Al Fayoum

It has been colder than we (I) imagined Cairo could be. I suffer from the cold more than Peter, so I am wrapped up in up to 4 layers. School is unheated, of course, so teachers march from class to class bundled up in coats, bulky sweaters and boots. We have even turned on the heaters in our AC units at home which helps a bit.  The best antidote for me is shea bin nana (tea with mint) made by stuffing the better part of a mint plant into a tea pot and adding a tea bag. This with a hint of sugar hits that shivery spot.

As there have been some “troubles” in Egypt (a suicide bombing of a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria), we have been keeping close to home (quiet 6^th October); safe and sound on one hand, and a bit cabin (make that palm hut) feverish on the other. So we decided to venture into the countryside for a day trip rather than down into the heart of Cairo. We just went on a short road trip, but what you encounter in a 200 km radius of 6^th October is amazing. 

As usual Peter did his detailed research before we departed. What this means is he spent at least 2 – 3 hours studying Google maps as well as other sources of information making us print outs, section by section of our route, as well as detailed travel suggestions for historic and other sites. My research was way more casual and consisted of chats in the English teachers’ staff room, complete with ways to ask directions in Arabic, Arabic texts to show people if we get lost, and suggestions (make that heated arguments) about where to eat, stop etc. With our combined knowledge, we were set.

We headed in the same direction that we travelled on our school trip to the Arabian Nights resort. The highway is pretty good, all in all – 4 lanes with a barrier in between, so cars and trucks zip along. I was driving today, to keep up my skills (nerves). Our first destination challenge was to find Qarun Lake; a large lake, much loved by Egyptians because it is, well, a lake, and not a desert. We were told that this place had a number of places to eat, but my buddies had directed me to the expensive hotel on the lake that catered to foreigners and had a parking lot with security guards. I have introduced them to the English word “splurge”, so we joked that if we stopped to eat here, this would indeed be a splurge.

fishing boat

Qarun Lake is a bird sanctuary

Spur-Winged Plover

tourist boat for hotel guests

The Auberge Hotel turns out to be historically important as the site where European leaders met after WWI to discuss redividing the Middle East, including parceling out some territories and creating the states of Palestine and Mesapotamia. Egypt was placed under British control at this time, and the French were given Syria and Lebanon. Anyway, clearly this place, although it seems to be in the middle of nowhere, is somewhere to be to make major decisions. We chose this for lunch:

Tahini with Egyptian bread

Bori fish - cooked to perfection!   

  

ducks (live!) for sale

 

We headed towards the city of Al Fayoum (pop: 200,000). My colleagues told me, and Peter’s research confirmed, that there was nothing much to see in this very rural centre. However, being curious Canadians, we still wanted a close up of Egyptian rural life. Of course, Peter’s digging had also uncovered that this part of Egypt was home to the right wing, religiously fuelled, political group, the Muslim Brotherhood. We decided that there would be no stopping during this part of our trip. 

Still, we saw plenty, as we bumped along the narrow, sandy, dirt road. 

farm village

main street of the town of Sanhur

shepherd

A tuk-tuk - a three wheeled dirt-cheap (haha) taxi. Spot the water heater?

 

We looped around and began our return towards Cairo. The Lonely Planet guide told us about a great destination, Karanis, not well developed as a tourist spot, but the site of ruins dating back as early as 300 BC. We stopped, found that the museum was closed on Friday (prayer day), but paid an entrance fee and opted for a walking tour with a military police guide, who was equipped with 10 words of English and a loaded pistol. Off we went. Luckily my 30 words of Arbabic include “fine”, “very fine”, and “wonderful”, which got us off to a good start.   

Over the next hour, we marched briskly from the first site created by the pharaoh Ptolomey II…

columns with hieroglyphic inscriptions

a headless Ptolemy II  

 

…to the agricultural town settled by the Roman emperor Augustus. There were ruins with olive grinding stones, and foundations of houses. Best preserved is the North Temple, built to worship the crocodile gods, Pnephoeros and Peresouchos (The settlers liked to feed the crocodiles in Lake Qarun.)

Roman bathtub

North Temple entrance and vestibule

mummy niche - for crocodiles maybe?

 

The South Temple was built by Greek settlers who came as mercenaries for the Romans.

Gallery of the South Temple.

tourists

 From the heights, we had a wonderful view of the countryside. In the video clip you will hear the afternoon call to prayer from a nearby mosque in the rural town of Karanis. 

During the tour our guide impressed on us that we could not take photos as this is a military site and photos  of military operations and check points in Egypt are strictly forbidden. He had let us “sneak” photos, however, when our position was shielded from the watchful gaze of the military surveillance duty officers. As the tour ended, people came out of the woodwork including a few of these other military officers, and an old peasant man. They were clearly gearing up for their “baksheesh”, or bribe. With none of our Egyptian colleagues to help us fend off these kinds of situations, Peter passed around some bills. The flurry to include others in this pay-off did not stop until we got into our car, locked the door and gunned away. 

We had had an eye-opening day, for sure, one full of histories from the mighty to the lowly. All of these images and experiences reminded us that we are far from home and that things here are rarely what they seem to be as we view them through our Western eyes.