6 - 12 September 2001
Issue No.550
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 6 - 12 September 2001 Issue No.550 |
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The triumph of turquoise
Undulating in the shadow of majestically sculptured sandstone formations -- nature's work -- the waves lap up the forms and colours of the sea bed. By the time they reach the sand, which is as white and fine as flour, they have acquired an infinitely more complex hue. Only by mixing sky-blue with pastoral green can the artist's palette intimate the celebrated turquoise of Marsa Matrouh. Each summer, droves of vacationers from every walk of life luxuriate in the picture-postcard serenity of this Bedouin Riviera. George Bahgory met Al-Ahram Weekly photographer Sherif Sonbol there without the benefit of a prearranged appointment: both felt compelled to capture the spirit of summer vacation in this treasured Mediterranean resort; both were delighted to meet Dimitri (Mitso) Madbak, the explorer-entrepreneur who has made it his life's passion
The happy camper
Dimitri Madbak's birth in Assiut in the early 1920s was a widely celebrated event, writes George Bahgory. His mother had prayed for a son since the start of her married life and, to protect her newborn, she gave him the name of a favourite saint. As a child, his hearty laughter filled the house, but when he entered his teens little Dimitri's tendency to stare into space, losing himself in fantastical itineraries, asserted itself beyond the shadow of a doubt. The family noticed his wanderlust early on, and he was allowed to discontinue his education and seek employment with a tourist company in Heliopolis, initially as an itinerant advertising agent. It was then that he acquired the sobriquet Mitso, becoming the uncontested master of the weekend away, then a new and exciting genre of holiday-making.
One can tell from the tone in which Mitso reminiscences about this period that it was in facilitating "happiness in travelling" that he found his calling; indeed, he soon gave up his advertising career. While organising one of his weekend trips to Alexandria, he met his "dream girl," Mary. From a family of Levantine immigrants, she understood the thrill of travelling; and together they embraced Mitso's mad and adventurous plans. By the 1940s they were hiring their own coaches, which enabled them to present more people with the gift of the Mediterranean.
One fateful weekend happened to coincide with the Eid; to celebrate, Mitso took the group further along the shore, to Marsa Matrouh, where camel caravans still set off on journeys to Libya and Morocco. On the way, he entertained them with anecdotes of the second World War: the Battle of Al-Alamein, General Rommel's secret grotto and the German soldiers' admiration for the shore along which they would die. On arrival, everyone was predictably delighted. At the time Matrouh, still the exclusive property of Bedouins and boy scouts, was virtually unknown to holidaymakers. It was next to impossible to find a decent hotel in which to house the weekenders. But after the summer fun was over, Mitso stayed on. On his first visit, the place had possessed him.
One night on the beach, he bumped into the "border governor," as the official was then called. "If your head is so full of ideas," the man said. "I will pave the way for you." They walked to a simple Bedouin house, complete with cow, donkey and donkey-drawn cart (Matrouh's trademark, and today a time-honoured form of transport), where Mitso was to stay. But when it came to buying the house with a view to converting it into a hotel, Mary resisted, weeping. Electric power was cut off after midnight, she complained. There were neither drains nor sewage; the most basic commodities were hard to come by. Gradually, however, the contents of their house in Cairo were transported to Matrouh and, although Bedouin austerity eventually gave way to normal living conditions, the decision to stay required a lot of courage on Mary's part.
Mitso's younger brother Tony, daughters and friends were recruited, too; and the home-made food and excellent service they provided soon made the hotel a famous tourist attraction and Matrouh's main landmark. A special Bedouin envoy undertook regular trips to Alexandria to procure food, drink and even medicine.
With the advent of the 1952 Revolution, things became much easier. The new government established headquarters in the neighbouring Ras Al-Hikma -- heads of state visiting Matrouh in order to meet with Nasser would stay at Mitso's hotel -- and modernisation soon caught up with the coast beyond Alexandria. In his 40s by this point, Mitso presided over "the most beautiful hotel in the most beautiful resort." His innumerable distinguished guests included Sadat, the writer Anis Mansour and the actor Rushdi Abaza. But his restlessness caught up with him and before long he founded the Nile cruise boat Qased Kheir, which undertakes journeys between Luxor and Aswan and where Death on the Nile, the film based on Agatha Christie's novel, was shot. It is not that Matrouh provided insufficient business; in fact, it was the stability of the Matrouh hotel that propelled him back south. He felt he could do more, he explains, now that the lapis waters were in his grip.
Recently honoured by Minister of Tourism Mamdouh El-Beltagui, Mitso, without a shadow of vanity, is fully satisfied with his achievements. "It is just a matter of discovering what one's country has to offer," he says. "If you love this country and feel compelled to go all around it -- well, there might be good fortune in store."
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