Travel Inspiration for Charging into the Work Week from Fayoum, Egypt

Rather loving this shot I captured in Fayoum, Egypt of the Shepherd and his flock.

 

Always amazed by a shepherd's guidance over his flock.

 

Thought I’d share it as a little inspiration as we all charge into our work week.

#FriFotos ~ Spring in Full Bloom on Egypt’s Red Sea

Red Sea Beauty

 

Purring as I reflect back on the beauty of the Red Sea and of the flowers that I saw here and in the Village of Tunis in Fayoum.  Truth be told, had I taken photos of the beautiful flowers cascading over the walls in Fayoum, then I am sure that those are the photos that I would be sharing with you all now.  Smiling at the memory of them.  So very beautiful!

 

So dangerously beautiful, you can't help but want to return.

 

Thanks for the #FriFotos excuse to share and reflect on these images.

 

PS. In Full Disclosure: As always, the opinions and thoughts shared here are our own and honest ones. We are bought out by no one. In the spirit of disclosure, it should be noted that on this trip, our expenses were paid by Egyptian Tourism, as a guest to the country and the UNWTO Media and Tourism Conference.

‘Anthro… What?’ from the Road to Fayoum

*Updated with the answer. Congratulations to Giulia Cimarosti of Travel Reportage and Kathlyn Clore for figuring it out.*

Was booting down the road to Fayoum, Egypt today (love that I can say that) and I saw these structures.  I was curious as to what these were, as their architecture wasn’t quite like anything I’d seen from the Egyptian homes. So we hopped out of the landrover and a closer look.

 

 

So do you know what these are, if not homes?  Any guesses?  We will post hints on facebooktwitter and google+, until someone guesses their actual purpose.

 

Your first hint?  These structures go on for miles and miles.

 

The Answer:

So what are these communities of seemingly empty structures, sitting in the desert like a ghost town?  Well, the term ‘ghost town’ is quite fitting for them, as this is Fayoum’s City of the Dead.  In essence it is a great big cemetery of family plots, set up in a dense grid of tomb and mausoleum structures. Our guide was unsure if people of Muslim, Christian or Jewish decent were buried here, or if the cementery was multi-denominational, although we suspect it was.

 

PS. In Full Disclosure: As always, the opinions and thoughts shared here are our own and honest ones. We are bought out by no one. In the spirit of disclosure, it should be noted that on this trip, our expenses were paid by Egyptian Tourism, as a guest to the country and the UNWTO Media and Tourism Conference.