The Idiot, after a week at the Siwa Oasis in Egypt’s Western Desert where he consulted the Oracle of Amun to get some inside info about Alexander the Great’s past and the future of his MedTrek, returned to Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean Sea to resume his walk to Libya.
Once again the Egyptian police insisted on providing an armed escort as The Idiot MedTrekked west on a coast tightly patrolled and controlled by the country’s army, navy and air forces.
The Idiot left his Marsa Martouh basecamp at sunrise and….
…headed west on Libya Street…
…and the seaside corniche, where a mother and her children were checking the temperature of the water.
The first day’s 30-kilometer MedTrek from Marsa Matrouh towards Libya took The Idiot past military facilities and through summer-only seasonal housing compounds to Cleopatra, Ubayyad and Agiba beaches.
The Idiot took a selfie with Cleopatra at her beach west of Marsa Matrouh while his armed escort…
…either walked ahead to survey the activity, or lack of activity, on the seaside or…
…kept an eye out for any action, or lack of action, on the Mediterranean Sea.
The Idiot walked through a number of uninhabited residential compounds, some which had been transformed into military barracks for young soldiers during the winter and spring. Despite his police escort, military officials often insisted that The Idiot and his bodyguards leave the sea and walk on the coastal road a few kilometers inland “for security reasons.”
Egyptian soldiers frequently told The Idiot that the Bedouin-inhabited area was unsafe because of “hostile Arabs or uninvited Libyans,” though The Idiot encountered neither. The best explanation for caution, from The Idiot’s perspective, was that “when a Bedouin man sees a man walking alone he thinks you’re going to steal his wives and will almost certainly kill you.”
After walking past the deserted buildings and through the open Carols Beau Rivage Hotel in El Obayed Bay….
…The Idiot rejoiced on the sand and…
…took a break to admire the turquoise sea before approaching and..
…exploring Agiba (the word means “miracle” in Arabic) Beach.
Considered one of Egypt’s most attractive stretches on the Mediterranean Sea, Agiba Beach, to The Idiot anyway, represents the end of the over-developed Egyptian coast and the beginning of a sparsely populated seaside that extends to the Egypt/Libya border.
Agiba Beach is one of Egypt’s most popular stretches of sand on the Mediterranean Sea.
The shoreline between Agiba Beach and Saluum at the Libyan border tends to be undeveloped.
Although the military and police restricted The Idiot’s access to the coast between Agiba Beach and Libya, The Idiot casually walked past one of the last army outposts in Egypt before arriving in Saluum.
One of the last seaside military outposts in Egypt is not far from…
….the ridge just beyond Saluum that is the location of the border between Egypt and Libya.
The Idiot was permitted to approach the border but was told not to risk trying to enter the country next door. That, his police handler told him, “might indicate that you’re sympathetic to Daesh (the Arab acronym for ISIS which stands for al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham) and you could be detained if you try to reenter Egypt.”
The Idiot relaxes on the seaside in central Saluum before….
…climbing the ridge and turning back at the Egyptian border crossing to…
…get a view of Egypt and…
…calculate the distance he’s come.
What’s next for The Idiot who is on the verge of completing his 20-year project to walk around the Mediterranean Sea? Will he enter Libya? Time travel back to the era of Alexander the Great? Make a decision to MedTrek through Tunisia to visit Carthage, where he has not been since the 2011 revolution?
Read “What Did The Oracle of Amun In Siwa Tell The Idiot About Alexander The Great And His MedTrek?” next week to find out.
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