Esra SELVAN

Oncelikle bu yazi Misir’a gittiginizde yapmaniz gerekenler tadinda bir yazi degil. Kendi tecrubelerim ve gozlemlerimi sadece paylasmak istedim.

Uzun zamandir hem arkadaslarimin cok olusu, hem de tarihi ve dogasi ile inanilmaz guzel bir ulke olmasi nedeniyle Misir gundemimde vardi. Ve nihayetinde gittim.

PS: Please scroll down for English Turk oldugunuz ogrenilince milyon defa duyma ihtimaliniz olan sey “Yavas yavas, Hasan Sas“, bunu soylerken mubala yapmis olabilirim ama cok da abartmiyorum .Hava sicak oldugundan cocuklarin dillerinden dusmeyen “ماء”, maya gibi telafuzu olan bu kelimeyi de asla unutamayacaksiniz. Yine en cok duyacaginiz kelime taksi taksi… Ortak bircok kelimemiz aslinda var. Biraz daha rahat yasamayi seviyorlar.

Gariptir ki Turk oldugunuzu ogrenince Musluman misin gibi bir soru ile cok karsilasiyorsun, elbette Turkiye’de farkli dinlere mensup vatandaslarimiz var ama herkesin bildigi gibi ciddi bir cogunluk musluman. Bu durumu bir defa da yasamadim belki seyahat boyunca 30’dan fazla. Her ne kadar kapali olsamda dinimi defalarca bana sormalari beni sasirtti. Ayrica evlere ayakkabilari ile girmeleri biraz farkli gibi geldi ama hemen hemen benzer kulture sahibiz diyebilirim. “Rabia” isareti, Turkiye’deki kadar populer degil.

Seyahatime gelince, 14 Mayis’ta Sharm El Sheyk’ten basladi. Ilk gunden bogazlari kurutan bir sicakligi vardi, sahilinde ve old market kisminda dolastim. Alisveris yapmak istediginizde esnaflari pazarligi cok seviyor, bu yuzden muhakkak 1/5 fiyatin altindan baslayin.

Sonra Dahab’a gectim, bolgenin ozel bir durumu var ve bu yuzden sanki ulke degistirir gibi pasaport kontrolleri oluyor. “Blue Hole” denilen inanilmaz guzel bir yeri var, hayatimda yuzdugum en guzel yerlerden biri oldugunu kesinlikle soyleyebilirim. Geceleyin once vadide muzik gecesine katildim sonra Sinai dagina tirmandim. Sahillerinde yurudum, halkin arasina karistim.

Alexandria,herkesin dedigi gibi Izmir tadindaydi. Kutuphanesi ve Dunya’nin yedi harikasindan biri Feneri ilk gidilesi yerlerdendi.

Kahire, cok kalabalik bir yer, trafigi her saat, yollari uzun boylu boyunca. Tabiki buraya kadar gelmisken ilk ziyaret edilecek yer Piramitler. Fayton esliginde piramitleri ve bolgeyi gezdim ve turun kucuk bir kisminda deveye de bindim. Sonrasinda, projeden arkadasim Muhammed Rauf ve Ceyda ile Nil kenarinda bir seyler yedik. Sonrasinda Al- Azhar adinda bizim Sultanahmet Meydanini andiran ve eski sehir yanina kurulu bir parka gittik. Aksaminda ise diger arkadaslarim ile birlikte once Nil Nehrinde gece tekne turu yapip sonrasinda ise eski sehri dolastik. Ertesi gun ise Citadel of Salah Al-din ve Sultan Hassan & Al Rifa-i Monument’ i gezdikten sonra Ukrayna projesinden tanidigim bir cok arkadasimla bulustum. Kahire’deki son gunumde ise alisverise ciktim.  Sonrasinda projeden yine bir kac arkadasimla gorustum.

Aslinda tarih seven birisiyim ama Kahire’de yasadigim mutlulugu pek de burada buldugumu soyleyemem. Cok sicak olmasinin yani sira, maddi anlamda biraz daha dusuk bir nufus var. Nil nehri boyunca yuruyup, Luxor tapinagini ziyaret edip, biraz da Fayton yolculugu ile gunu bitirdim.Kahire’den sonra beni en cok mutlu eden rota Hurghada oldu. Ilk gun kucuk bir sehir yuruyusu yapip ikinci gun ise daha oncesinde planladigim dalis tecrubesini gerceklestirmis oldum. Hayatimda ilk defa dalis yaptim ve zaten bildigim ama tadamadigim yeni bir dunyanin kapilarini araladim. Hurghada’nin deniz altisi gercektende muhtesemdi. Son gun ise colde safari yaptim, bu da hep yapmak istedigim seylerden biriydi hayatimda. Kisa bir deve turundan sonra tekrar safariye devam ettim.

Sozun ozu su ki, yola cikmadan bir seyler tadamazsiniz, yasayip hissedemezsiniz, yol alamazsiniz. Hayatimdaki en guzel seyahatlerimden biriydi. Iste o ilk adimi atin!

BONUS: Yolculuk boyunca bana eslik eden sarki tabiki “Desert Rose” du.

First of all, this article is not a text about what you need to do when you go to Egypt. I just wanted to share my own experiences and observations.

For a long tıme, I was planning to go Egypt cause I have a lot of friends there as well as it was pretty natural and historical country for me. At the end realised. When anybody learnt that you are from Turkey, perhaps you may hear million times ” Yavas yavas, Hasan Sas“, when I have said this claim it could be exaggerated for you but almost that’s right. You never forget this word that is “ماء” as maia which is calling for all kids never dropped from their lips due to the weather. Also, one of the common words which you have heard that is “taxi”, “taxi”… In fact, we have so many common words. Generally, they like comfortable and smoothly life.

It is strange that when they learn that you are a Turk, you are confronted with a question like Muslim, of course, we have citizens from different religions in Turkey, but the majority is Muslim as everybody knows. I haven’t experienced this once, maybe more than 30 during my trip. Arbeit, I am wearing hijab it made me fairly surprise due to ask many time this question. Furthermore, it was strangely for me that when they came to the home, was walking with own shoes at home without remove but I can say that we are sharing almost the same culture. “R4bia” sign is not common as much as in Turkey.

As for my trip, it started from Sharm El Sheikh on 14 May. From the first day, it had a weather which is dried your throat, roamed its beach and old market side. Whenever wanted to buy something tradespeople likes a bargain. Due to the fact that, absolutely, you have to start your price from the value of the first price of 1/5.

Afterwards, I have been in Dahab and during my travel, there was many passport control point as I am travelling internationally. There was “Blue Hole” which is the most amazing place that is within my swimming experience in Dahab. I have joined musical night and climbed Sinai Mountain at night. I walked on the beach and commingled to local people.

Alexandria that was close to Izmir as everybody said. The Library and Lighthouse which is one of the seven wonders of the world were couples of the best point for visiting.

Cairo, a very crowded place, traffic every hour, the road along with the length. Of course, the first place to visit is the Pyramids. I roamed the pyramids and that region by the phaeton and ride the camel few time on my trip. Afterwards, my project friend who is Mohamed Raouf and my Turkish friend who is Ceyda and me ate together something on the edge of the Nile. Subsequently, we went to a park named Al-Azhar that seems as Sultanahmet Square and near to the old town. In the evening, with my another friends have been in Nile night boat tour and wandered the old city. The next day I visited the Citadel of Salah Al-Din and Sultan Hassan & Al Rifa-i Monument, and then I met many of my friends from Ukraine project. At the last day in Cairo, I went shopping. Then I saw a few more friends once again from the project.

In fact, I interested in history but to be honestly, I didn’t feel in Luxor as happy as in Cairo. Beside its hot weather, the level of the population was poorer. I walked along the Nile River, visited the Temple of Luxor, and finished the day with a little phaeton journey.

After Cairo, the route that made me most happy was Hurghada. The first day, I had a small trip into the city centre and the second day I have dived one of my best experience in my life. For the first time in my life, I made a dive and opened the doors of a new world I already knew but didn’t taste. Hurghada was fairly wonderful with undersea. Last day I made a safari in the desert, which was one of the things I always wanted to do. In that trip, also I ride a camel once again.

To sum up, you can’t taste, experience or feel anything without getting out of the way. It was one of my most beautiful trips in my life. Take it first step!