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Nicole
and I currently live in Israel and are half way through our four-year posting. We
hadn't visited Egypt up to this point, so we decided to go over Easter. Our
aim
was to visit Sharm el Sheikh, on the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula.
Even
thought the distance from Tel Aviv to "Sharm" is only 500 miles
(800km), it was a difficult place to get to. Recent
military actions in Gaza have increased tensions at the border and there were reports
of militants hiding in the Sinai, ready to attack
tourists. This meant that driving our car over the border wasn't an option.
We
looked into flying, but the flights had connections in Cairo or Amman ...
which meant a night in transit each way. We
finally decided to drive to Eilat, park the car and walk across the
border. We would then meet a pre-arranged taxi to take us to Sharm; the
hotel made the arrangements and we felt good about the plan. |
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Nicole's
mother was visiting us at the time and she gladly joined us on the trip.
We awoke early and got on the road
before the rush-hour traffic affected us. The
4-hour drive to Eilat began without any problems. |
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Our route to southern
Israel began on a brand new toll road. We made good time,
passing many fields and orchards. This area is quite dry and requires a
lot of irrigation.
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We
continued past the town of Beersheba, known for it's ancient ties to
Abraham. It got more arid and we no longer saw fields or orchards;
the previously flat terrain also began to get more hilly. |
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After
two hours we entered the Negev desert area; the road was only two lanes, with slow pokes! |
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The
only signs of life in this area were small Bedouin villages and a few military
bases.
We passed an area with many
armored tanks; it was probably a training area. Sorry
about the bad pictures; I had to take them without being too
obvious!
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We
came to an enormous canyon and took a rest stop to enjoy the
glorious views. |
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The road was down there
somewhere ... we had to cross that large expanse! |
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As
we descended into the valley, we could see some very steep cliffs; an
unexpected delight! |
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We
traveled through the valley and crossed many dry riverbeds; they must have
flowed eons ago. |
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We
were quite surprised when we came upon another canyon ... we must be dropping
in elevation. |
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From
this vantage we are looking east, over the Jordan River valley; Jordan is in the
distance. |
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We
dropped down into the Jordan valley; shortly afterwards we began to see the
hotels of Eilat. |
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We
didn't have a lot of time, so we quickly drove into Eilat, to look at the
touristy hotels and the Red Sea beaches. The hotels are very classy
($$$$), but the beaches are bland and there are few waves. |
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We
dropped the car with a co-worker and he gave us a ride to the sea-side border
crossing (above). |
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There
were hassles crossing the border, but nothing un-expected. On the
Egyptian side we found the taxi rep and he set us up with a nice car and
driver.
The route to Sharm would
follow the Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba). Most of the trip would be in the
mountains, but sometimes we'd be able to follow the coast. |
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We
passed some fancy resorts and then we entered a barren desert area.
The road was in great
condition. The driver explained, in decent English, that it was
recently re-done to attract more tourists.
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There
were very few cars on the road, even though this was a peak vacation week ...
maybe it was due to the high security threat.
The road followed a
smooth incline into the coastal mountain range. |
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During the
next hour, we saw no visible signs of life ... what a desolate place! |
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As
we got into mountainous areas there were checkpoints. The driver
easily got us though ... but I bet if we were traveling by ourselves, it
would have been much tougher! Note:
the police were probably there to help and to verify that we were not being
held captive by the driver. |
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We
stopped for gasoline in a very unique looking area. Initially I thought
the dark patches in the mountains were shrubs, but they were zctually streaks
of different rocks and minerals. |
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The
Gulf of Aqaba is a large earthquake fault, which has caused violent up-lifting
of the mountains. This has exposed various mineral deposits, which could
be mined if this was a stable, secure area. |
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Wow ...
a few trees!!!
Sadly,
they look like they have been dead for a long time ago. |
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We
got back to the coast and took a break near a really nice looking cove.
There was an old fort and
a couple traditional sailboats taking tourists for a ride. There was
absolutely no wind, so they were having to motor around. |
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After
the cove we began to see Bedouin villages. These people used to be
nomadic, but now are subsidized by the government. |
Caves
where the nomadic people used to stay while in the area. |
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They
take the camels to the road and then hitchhike; I wonder if they lock their
camels up? :) |
Some
of the homes are secluded and set back in the hills; obviously there are no
utilities. |
This
place was quite run down, but they must be wealthy since there were many
camels around. |
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Typical
modern Bedouins ... most with the latest fashion ... many with smiles ... and
all of them with grandly decorated camels! |
This
camel is available for hire; flies included at no extra cost! |
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Some
places look so-so ... but then they a nice truck appears! |
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mosque seems to be the first thing built; homes will follow. |
These
homes are government provided; like Mandela homes! |
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<== A goat farmer ...
what do the poor animals eat?
Shacks
built by a dump ==>
There is a lot of poverty that
still needs to be addressed. |
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We
passed the town of Dahab, which is a major resort area. The town isn't that
great, as it only provides residence for the people who
are working at the resorts.
The workers are usually
'imported' from the Cairo area during the peak tourist season.
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We
came to a "new age" coastal area that was very interesting ... a
place to return to visit some day? |
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This area
was called a campground, but it was actually full of small chalets & beach
huts ; quite nice! |
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We saw
major construction projects ... but we could not tell if they were active or
defunct for years? |
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We came
out of the mountains and entered a sandy desert area that became quite wide. |
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We could
see a built-up area in front of us ... along with electric poles and lots of appalling
trash. |
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The trees
and fences just became trash collectors ... they must have strong winds around
here! |
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We took an
exit, so we must be getting close; the general area was very dry ... no lush
coast. |
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The
Sharm area is actually very spread out ... along 6 miles (10 km) of Red Sea
coastline.
The main tourist area is
towards the left of the map; our hotel is near the airport on the
right. |
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Hotel
Complexes in View |
Interesting
Sculptures |
Government
Monument |
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There was
construction everywhere; this area has grown a lot in the past few years. |
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Many
projects look idle; maybe the financial crisis has impacted to this area. |
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The
completed projects looked quite nice ... each having their own private
entrance and beach. |
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We passed
the sprawling, but un-interesting, international airport and then came to our
hotel. |
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The
rooms were OK but nothing special. They faced the pool area, which is
one of the main attractions of this hotel complex. |
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I
think there were 6 swimming pools in total. Since this was an
all-inclusive resort, the drinks at the pool bars were free!
There were no
restaurants in the area, so we were happy to have our meals included ... the
food turned out to be excellent!
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The
hotel complex was long and skinny. Our room was in the new section near
the top; the original section was nearer to the beach. |
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The
beach area is the main attraction for these resorts.
The water was a brilliant
dark blue color, in contrast to the brightly light sand.
The only trees or
vegetation were planted by the resorts. |
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The hotel
beachfront was quite skinny; they made more space by terracing the
cliffs. |
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We
split our time between the pools and the beach area. Reserving a hut required getting up early and putting towels
down. |
The beach
bar was popular,
but never too crowded! |
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The
floating docks provided access to the many water activities. |
Even the
military had fun! :) |
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If
you looked down the coast, you could see the beach areas of the neighboring
resorts.
Each hotel made the best
of their small beachfront by cramming in as many little huts as they
could. |
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The coast
was actually quite rugged and wasn't very good looking. The huts looked
like little hats and added an artistic touch. |
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The
shoreline was rocky and had a great reef for snorkeling ... but no swimming
from shore! |
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In this
series, Nicole and her mother head out to the end of pier to snorkel and swim
with the fish. |
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There are
many dive sites in this area, which meant the amount of activity during the
day was unreal. |
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During our
stay we had a full moon night that began with a picturesque sunset and
moonrise. |
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That
evening we had our
first water-pipe experience, with mint flavored tobacco ... and a
great moon! |
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We
didn't feel like leaving the hotel complex, since it was quite comfortable
and there were many things to do.
We only made one
venture into the main tourist area of Sharm ... by taking the hotel shuttle
on a 20 minute ride down the coast. |
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The
shuttle driver had to make the obligatory stop at the local mosque ... anyone
need to pray? |
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We
were dropped off at another Hilton hotel. As at our hotel, it was
quite a walk from the road down to the beach area.
In this area the beach
is more public. There is a nice promenade for people to walk, which
separates the beach from the resort areas. |
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The coast
was flatter in this area and was packed with hotels and shops ... a tourist
mecca! |
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The beach
here was sandy, with no reef ... which meant you could swim from shore ...
watch for boats! |
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The
hotel areas were filled with new umbrellas and chairs ... it looked like a story book.
The in the background
you can see nice boats and yachts ... there is no shortage of money for many
people who stay here!
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We didn't
feel like shopping, so we just walked until we were tired. It was hot
and we picked a cute place to rest and have a drink. Most places were
Arabic and had many pillows and cushions. |
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The sun
was setting as we returned to the hotel. The traffic was minimal, as
there isn't much night life. |
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Basically
this ends the story. We enjoyed our days at the pool or the beach ...
... with cool drinks and nice meals. It was a great place to kick
back and relax ! |
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The
same taxi picked us up for the ride back to Eilat. As we left, there
were police and security people all around ... even standing in the desert!
We never found out why ... but we got out safely! |
The
drive back to Tel Aviv was long and tiring, but after 5 days of relaxing ...
no problem! |
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In
summary, the Sharm area was a great place to visit ... mostly for it's
access to the Red Sea.
There are so many other places we'd like to see in Egypt, so it may be a
while before we return! |
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