What else? Beyond town there are places you can be buried up to your neck in warm sand – it is said to be therapeutic for arthritis. There are also hot briny ponds, startlingly turquoise in colour, which are good for a mini Dead Sea Experience: the water is so saline, you can only float – in a fun way.
Another, more adrenalin-laden jaunt is to get your guide and your 4×4 and race across the Saharan dunes at the edge of the oasis, where the dates surrender to the desolation. It is a blast, vaulting over the fossil- strewn dunes; it is also, somehow, properly sobering, to think that these sands go on for many thousands of miles, right across the continent to Morocco. After that, I suggest you head over to Cleopatra’s Spring, which has nothing to do with Cleopatra, but is an ancient, lovely, rather swimmable spring-fed pond, hemmed about by relaxed, bean-bag and Berber-rug cafés, which offer delicious date-juice and Nescafé milkshakes.
On my last day, I ask my guide to take me to the ultimate must-see: Alexander the Great’s Oracle. Because, amazingly, it survives, even if its knackered marble pillars have seen better days. Indeed, you can stand in the very room where Alexander stood – and learnt that he was indeed a son of the Egyptian gods, and rightful ruler of the world.
Me? I stand there for at least five minutes, all alone – and I learn nothing at all, but I don’t care, because I have already learnt something precious: Siwa is definitely worth the 10-hour detour. In fact, it is worth many days of travel. It is like nowhere else on Amun-Ra’s greeny-gold earth.
Essentials
Sean Thomas was a guest of Cazenove+Loyd (020 7384 2332; cazloyd.com), which offers tailor-made luxury trips, including four nights in Siwa and two nights each in Cairo and Alexandria, from £7,150pp. International flights extra. The best time to visit Siwa is from October to April.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (gov.uk) advises against non-essential travel to parts of Egypt, but Siwa is not included in this advisory.
Have you journeyed to the Egyptian oasis of Siwa? Please share your experiences in the comments below
Source link : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/africa/egypt/adrere-amellal-hotel-egyptian-desert-mud-hut/
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Publish date : 2023-07-29 07:00:00
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