To book an excursion or hotel email steven@marsaalam.com or telephone Steven on +20 1284332337.
This guide was recommended (January 2015) on the
blog.From your hotel the small historic town of El Quseir (population approx 40,000 ) makes for a great half or full day excursion. El Quseir is the Red Sea's oldest port and dates back to Pharaonic times and has a fascinating but largely forgotten history.
The fishing harbour's narrow side streets lead up to an area of tourist bazars flanking the main street, Sharia Gomhuriya, which ascends to an unmissable and impressive Ottoman citadel.
Steven's limousine Service offers to pick you up from your hotel just after lunch and take you back after sunset. The two way journey (as of summer 2019 ) from most hotels (excluding only the few which lie a long way south of Marsa Alam) is just 55 euro for a trip, meaning that for three passengers it would be less than 19 euros for each person..
You can easily save that money and more on the shopping prices in town which are much cheaper than inside the hotels. For more information email steven@marsaalam.com.
THE CASTLE
The fort of El Quseir lies on high ground in what is now the centre of town. Coming from Marsa Alam jump out of your taxi near the petrol station and then it's a five minute walk up the hill. Coming the other way from Safaga you can't miss it as you follow the one way main road in to town.
French cannon on the ramparts .Copyright - MarsaAlam.com
Your attention is immediately arrested by the muzzels of two potruding cannon. Brought by the French to protect the town and harbour, they now overlook visitors as they shop in the bazaars beneath. Only one of them is actually of French manufacture, the other is probably of Dutch origin.
The castle was originally built by Sultan Selim I in 1517 (those guide books which state 1571 forget that Selim I was long dead by then ) to protect what was Egypt's most important port on the Red Sea. El Qusier means "the short" in Arabic and probably the town earned this name because it was the port allowing inland pilgrims to make the shortest journey possible from the Nile valley to Mecca.
El Quseir's strategic importance derived from it being located close to an ancient route from the Red Sea to the Luxor area via the Wadi el Hammamat - a twisting valley which cuts a snake like path through the mountains of Egypt's Eastern Desert.
Haj pilgrims would leave their camels and horses at the castle before embarking by ship for Mecca. The port also served as a vital entrepot for Egypt's trade with Arabia and Asia and was a major transhipment point for the spice trade on the route to Europe.
It was in the late sixteenth century, at the same time the castle was built, that the town centre of El Quseir moved from its' original site, which was near the modern Movenpick hotel, to its' current location around the fort and harbour.
In 1799 the French, who had sent a military expedition to Egypt under the command of General Napoleon, seized the fort, built a tall viewing platform ( now rebuilt), widened the ramparts and added a number of cannon, some of which can still be seen. They also left a garrison of some one hundred soldiers.
In August of the same year the fort's enhanced defences withstood a three day assault by two British 32 gun frigates, HMS Daedalus and HMS Fox which fired an estimated 6,000 cannonballs at it. However, before retreating, these two battleships caused major breaches to the walls, especially in the area close to the main entrance.
The British twice attempted landings in order to destroy the drinking wells of the city but were forced to withdraw in the face of heavy cannon and musket fire and lost one cannon in the surf which may subsequently have been added to the fort's own battery of guns.
In June 1801 the fort was finally abandoned by the French army when an army of some 6000 British and Indian soldiers, under General Baird, landed at El Quseir. This force then crossed the Eastern Desert in a ten day march at the height of summer to capture Qena on the Nile. A feat which helped to hasten the final surrender of French forces in September.
In 1816 the fort was used as a base for Muhammad Ali Pasha's wars against Arabia but after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, its' strategic significance was considerably diminished. However, it remained in use as a base for the Egyptian coast guard until 1975.
At the main gate you can buy a 30LE ticket ( price as of 2018 - equivalent to about 1.70 euros ) which gains you access to the entire fort ( open daily from 0900 to 1700 ) which includes several small exhibits of the area's history, shipbuilding, phosphate mining and Bedouin life and traditions. You can also climb the stairs of the central watchtower which gives you magnificent views over the town and harbour.
But there is a lot more to El Quseir than the castle.
MARKETS AND SHOPS
The town offers a large number of traditional tourist friendly bazaars along Sharia Al Gomhuriya which lies below the castle selling the usual array of papyrus, alabaster statues, t shirts and leather goods etc. However there as also some fascinating local markets, especially on a Friday, to which the Ababda and Ma'aza Bedouin and other local farmers bring their produce.
El Quseir market and various street scenes
May 2010 - 9.15 mins - 17,000+ views
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
El Qusier is a place where Muslims and Christians work and live alongside each other and while there are 33 mosques including the Faran Mosque with its' minaret dating back to 1704. The town is also home to a thousand Coptic Christians and it has the only church for over 100 km in any direction.
The Coptic Church of St. Mary (previously named St Barbara's - after the patron saint of miners) stands close to the sea, less than a ten minute walk north from the town centre. It was completely rebuilt in 2008 but houses some beautiful paintings on its' walls. The original building, which fell into disrepair, had been established by the Italian Red Sea Phosphate mining company in 1920 as a Catholic church.
The town also has shrines to a number of eminent Muslims who died while undertaking the haj. Perhaps best known is the nineteenth century shrine of Abdel Ghaffaar Al Yemeni, which can be found opposite the castle on Sharia Al Gomhuriya in a niche in a wall.
RELAXING BY THE CORNICHE AND BEACH.
There's a lot more to El Quseir than the castle and shopping. It's a great place to relax and observe the Egyptian way a life.
Jan 2017 - 6.29 mins - 36+ likes - 5,300+ views
Those who wish to chill out or relax after a hard day's sightseeing, should make for the fishing harbour which has two small but quiet beaches nearby and a great seafood restaurant, Al Fanoos, opposite the car park deservedly popular with Egyptians. Here you can enjoy a great meal at a table right on the beach.
Also surrounding the harbour (please see map) are the Faran and Sidi Abd El Rahim mosques and behind the old police station (originally either an Ottoman council chamber or custom house), the old quarantine hospital built during the reign of Sultan Selim II ( 1566 - 1574 ) and the old granary ( which in the nineteenth century stored wheat for shipment to the Arabian peninsular. ) Flowing the other way into the port from Arabia came coffee, pepper, incense and spices from as far away as the East Indies, some of which prior to 1868 and the completion of the Suez canal was probably then exported through the Mediterranean port of Alexandria to Europe.
El Quseir's corniche, known as Sharia Port Said, which runs both north and south west from the harbour is flanked by numerous narrow alleyways lined by old houses with wooden balconies and brightly painted doors. Amid this arthitectual mix you can also find a number of small cafes and restaurants which line the beach on the south western side of the harbour.
Surprisingly you won't normally find many tourists in this part of El Quseir but it's a rewarding area to stroll around, watch the fishermen and forget the worries of the world.
ANCIENT EL QUSEIR - THE ROMAN RUINS.
Around 8km north of the city centre lie the remains of an ancient port. Some historians claim that during the Roman period this was the port of Myos Hormos ('Mussel Harbour') and others that it was Leukos Limen ('White Harbour'). Nowadays many people refer to it by its' Arabic title El Quseir El Qadima.
During the first century AD a fleet of around 120 ships (according to the Greek geographer Strabo) exported pottery, slaves (mostly from Europe) including "singing boys", wine and precious minerals to India and East Africa and returned with imports of stone, silk and spices for the Roman empire.
The imports would have then been transported by a six day camel journey to Koptos (now called Qift) and then floated up the Nile river to Alexandria and subsequently onward by ship to Europe.
Unfortunately today the ancient harbour has long silted up and all that remains of the former port are a few of the ancient foundations although a lot of imported ancient artifacts of Indian and Chinese origin have been found in the area and offshore there are the sparse remains of a Roman shipwreck lying some 65 metres deep in the water.
Myos Hormos was also the same place from where in 1493 BC Queen Hatshepsut ( 1508 - 1458 BC ) sent an expedition of five ships and some 200 sailors to the land of Punt (Eritrea/Somalia area) 1600 km (or 1000 miles ) away. They returned, up to a year later, with many precious goods including ivory, ebony and frankincense. The story of the voyage is depicted on the walls of her temple at Luxor.
It may also have been the port from where Phoenecian sailors set sail in 600 BC and returned via the Mediterranean (according to the ancient historian Herodotus) completing what may have been the first circumnavigation of Africa.
The opening of a rail route linking Suez with Alexandria in 1858 and subsequently the opening of the Suez canal in 1869 finished El Quseir's position as a transhipment point on the European-Asian trade routes. Around 90 per cent of its' population left and by 1900 El Quseir had become a ghost town with less than a thousand inhabitants.
However the world demand for agricultural fertilizers provided renewed demand for labour when in 1916 the Italian Red Sea Phosphate Company started mining operations in the area. The company's derelict warehouses can still be seen by the coast - about a ten minute walk north from the harbour area.
Workers were drawn from all over Egypt but conditions were hard and as newer more cost efficient mines opened and environmental concerns about the damage of phosphate ore dust to the coral reefs and human health mounted, many of the El Quseir mines closed.
In the 1990s El Quseir found a new economic lifeline - as it started to attract divers and other tourists wishing to avoid the crowds of Sharm El Sheikh and looking for virgin unspoiled areas. Fortunately the town itself has remained free of the large scale resorts and construction that might have otherwise destroyed its' quiet charm.
DID YOU KNOW ?
DISASTERS THAT ALMOST FINISHED EL QUSEIR
1. The Black Death. Archaeologists researching the area around Quseir El Qadima can find little evidence of any acitivity in the area during the Fifteenth century. The plague was probably brought by rat infested ships in late 1348 or early 1349. Originally historians thought the plague entered Egypt on grain ships via Alexandira, but it could equally have arrived on ships from Asia docking at El Quseir and then via the caravan routes to the Nile Valley. Historians claim that perhaps 40 per cent of Egypt's population died in the next few years - an even higher percentage than in most of Europe.
2. The Suez canal in 1869. During the first half of the nineteenth century El Quseir enjoyed the economic blessing of being the most easily accessed Egyptian Red Sea port from the Nile Valley. Before 1858, and the completion of a rail route between Suez (also located on the Red Sea some 270 miles further north) and Alexandria (on the Mediterranean), the town was a crucial link and transhipment point on the trade routes linking Europe with Asia via the Mediterranean, Nile Valley and the Red Sea. Prior to the completion of the canal in 1869, the only alternative to this route had been by a long perilous ocean voyage around Africa's Cape of Good Hope. The town was also the major port for pilgrims travelling to Mecca and for the export of Egyptian grain to Arabia. But with the construction of first the Suez railway and then the canal, the port could no longer compete as both merchants and pilgrims (except a few from Upper Egypt) preferred the convenience and speed of travelling by Suez. The economy of the town collapsed, with its' population plummeting by 90 per cent, only about 800 people remaining by the mid 1870s.
3. The Great Egyptian famine of 1784 and a another famine in 1863 saw sharp falls in the population as food became scarce and the death rate surged and desperate people migrated back to rural areas. In 1863, the Egyptian government also halted grain exports to Arabia which had flowed primarily through the port in an attempt to reduce the shortages, but while this may have helped to limit the impact of the famine across Egypt, it was a devastating economic blow for the town.
BUDGET ACCOMMODATION IN TOWN
As of September 2020 there was not a lot of ultra cheap places on offer except possibly one flat on Airbnb five minutes walk from the beach and asking just £14 a night (including the service fee) - but the following seemed reasonable value.
The El Quseir Hotel on the corniche (Sharia Port Said) just north of the fishing harbour (see map). It's a restored former merchant's house with a lovely wooden staircase and has six spacious, if basic, rooms with clean shared bathrooms. Try to get a room with a sea view and watch the sun rise ! You might be surprised to learn that despite its affordability, from around £143 (single) or £180 (double) a week as of late September 2020, it has the highest rating of all 10 hotels in the El Quseir area on Booking.com based on some 80 reviews scoring an impressive 9.3 out of 10 points and now boasting 24 hour front desk, room service and free wifi throughout the building. Its also worth checking in case they might have better prices for the hotel on Airbnb. They have a Facebook page on which they post occasionally and you can contact them either via email - elquseirhotel@gmail.com or tel +20 1033140049.
Another popular choice is The View, El Quseir with a superb rating of 9.2 on Booking.com (based on 6 reviews) offering clean modern self-catering apartments ranging in size from 55 sqm to 140 sqm for 2 to 4 people at prices starting from around 20 euro a night. In addition to a kitchen and shower room, each apartment also comes equipped with a washing machine, flat screen TV and air conditioning. There is wifi access in all areas.
About 3 km from the centre in the northern suburbs of the town is Egyptian House providing fairly spacious rooms for three with kitchen, fridge, satellite TV and a terrace. For availability, prices and to book a room please check the hotel's page on Booking.com.
LUXURY ACCOMMODATION OUT OF TOWN
There are a number of four and five star hotels located close to El Quseir, including the Movenpick just 8km north of the town centre and the much cheaper and in our opinion better value five star Dreams Beach Resort located 27km ( a twenty minute drive ) south of the town.
If you want information on an El Quseir excursion please email steven@marsaalam.com.
Dutch cannon may predate French occupation.
Another cannon inside the castle grounds.
El Quseir is perfect for getting a feel for the 'real Egypt.'
Apr 2010 - 2.48 mins - 46+ likes - 18,600+ views
Exploring little known sites in El Quseir - inc St. Mary's, the Faran mosque and the old phosphate factory.
Dec 2017 - 3.44 mins - 11+ likes - 650+ views
First three cannon photos Creative Commons C. A Hickson, the Last photo from Wikimedia Commons.
Some great beaches lie close to the town, though some of the best are on the property of nearby hotels.
Source. J Hutsch 2008 Creative Commons for more details see Wikimedia Commons.
Inside El Quseir fort with the watchtower left hand side.
Creative Commons - Source Wikimedia Commons.
A fascinating mix of architecture in the old town.
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MAP 1 - SATELLITE MAP OF EL QUSEIR TOWN AREA AND THROUGH ROUTES - 2013.
MAP 2 - SATELLITE MAP OF EL QUSEIR OLD TOWN AND HARBOUR
( can take a minute or so to download )
A HISTORY OF "KOSEIR" (EL QUSEIR) BY CARL B. KLUNZINGER (1878)
Annotations added to the original text are in blue italics.
The prosperity of the place increased to an unusual degree; almost all the trade between Egypt and Arabia went through Koseir, every year there passed about 30,000 pilgrims (12,000 going to Meccah, 18,000 returning), and among them many men of rank and wealth from the whole Mohammedan (sic) world. Numerous inns served for the reception of these pilgrims, though the greater number of them encamped in the open air or in tents; all around the town a still larger town of tens was pitched. The passage of this multitude of people, who could leave Koseir only by ship or camel, occupied nearly nine months of the year. If it is considered also that every day several hundreds, nay thousands of camels arrived from the Nile valley, that another hundred or two hundred or two brought water from the mountains and were quartered in the neighbourhood, and also that the Ababdeh settlement outside the town numbered about 200 persons, a conception may be formed of how busy a scene the town and environs must have been.
Hundreds of vessels entered the harbour every month; for the transport of contributions of grain, and perhaps also for certain warlike purposes, the Egyptian government itself possessed seven large three masted vessels of European build, of from 4,000 to 7,000 Ardeb burden, with European captains and officers, as well as eleven one-masted vessels of Arabic build; but even these were not sufficient, and had to be always supplemented by many ships hired from private persons.
Under Abbas Pasha ( ruled Egypt 1848 to 1854 ), and up to the beginning of the government of Said ( Muhammad Sa'id ruled Egypt 1854 to 1863 ), Koseir still continued to flourish. An English company undertook to lay a submarine telegraph to India, and in the Red Sea it was run along the west coast. At Suez, Koseir, Suakin, Massowa and Aden stations were established, with four or five Europeans attached to each. After steamers had become less common at Koseir, in consequence of the establishment of the overland route to India by way of Suez, they were again often seen, being partly engaged in the laying of the cable, partly in bringing supplies for the employees, who were allowed to want for nothing belonging to English comfort. These well-paid individuals also spent their money freely and brought no little life into the town - a subject spoken of long after. While these Englishmen were staying at Koseir, the massacre of Christians at Jeddah (on the other side of the Red Sea in Arabia) took place in 1858. A war steamer sent by the English for the purposes of observation and giving its security to its subjects created a panic, but in peaceful Koseir there was nothing to avenge. The telegraph soon began to cease to work; when a thorough inspection of it was made, the cable was found to be damaged throughout; the coral rocks had chafed it; and after scarcely two years the telegraph was entirely given up.
The severest blow, however, and one from which it has not yet recovered, was received by Koseir in the same year (1858) - the railway between Cairo and Suez was completed. By this means the traffic, including the pilgrims, was almost entirely removed to Suez, for which Said Pasha ( Muhammad Sa'id ) had as great a favour as Mohammed Pasha ( Mohammed Ali ) had had for Koseir; all kinds of advantages were granted for it, the Meccah pilgrims must go by way of Suez to make the (railway) line pay, and the dachire was managed at Suez. It thus happened that Koseir was deserted by the greater number of its inhabitants almost at once, and it sunk more quickly than it had risen.
Koseir only retained the grain trade with the Hedjaz ( the western portion of the Arabian peninsula then under Ottoman rule ), which, however, was of some importance, and sufficient to prolong the life of the town. The profit from the pilgrims became rather negative than positive, as with the exception of a few persons from Upper Egypt it was generally none but begging pilgrims that took this route, over the whole of which they could beg. The number of the government employees was greatly diminished, that of the inhabitants sank to 1,500, whole streets were deserted and fell into ruins. But still more blows fell. The year 1864 was a year of scarcity, and in order to some degree to lessen this the export of grain was strictly prohibited by an edict of Ismail Pasha ( ruled Egypt 1863 to 1867 ). For the town, this was a mortal injury. The prohibition was so sudden and unexpected that a large quantity of grain had already been stored up. A deputation of merchants to the government received the answer that of the 11,000 ardeb of grain found to be in the town 8,000 might be exported, as the corn could not be taken back again to the Nile Valley, 3,000 were to remain in the place in order to support the inhabitants for six months.
After the year of scarcity the trade again went on, but no longer as formerly. The prices of grain, like the prices in Egypt generally, were no longer so low as formerly, and the costs of transport and customs dues made them still higher for the opposite coast. Hitherto, Father Nile had almost exclusively supplied arid Arabia with corn; but now the Euphrates and Tigris, even the Indus and Volga, began a dangerous rivalry. By the steamers, which, since the opening of the Suez canal, traverse the Red Sea in great and increasing numbers, grain can now be brought to the Arabian sea-ports from the distant but cheap countries on the above-named fertile streams at a lower rate than is possible for the Egyptians. Occasionally, in years of extraordinary abundance, or when high prices rule in these countries, a short period of improvement is again induced, but after those injuries formerly received mainly at the hands of the government, the town is now in the condition of a sick person wasting away through some internal complaint; it can neither live nor die, but every year becomes worse and weaker, and will hardly as such last more than half a score years.
The government has, to be sure, given it a strengthening medicine by causing the dachire to be again exported from Koseir, after finding that the Suez route was too expensive; but the contribution now amounts to only 24,000 ardeb, far from sufficient to bring about any improvement. The remaining trade, exclusive of the grain trade, is also too insignificant to keep up the town; and while the sources of income are drying up, taxes are enormously increasing; provisions, being generally brought from a distance, are usually higher (in cost) than in the Nile Valley, to which must be added the cost of water, amount to a considerable household from 1s 6d to 6 shillings a day. At present, therefore, everybody is now leaving his native town, formerly so dear, and the population can now scarcely amount to more than 800.
The history of the town of Koseir, as we received it from the mouths of natives, we have given in some detail, partly because it is not uninteresting in itself, partly because it shows what an ephemeral existence the waterless sea-ports on the Red Sea have and always had. Even Suez is not secure against a blow to its prosperity, in spite of its canal. Some time ago the project was brought forward of bringing the traffic which passes Egypt through the canal, and brings nothing to the country, more into the country itself, and on the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea a good harbour which could easily be provided with fresh water was sought for. The harbour was then to be connected by a railway with another railway to be constructed in the Nile Valley, and it was hoped that at least a portion of the trade with India would be attracted to this quicker route, much in the same way as the route to Egypt via Brindisi (southern Italy) is often preferred to that via Marseilles (France) or Trieste (northern Italy). All these advantages, it was believed, were to be found in the good harbour of the anciently celebrated town of Berenice (70 miles south of Marsa Alam), but the project was quite given up.
Perhaps recourse may once more be had to the unfortunate town of Koseir, which, though it neither has yet a good harbour nor yet fresh water, possesses the advantage of being near the Nile Valley, of being connected to this via a road along which a road might easily be constructed. A good harbour would be found at Shurum, 18 or 19 miles further south, and the want of water might be remedied by cisterns.
View from El Quseir Fort's high viewing tower looking towards the sea.
PORTRAIT OF THE TOWN, ITS POPULATION AND MARKETS ETC. C. 1870
(From Karl B. Klunzinger - Upper Egypt: Its People and Products, Scribner, Armstrong & Co. New York, 1878, pp. 277-281. )
The picture of our sea-port town essentially resembles that which we have already drawn of a provincial town of Upper Egypt ( see Chap 1. ), but many Arabic elements from the Hedjaz also present themselves. Here also the houses are generally of one story and built of sun-dried bricks, and they stand in straight rows, the streets being remarkably clean. A few handsome government buildings of stone, some mosques and sheik-cupolas, rise above the other houses, and the whole is commanded by a citadel occupying a considerable area, but of no use for modern warfare. On Sundays and feast days many flags are hoisted. In the foreground, lies the bay with the shipping, in the back-ground rise picturesquely the mountains of the desert.
THE POPULATION
The population, as in other sea-ports, is remarkable for the diversity of races it exhibits, while here also there is a still more striking diversity of colours. The chief body consists of the free proud offspring of sacred Arabia, who for the sake of gain have bowed themselves under the rigorous spectre of Egypt, and have accustomed themselves to behave like the submissive slaves of the land of the Pharaohs. These "Yembauiyeh" or Bedouins as they like to be called, still continue to look proudly down upon the Fellahin. They love to clothe themselves in bright and gay-coloured attire instead of the blue blouse of the Fellah; round their heads they wear a bright-coloured cloth which hangs down over their shoulders behind; their naked feet carry thick sandals. These Yembauiyeh are generally connected with the shipping, especially as owners, captains and sailors. The Egyptians are more important numerically; they are the petty traders, artisans and porters, though many are also excellent sailors, or have become merchants and ship-owners. The greater number have come from Upper Egypt, only the younger having been born in the place. There are also a number of Copts among them. Of genuine Turks there are only the governor and a few officials; the half-dozen soldiers in garrison are of Turkish descent, but have been born in the place and are quite Arabified.
The negro slaves form an essential constituent in the population, acting mostly as sailors. To these are to be added - besides the deep-brown Upper Egyptians - the almost black Ababdeh (Ababda - an ethnic group inhabiting eastern Egypt and the Sudan), so that the prevailing shade of colour among the people of this place is very dusky. In keeping with the etiquette of the neighbouring holy land, the women here are more strict than elsewhere in closely veiling themselves. When ladies of position arrive by sea they are not put ashore until late at night, and also when they come from the desert they choose the night for their arrival if possible. Men whose business takes them to both shores of the sea alternately like to keep a legitimate wife on each side.
THE MARKETS
In the town we have a bazaar in which the retail dealers, in their primitive booths, sell the products of three quarters of the globe, and the Red Sea to boot, such a coffee, frankincense, pepper, ginger, rice, tobacco for the hookah, crushed dates in skins, cocoa-nuts, fancy wooden boxes, and textile fabrics from the East; oil, sugar, rice, dried dates, tobacco, pipe-bowls, camel travelling-bags, shoes, wooden utensils and fruits from the Nile Valley; textile fabrics, cigar paper, lucifer-matches, tapers, tin, metal plates, and porcelain dishes from Europe; plaited-leather thongs, leather pouches, confectionery, bread and biscuit as industrial products of the town itself; and, lastly, dried fish, dried molluscs, the opercula of the molluscs, cuttle-fish bones, porcelain shells (Cypraea), shells of the pearl mussel, and other shells from the sea. Here too, the broker runs up and down the market with all kinds of auction-wares; clothing, amber mouth-pieces for pipes, carpets, chairs, goats, sheep, asses and camels. Large objects for auction, such as boxes, trunks, and other furniture, are exposed in other parts of the market-place, and if they cannot be sold they remain all night under the charge of the night-watchman that sleep there.
The wood-market is provided by the Ababdeh with the excellent wood of the acacia and other trees of the desert, as well as with wood charcoal, and by ships with same articles from the opposite shore (Arabia), or with shora-wood. A very cheap fuel, and one in general use, is also brought hither by the Bedouins, viz, balls of camels' dung in sacks, collected on the caravan road; they also occasionally bring all kinds of desert plants as fodder for cattle. At other times, the cattle kept in the town receive the bran arising from the grinding of grain, barley, among the grain-dealers only wheat, and always beans, without which they do not thrive; the latter take the place that oats occupy in other regions.
ITS WATER SUPPLIES
The peculiarity of our town is the water market. Every morning arrives a stately water caravan with a supply for the wants of the citizen from the springs and wells of the desert. The better springs are from 8 to 10 leagues distant (24 to 30 miles or 39 to 48 km distant). Each camel carries six tanned goatskins, which are always rubbed with oil after being used in order to keep them from cracking with the heat from the sun on the up journey.... The water is brought partly by Bedouins, partly by inhabitants of the town itself, who make that their special trade. They require at least two nights and one day, the Bedouins three days. Some of the townspeople who have a large household keep special camels for carrying the water. The water being dear, a full goat-skin, which is by no means large, always costs from half a franc to 2 francs; it is dearer than usual at the pasture season, when the camels are sent into the Nile Valley, and only those of the Bedouins remain, and also at the time when many pilgrims are in the town. Government officials get their water paid for or delivered by the government; several water camels are the orders of the governor. The poorer people provide themselves with water from less remote springs, but these are all saline, bitter and hard. The domestic animals are watered with springs in the closest proximity to the town; this water is still worse, and is just drinkable for human beings only for a few months after a fall of rain.
MORE PHOTOS
The castle is a paradise for cannon spotters.
The high tower to the left and French quarters built up against the ramparts right.
You can see the wagons which until recently miners had to push loaded with phosphate.
The high tower to the left and French quarters built up against the ramparts right.
The fort's cannon overlook a row of tourist bazaars.
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