We took the long road from Santa Caterina through mountains and more mountains, sand stretches, past what looked like abandoned military structures, past Bedouin camps and then more mountains. But finally we emerged to see the beautiful blue sea in the distance and a low-lying town fringing the ocean, every building white, and Masry announced we had arrived at Sharm. We were actually uncertain if we would get a hotel room as the drivers had told Masry that the town was packed. We did a drive through (the town ribbons along the edge of the sea and is long, not wide – a bit like the GC used to be) and checked it out from the main road. All the big chains are there – Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, Novotel, Movenpick, etc. etc. – and there are pretty much new cars only, hardly any blowing horns, lawn and trees and flowers all over the place and NO rubbish anywhere. There are also police checks and a seemingly endless stream of aircraft going overhead to the airport. If we couldn’t find a hotel Plan B was to drive the 500 km back to Cairo after a look around.
We tried a few hotels without success but finally at the Coral Beach Rotana Resort we lucked out and got an all-inclusive 4 day/3 night stay. All inclusive means 3 meals, free food during the afternoon at the pool bar, free drinks as well. You get a wristband and that’s it. In fact they gave us two extra lunches as we got lunch before we checked in (check in time 2.00 pm) and after we checked out (check out time 12 noon). Well – coffee in the coffee shop wasn’t free I found out later – 12 pounds!!! Shows how I’m getting used to living in Egypt – that seemed so expensive (very good coffee at On the Run here is 7 pounds 50) and yet it is only about A$2. Tea in the other café was free and I think the best mint tea I’ve had. A shisha pipe wasn’t free but was about the same price as outside at 10 pounds. (Most westerners think that shisha has a narcotic in it but it is basically fruit flavoured tobacco. At this café it was very sweet smelling – apple flavoured. The tobacco is soaked in the juice and then dried again somehow). And Internet access was SO expensive – 85 pounds per hour!! There was wi-fi in the rooms and I did send some emails but that was just way too dear. At the net café I go to in Cairo it is 2 pounds per hour.
I would say the resort was about 4.5 stars; all inclusive was US$190 per day for the both of us.
Everything is quoted in US dollars or Euros (although you could pay for stuff in Egyptian pounds) and the resort was basically completely filled with Russian tourists. In fact, the town was full of Russian tourists. I heard a small sprinkling of other languages and only a couple of times when we were out for the night did I hear English. There were a very small number of Arab tourists; Masry says “the wealthy from Saudi Arabia”. Signs are in Russian and Italian, sometimes with English, sometimes with Arabic.
The view from the balcony of our room – the pool we spent our time at is the one in front here (the Splash Pool), complete with bar. The grounds were immaculate.
Otherwise, Sharm felt like a tourist town that you could come across anywhere, even if it didn’t totally look or sound like it. In looks it reminded me of pictures I’ve seen of Greek island towns but on reflection I figured that was the blue sea, the rocky beaches and the white buildings. There are virtually no residential areas, it’s all apartments and resorts and hotels. And a shopping strip plus a really big open air mall called Na’ama Bay that was packed the night we went there. There’s also an old market but we didn’t get there – but I was happy to save something for next time.
In this picture on the left are all the open air coffee shops, beautifully decorated with lights in all sorts of shapes, stars, traditional lanterns etc. They have low comfortable seats, carpets, colourful tapestries etc. and looked beautiful. No alcohol served - coffee, tea and shisha. (Sorry about the picture quality, we took these with the point and shoot which has marks on the lens from the boys in Ethiopia and their water trip to Lake Langano when a splashing competition marked the lens permanently)
Again, sorry for the quality. You can see the probably thousands of tourists who were walking in the balmy evening with us. Again, lots of big names here including a Hard Rock Cafe and all the designers; obviously tourists with a reasonable amount of money come to Sharm. We did a little shopping including a sarong for me (I left about 4 back in Oz, didn’t think I’d need one here)
Of course the diving is supposed to be spectacular. The coral and fish are accessible from any beachside resort usually from a floating jetty and you can hire snorkels, masks and flippers. Or you can hire glass-bottomed boats for two (US$75). You can also parasail (US$40 for one, $50 for a double), hire a kayak or a private boat (US$110). And you can take diving expeditions. A tour company can arrange a cruise for you for a few days also. I did take a swim from the end of the jetty – the water is a most beautiful sort of navy blue colour. But Masry doesn’t swim and although you can hire life jackets he also doesn’t like cold water, so I couldn’t get him in. He lounged comfortably on a beach chaise under the umbrella and watched.
Most of the time, except for the middle of the day, we spent at one of the pools – there are 2 at the resort. There was piped music – the best of the 70s and 80s I think so it was easy to sing along – a bar that opened for free drinks at 10.30 am, free food in the afternoon, including ice cream, and great staff. I also found the food excellent except for one day (maybe the last day before supplies came in?). There was a mixture of international cuisine, Egyptian food, hot food, salads and a whole bunch of great deserts. And the bread was fabulous. Only problem I had was that there was not quite enough fruit for me.
The water wasn’t really very cold – the days however were fairly hot at around 33-35 degrees so the water certainly felt cold initially. I noticed the sign said the ocean was 24 and the pool I think a bit cooler. It felt cold to begin but soon became just beautiful. I haven’t been swimming for a while and it was wonderful to have so much time to enjoy it. Sometimes I just paddled quietly and at other times had a good swim.
I also managed to improve my tan a little. Some of the Russians were SO burnt I don’t know how they walked around and almost every woman wore a bikini no matter her age or size, which made for “interesting” viewing sometimes. Masry tried to stay out of the sun; he says it makes him too dark. Now there’s a problem a few of us wouldn’t mind. I was careful enough not to get burnt.
The ocean was, as the ocean always is, wonderful to watch. The Red Sea is a beautiful colour – a gorgeous aquamarine when it’s shallow and an almost navy blue as it gets deeper. The images don’t really do it justice.
The stairs were also excellent exercise several times a day; I used to send Masry on ahead as my tired legs struggled up them at the end of the day. He can always bound up any stairs, at any time, two at a time. Once up past the waterfall you kept climbing up past the Roman Theatre and then up a few more to the units then another 20 or so up to our unit on the first floor.
The resort was beautifully lit at night with lighting effects on the trees and buildings and a couple of beautiful filigree domes on the main building.
The resort also had a small bazaar but it was definitely touristy and definitely pricey. Mohamed always refuses to shop at places like these. So do I now.
On the way to dinner
The view was really wonderful and at night was amazing when the sea was calm. However, without a tripod I didn’t get any decent photos.
So I found Sharm a very relaxing time. Swimming, reading, sleeping, occasionally TV, someone else to do all the cooking and a very welcome knock on the door each day as the man called out “housekeeping”. And the freedom of Sharm was a delightful break for me – I could wear all my Aussie clothes and my swimmers in public, swim, even hold hands in public. Masry was certainly relaxed about the whole public interaction deal and it felt like a honeymoon – romantic, comfortable, relaxing.
I think maybe Mohamed had had enough of the quiet life towards the end of our stay – he sat patiently beside the pool for hours at a time with mostly just his thoughts. I know that by the last night he was missing his friends. In Egyptian culture men are very bound up with their male friends. Masry visits with his friends at the coffee shop once or maybe twice a week and misses his closest friends when he has not spoken to them for a few days. And he loves Cairo – crowded, grubby in places, crazy at times, irritating, frustrating, full of life Cairo. He was so pleased to be back – as we came around the Round Road he said simply, “Cairo – it is…Cairo. It is like nowhere else.” And yes it is.
Lots of love until next time
Lyndall
The wedding ring and my jammed finger – sliding door to the balcony, two days after I jammed my thumb in the car door. I’ll try for another better shot some time.
No comments:
Post a Comment