Hello again, it occurred to me that most visitors to Luxor (or anywhere really) only see what the authorities and tourism people actually want them to see. This is probably OK, especially in somewhere like Luxor, which to every new visitor seems very foreign already, with its fabulous antiquities and strangely clad people, and the newly realised very high temperatures.
As I was putting one of my vacuums away this morning ( oh, I do love bragging!) I noticed a lady, a street or so away, taking freshly baked bread out of her bread oven on the roof! Now then, when we first came here, we could see at least four of these traditional adobe bread ovens from our roof. Now, I cannot see any!
The oven is out of sight, behind the wall at bottom left. You can see the loaves on their little platter things, spread about the available surfaces. This is 'baladi' bread. It's not available from the local bakers, but is often sold on the streets by the woman who has baked it, notably outside the new Mosque in Saladin Square, which is about half way between the Railway Station and the Iberotel Hotel. Otherwise, as is the case in the picture, it's for the family. Egyptians get through an inordinate amount of bread!
The next picture also shows us something about foodstuffs in Luxor:
This is two buildings away from us, and the little inmate sitting on the wall rather gives the game away! Yes, it's a pigeon loft (or cree, as it would be known in some parts). I don't think that they race pigeons here, and I believe that they are only pets until they are ready for the pot!
Luxor rooves can be looked upon as either horrible dirty fire hazards, or hives of activity and resourcefulness. I suppose it all depends on your outlook? This following photograph shows a slightly more typical roof:
Wood! Actually, if you have a look at the other two pictures, you'll see that they too have old bits of wood lying about. That's because wood is not really an indigenous product of Egypt, and most of it is imported at great expense, so it's rather a case of 'waste not; want not'! This is a great place for hoarders!
For sure the bread is fantastic as in most places in that area,the pigeon pie ,not so sure,I will wait for your review.
ReplyDeleteTake care
Review? There's not enough meat to eat, never mind review!
ReplyDeleteMy neighbour, Old Mr Mohamed.(No, not THAT one.) likes them stuffed with green(?) rice. But he eats them the Egyptian way....picking it up with the fingers and just starting to eat at one end until it's finished, bones and all!
You'd need the meat off more than four and twenty of them to make a decent pie.
Btw, were you around when we knew Jimmy Pieface from Bill Quay?
I have vague memories of the name but I cannot remember the person,you can make a decent Pigeon Pie from 4 breasts,I used to set them regularly.
ReplyDeleteI also really like rabbit pies when I can get them and I would love to go back to making my own Brawn from a pigs head,so I'm still pretty much a savage when it comes to my eating habits.