Last month over the 3-day Columbus Day week-end, I left the bustling grind and city smog of Cairo and headed north towards Alexandria, where a working farm retreat was nestled in the country 20 miles from ancient Egypt's former capital. Anafora was ran by Bishop Thomas, a respected Coptic Christian leader, who opened up the retreat in 1999, because of a dream that he had in which God told him to build it. Think "Field of Dreams," but instead of a baseball field think of a small working farm comprised of acres and acres of olive, fig, mango, orange, lemon, pear, apple, and date palm orchards; vegetable, herbal, and flower gardens; adobe-mud hut lodgings; and farm animal livestock. The farm is labored by Egyptian field workers and managed by a religious order of Coptic sisters or deaconesses from Bishop Thomas' parish in El-Qussia. The sisters took care of the visitors that came from around the globe weekly, cooked the meal time fares, and made the products from the farm that were sold to keep Anafora viable. Some of the items that the sisters made were jams, herbal teas, body oils, organic soaps, hand sewn items, and candles. And while Anafora is a place for visitors to relax, meditate, read, and/or bask in the tranquility of good ol' country living, guests could also volunteer to help the sisters with the farm chores. The latter was not something the sisters expected, but genuinely did appreciate.
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| Entry into Anafora. |
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| Directional signs in Coptic, Arabic, and English. |
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| Gateway into the retreat had 2 giant pigeon-hives on either side. |
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| The adobe-like mud huts were comfy and charming. |
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| Loved the stairwells that led up to the adobe rooftops. |
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| The T-shaped pool was refreshing in the afternoon. |
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| The backside of my adobe-like quarters. |
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| My bedroom was lit at night by home-made beeswax candles. |
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| View through the mosquito netting. |
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| A much clearer view outside my window. |
The adobe-like mud huts that guests stayed in were snug and very comfortable. The quarters, as well as all the interiors, were decorated by colorful hand-woven Bedouin rugs that cheerfully brightened up the rooms. My quarters had a view of bougainvilleas that were also commonly found throughout Anafora. At night, I would climb the stairs to my rooftop to star gaze or sit outside on my patio and listen to the sounds of crickets chirping and frogs croaking that played like a country symphony to my ears. It was a little piece of heaven for this country girl, and I soaked it up as much as I could. Stay tune for more of my Anafora visit....
