the development along the el Alamein coastline ever justifies all the road infrastructure.

We cut over to the new road along a decent divided highway and then entered the new ten-lane super freeway via a typical, "go northwest to loop back southeast" junction.  Fortunately there was a Chill Out and Dabaa Mart rest stop at that point.

We stopped at the service plaza which had gas pumps, the convenience store and a mosque.  It has very nice restrooms, lots and lots of snacks as well as tea and other beverages.  Our driver took advantage of the mosque for evening prayer before proceeding.  As Amar says in his 4-star review just below, "It got everything you need for your trip."

 

 

From there it was still almost four hours to reach home, making it close to eleven and a half hours in this direction also.  Our adopted "building cats" were very happy to see us and snuggled up to rest in my travel bag after a much appreciated dinner. That's Spicy on the left and Inky on the right.