Grand Tour of Egypt: Siwa Oasis continued

Our next venture from our pink palace was on bikes, with two people preferring to take the donkey cart taxi option, chatting to us as we rode along. Helmets for bikes are completely unheard of in Siwa but there is so little traffic that perhaps falling off is not an issue. We did see one person in a motorbike helmet but we noticed him because he looked so odd. The weather has been around 15 – 18 degrees since we started our desert adventures, with sometimes a chilly wind, but on this day it was warm and still; at least 20 degrees.
Our first stop was at the mountain of the dead, where there are many excavated tombs from the Ptolemaic era (just after Alexander the Great). Decorations in two of the tombs showed that they had belonged to rich Greeks who worshipped Egyptian gods, with the gods looking slightly different, and wearing Greek influenced outfits. When the Romans came they took over the tombs and buried their dead in the same sites. We saw some bones in one of the tombs but I am not sure if they were official bones or a recent addition. During the war, the Italians were bombing the British at Siwa and the local residents used the tombs as bomb shelters. Mamdoh told us that there was a ritual performed there to help people who could not get pregnant. Part of it was that you took a shower over the top of a mummy and then you would be pregnant within a month. It was said to be effective. This led to some fun speculation amongst our tour members regarding what really happened.
A short ride later we were at the Temple of the Oracle, where Alexander the Great received the news that he was actually a god, which was very handy in taking over Egypt and gaining the support of the populace. The temple was surrounded by ancient village buildings, with some walls intact, but in other places with only the mud brick foundations remained.We had not been overwhelmed by salespeople for some time so it came as a surprise to have a lot of children descend on us insisting that we should buy trinkets and handicrafts from them. The guard had a few stern words with them, which they ignored, however we were all saved by Julio producing a handful of lollies, and then he was caught in a grabbing swarm. Eventually he leapt on his bike and escaped but I heard later that there were some tears, so perhaps some children had missed out.
Whizzing past another temple, with just a glance, we were keyed up to reach our destination - Cleopatra’s Bath. This warm spring water fed an enormous stone pool where the water was so clear that you could see the details of the stones seven metres below. Bubbles rose up. We went upstairs to laze about on cushions on the top floor of the restaurant and sipped on mango and strawberry juice in the sunshine. Some people swam, others lazed about, some ate. There was some concern about covering up for swimming but then eventually some wore t-shirts to the edge and then quickly hopped in and others swam in tops.

In Siwa the main timber used for construction is palm tree trunks. On this shop both the uprights and the rafters are palm trunks. They can be used whole or cut in half.