The Blue Lotus

We are off to enjoy an ancient Egyptian style meal prepared just for us at the Blue Lotus guesthouse. We are to be served the same foods depicted on the wall reliefs we saw in Saqqara inscribed 4,500 years ago.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Below is a picture of Bak and his infant daughter. They greeted us as we arrived at the Blue Lotus. Bak and his wife run the guesthouse mostly for visiting archaeologists working in the area. They rent a room and Bak's wife cooks for them. Our group was very lucky to have such an outstanding cook and host.

This is Bak's wife and daughter. I do not remember either of their names. Bak's wife is an incredible hostess, cook and bakes wonderful bread (more about that later). The baby is wearing kohl around her eyes. I was told that it helps to keep the flys away and makes eyelashes grow long and thick. It certainly makes her look exotic.

We spent some time, before lunch was served, getting acquainted with Bak and relaxing in his back yard. One thing Bak has been doing for several years is growing the real (and rare) blue lotus. The blue lotus is a symbol of modern Egypt and the government has to issue a special permit to grow this rare plant. Bak has several growing in his back yard. Here are some photos and a photo of some of the flowers dried and mounted on papyrus.

This is a shot of the pond in the backyard where the Blue Lotus are cultivated.

A close-up of a lotus blooming.

Lunch was outstanding and we all thoroughly enjoyed the food. My personal opinion was that it was the best meal I had the whole time I was in Egypt.

The room through the arched doorway is the kitchen. Bak's wife (and her sisters) had been cooking for hours before we arrived. Everything was fresh and tasted wonderful.

After lunch Bak took us on a tour of the surrounding farmland. We got a close-up look at things we had only seen in from the window of our bus. Bak is also a farmer and was able to answer many of our questions. Yes, that is the step pyramid you can see in the background.

A young farmer continuing a family tradition of tending to the land.

Generations through the millennia.

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Like on small farms everywhere in the world, everyone helps.



When we returned from our walk to Bak's house; we passed an outdoor beehive-shaped oven in the backyard. It looked just like the ovens we had seen painted on the walls of the tombs. As we stood around talking about it, Bak's wife came out, fired up the oven and baked some flat bread as we watched. She had baked all the bread we were served at lunch in this very oven. I got some pictures of her showing us how she bakes the family bread every day. What a great experience. I think she was a little overwhelmed with our enthusiasm over what she thought of as an ordinary event. She and her husband were so welcoming and hospitable. What could have been just an ordinary lunch was turned into a truly memorable event.

Palm fronds for fuel.

You can see the flat bread inside the oven. She would shift the bread to different areas of oven as it baked to take advantage of the different temperatures.

This is Bak's wife, her baby daughter and her sister (the same one that helped to cook our lunch). It takes more than one woman to run a household in rural Egypt.

This is a pretty good shot of the backyard and of us watching the bread baking.

We visited the 'Egyptian Perfume Palace' in Cairo that evening. I bought four different scents all are essential flower oils. Flower of Sakkara, Lotus Flower, Narcissus and Rose. All the bottles were wrapped and packaged so well that they all survived the trip in my suitcase without any leaks.

After the perfume shop we met up with the rest of the group that had chosen to spend their time sitting in a restaurant looking out at the great pyramid. You sure can't top that view. Below is a photo of Ehab and Ruth, they are the people that made our tour extra special. I can't thank them enough. Ruth and Ehab, I think I told you before we said goodbye, but this Egypt trip exceeded all my expectations and I had very high expectations.

It was a long day and we leave for Middle Egypt in the morning.