Visit the Oasis of the Oracle

Siwa is the most remote and, for a long period, most mysterious Egyptian oasis, famous already in ancient times, has preserved its discreet fascination.
Four salt lakes, over 200 springs an more than 200.000 palms trees characterize this oasis unique in Egypte. The town of Siwa was founded at the beginning of the 13th century and the first place was Aghurmi but later the inhabitants decide to build a fortified village to defend themselves against the incursions of wandering tribes of the desert: the new city was named Shali.
In Aghurmi there is the Temple of the Oracle of Amun where one of the most famous oracles of the ancient world resided and in Greco-Roman Times Siwa was known as the oasis of Amun: in 331 BC even Alexander the Great went to Siwa to consult this oracle.
Near the temple there is the most famous hot spring of Siwa called Cleopatra’s spring and further north rises the Gebel Mawta, « the Mountain of the Dead » with some beautifully decorated tombs.
Not far from Shali there is another famous place named Fatna’s Island where the people go to admire the sunset on the border of the Siwa Lake.
South of Siwa between the first dunes of the Great Sand Sea there is a thermal spring named Bir Wahed, the most popular excursion for visitors to the Siwa oasis. In the western side of the oasis there is a magical place named Adrere Amellal « The White Mountain » where there is a famous ecolodge considered among the ten most beautiful in the world.