Siwa
Siwa is from east to west around 80 km long and between 9 and 28 km broad. With only 15,000 people living there is Siwa the smallest oasis. Siwa is different because Siwan people are originally berbers and they still have their own language and traditions. This was possible because of the isolation of Siwa through the centuries. Even though or because of that Siwa has a unique and exciting history.
Like in the other egyptian oases people in Siwa live mainly from agriculture. Siwa is famous for its tasty dates and olives. There are estimated 250,000 palm trees and 40,000 olive trees in Siwa. Besides olives and dates people grow a variety of different fruits, like oranges or figs, as well as vegetables, like tomatoes and onions.
Nowadays Siwan people are not isolated anymore and give visitors a warm welcome. It was not all the time like that. In the last century Siwan people still used to chase away unwelcome desert travellers. But nowadays Siwa offers a variety of facilities to travellers, like more or less comfortable hotels and camps as well as different restaurants and shops. Besides that, visitors could just have a look around for daily life in Siwa or they could visit some different kinds of sights.
Worth a visit is the old city of Siwa, called Shali, the local market place and the Siwan House (small museum about Siwa). Furthermore, Siwa is famous for its tempel of Amoun. This temple was home of the famous oracle of Siwa, which was in ancient times, along with the oracle of Delphi, the most famous oracle. Alexander the great was the most famous visitor of the Siwan oracle. Besides that, there is the bath of Cleopatra, which was also famous in ancient times and in which, according to Siwan people, Cleopatra by herself had a bath (which could be possible since Cleopatra actually visited Siwa). Furthermore there are the ruins of Old Zaitun, the mountain of the deads (gebel mowta) and Fatnas (which is an island in the lake of Siwa). You could also go out to the dunes of Siwa and enjoy a breathtaking sunset....
If you have the chance, visit Siwa because it is always worth a visit and according to my husband Samy is Siwa the most beautiful oasis of Egypt....