Your Egypt

[Winky]

:sunny: Imagine living on a dahabieh floating on the water of the Nile
with your own little patch of greenery screening you from the rest of the world. :)

I like to wander along the banks of the Nile early morning or evening when the water is calm, Cairo just stirring awake or slowing down for the night..

While walking I imagine the romance, the love scenes and the parties these boats have seen







:smt049 My own magic night of romance was of course in Le Tarbouche on Le Pacha :smt049



:flower: ...where my Egyptian friend took me for dinner and a show . http://lepacha.com/
It is a huge stationary Nile boat which has been converted in to 12 restaurants where you can also go dancing Its a wonderful night out !



:sunny: I am absolutely fascinated by the dahabiyas and awamas :roll: silently rocking from side to side on the smooth water, inviting me to dream .....


One day while I was walking I was dreaming of owning one of these house boats myself and later.... for fun...
gathered information about them, let me share my dream with you . :wink:









:arrow: This one is FOR SALE LOCATED IN KIT KAT $ 650.000
you can contact me if you are seriously interested


Ratty :) You like tinkering with old boats, will this one do for you ?

specifications:
Made out of steel.
Currently consists of one floor 240 square meters (12X20)
License for expansion up till 840 square meters (12X35) on two floors.
After completion this house boat will contain more than 30 rooms
With a private shore (Garden) 588 square meters.
Located near to Agouza, Dokki, Mohandeseen and zamalek districts.


Sadly :( it is not ( yet) very romantic looking ...but that could be remedied by a bit of tweaking here and there :wink:





and the garden :arrow:











You can find these boats along the shores of Zamalek and Roda and the banks of Giza but nowadays they are converted into restaurants or nightclubs, allthough you can still find some who are being used as homes



:) At the turn of the century owners of Nile houseboats were required to paint the outer walls of their house boats in gold thats how the name was born , dahabieh comes from the Arabic word dahab meaning; gold.
In those days they were often used for a naughty :P rendez vous between rich men and not so rich women or as summer houses even the famous singer Farid Al-Atrach Farid, who loved being in love, apparently owned one .I believe he even had an affair with Queen Nazli :roll: who incidently... you guessed it :wink: owned one too


Then during World War II, the houseboats were home to many a British army officer and even a couple of German spies

Nowadays you will find the residents are a mix of Egyptians, Saudis, Britons, French, Germans, Dutch,Belgium Australians ,Italians etc.they are from all walks of life and very interesting to talk to, they are professionals, students or just travellers staying for a while .

When you walk along the shore on Zamalek you can see about 30 house boats on the opposite site of the Nile in an area called Kit Kat; in the Imbaba district which is a slum really (Just north of the British Council in Agouza the boats begin at May 15 Bridge and line the Nile northward toward Imbaba Bridge)




To be honest those boats are so big they look more like proper houses :roll: they are split up into 2 3 or even 4 apartments , they have balconies or gardens it is rather peaceful living there a bit like being on a permanent holiday,away from the madhouse Cairo is
The good thing about Imbaba is that the people there are not used to tourists so they will not try and rip you off, they are very friendly and when you are inside such a boat, the windows look out onto the
"good neighbourhood " shore of Zamalek
There is a ferry very close to the house boats to take you to the other side .
You can rent an apartment (walk along and just ask a bawab) or rent a room
One word of warning; :) You should be on friendly terms with rats and mosquitos they are there in abundance.

:( Such a shame
I think it will always stay a dream for me :cry:




PS :sunny: Even if you are not planning to buy one , go and check it out for yourself
:wink: