Marsa Matrouh and Siwa · Siwa
Fatnas Island
A spit of palms in Siwa's salt lake, where people sit down for the sunset.
West of the town a narrow causeway crosses the water to Fatnas, a spit covered in date palms set in the Siwa lake. The lake is salty and shallow, its water stays flat, and at dusk it takes the colour of the sky between the trunks. A café of mats and low tables sits at the far end, with a small spring to dip your feet in. There is nothing else to it: you come for the light and for the hour, not for the place.
The extra bit
Turn up a good half hour before sunset: the causeway is narrow and everyone uses it at the same moment, by bicycle as much as by tuk-tuk. You come back in the dark and there is little lighting: arrange for your tuk-tuk to wait rather than hunting for one on the causeway.
Know before you go
The lake water is too salty for real swimming and the bottom is muddy in places: this is not a beach. The café is a modest affair, its list runs to three lines, and everything is settled in cash. The mosquitoes arrive with dusk, which is to say exactly at the hour you came for: put repellent on before you leave. The causeway is packed earth, fine on foot and by bicycle, awkward with a pushchair, and it has no rail at the water's edge.
