Travel: Alexandra to Siwa

We hammered down a few dunes as you might in a sand buggy, but we were in a 4x4 tank. I hadn’t signed up for the adrenalin, but the peace and beauty so found this a rather tedious diversion.We didn’t have to head out too far into the desert as you get away from the Oasis and it is proper desert. I took a video panorama at one point and for about 270 degrees all you get is sand being baked by the sun, but then you see the oasis: it gave me a slight feeling of what it must have been like for those lost, ragged, thirsty souls when they saw it and ran down the dune to it. Of course this is the only oasis for miles and miles and miles, so most of the ragged souls never got to it.We started at a hot spring 10km away and I would say it was serious desert after less than a quarter if that distance.Some of the dunes were picture postcard stuff Scenes like this made it obvious why it had been dubbed the Great Sand Sea, which starts around the hot springs. Cool as this name is, it is worth stating that the Great Sand Sea is part of the Sahara, the number one name in deserts and clear market leader. It is an appropriately movie looking desert. Even day tripping with 2 and a half litres of water and a 4x4, you realise this is not your environment and you need to be careful to be safe.After dinner I chose the tent option-I’ve two nights coming up Al FrescoDay 62 SiwaWith a day to explore the sights in and around Siwa, I hired a bike and headed off to the Temple of the Oracle. Didn’t ITV’s teletext used to be called Oracle? It classical for them. Anyway, Siwa used to have a famous oracle. Famous enough for Alexander the Great to have made a special trip here to consult it; he never revealed what was said, but it is rumoured it told him he was the son of Zeus (and Sid Waddell would memorably reference him in his Bristow’s only 27 commentary). The Persian King Cambyses sent a force of 50,000 men to destroy the Oracle after it foresaw his downfall. They were consumed by the desert and no trace of them has ever been found.In itself there wasn’t so very much to see, but there were some great views over the oasis.I passed the temple of Umm Ubayda, which is in a pretty bad state after an Ottoman governor blew it up for building materials, and made my way to the Cleopatra spring.