which part of Egypt you visited to?
We want to stay at Red Sea and like to visit Luxor.
Can you share your story with us what you have an experience of your visit there?
Our holiday was one that celebrated Egypt, as a country with one foot in history, a land filled with nostalgia of the pharoahs that ruled once. The mesmerising Nile, fills one with Awe as you watch it turn Egypt from the barren sands of the Sinai Desert into a fertile, lush area!
We started our month long holiday in Sharm-el-Sheikh, which is a lovely beach resort at the very edge of the Sinai pennisula, where one can see the red sea stretch out before you.
I would suggest that you fly from Cairo to Sharm-el-Sheikh, instead of taking the seven/eight hour drive from Cairo to Sharm. It is a very bumpy and rocky ride, but thankfully our drivers could speak some english, so they entertained us a lot! But if you do take the drive its one that enables you to see the egyptian military at its best, we passed so many military institutions on our way to Sharm, for a good part of the hour, we basically saw policemen in every nook and cranny of the road not even 2m from each other! We took the road to Suez. The Suez Canal is one experience altogether, we all thought we were gonna see the sea, but our driver shocked us by saying that we were going to go under the sea!! The security here is high level. So don't be shocked if you see army men in bunkers with their rifles pointing at your moving vehicle!!
The vast arid plains of Sinai stretch for a good part of the journey, it is vastly unhabited, unspoilt by humans, you would fine a single tree 40km's to the journey! and then all you see is rocky desert, and sand all over...We stopped at Ras-Al-Sudr, where the water is crystal clear like you wouldn't believe!! We had a swim, and we couldn't see a single individual, it was as if we enjoyed our own private sea!!
We now move closer to St.Catherines.We stopped at St. Catherine's for the night, because we were so exhausted after our flight. (I think this is a must if you are a Christian), it's more relevant to your faith, I would think, but nevermind, I took the climb up to Mount Sinai, its beautiful at 5am in the morning, but trust me, you need to be fit!! At the top of Mount Sinai, it feels like heaven is touching you, thats how high you are and how low the clouds are!! This is apparently were Moses received the ten commandments from God, (please excuse me, I am a hindu, so I wouldn't know too much). I think the most beautiful thing is that you feel as if you are on top of the sun!
Well, we then proceeded, to Sharm the next morning...It is one helluva straight rocky road, and surrounded by mountain ranges which overshadowed our car and gave some sort of respite from the heat!! Thankfully St.Catherine's is only two hours away from Sharm-el-Sheikh! This road now goes through a valley, and begins to become very winding. We stopped to get a bird's eye view of Sharm-el-Sheikh, before we actually entered, through a small piece of rock, I saw white buildings, giving me the impression that I was in Crete (Greece), there were white houses everywhere, a church steeple reaching for the sky.
Sharm-el-Sheikh, is a bustling city, a city that is a foreigner's hub!! It has a romantic ambience surrounding it, a true place to find peace of mind and relax. We stayed at the Domina Coral Bay Hotel & Resort! It's a beautiful resort and I recommend it! The resort is massive, thankfully we stayed for a whole week, so we could use it to the maximum! The resort even has its own time!!
The old market in Sharm is very much a market that never sleeps, its always awake!! Two gigantic statues greet you as you enter, and there are alleys upon alleys where you
must bargain!!
Na'ama Bay is another fantastic outing for the evening, almost like a modern night out !! You must visit it!!
One excursion you mustn't miss is the glass bottom boat, which takes you through the Ras Mahommed National Park, which has some scenic underwater life!!
If you are a fishing enthusiast, like my dad and brother, you could hire a boat, which we did, that takes you out to the Red Sea, they cought some lovely fish, but threw it back, It was beautiful, being moored in the middle of no where, while my dad and brother fished, I had the wonderful opportunity of being able to go scuba diving, the guy took me as I can't swim!!
We then flew back to Cairo, and then took a train trip to Aswan from Cairo, I recommend this, its first class luxury on the Albera Train Trip! It was highly unforgettable and off course it was a world class service.
When I woke up, I saw the Nile flowing, its waters full, accross the desert! You see bedouins and their goats, and at the same time, you see a tractor and modern farming tools, The contrast is unforgettable.
We reach Aswan, the land of the most incredibley friendly people...we stayed at Isis Island Aswan, it was fine, Aswan is the pride of Egypt, its truly idlyllic. The best is watching the sun set on the mortal Nile in all glory!
Aswan is a very quiet, quaint place, where life is slow-moving, Aswan City proper lies on teh East Bank, while the west Bank has cliffs, that were gigantic, the awesome fury has to be seen for one to believe!
A felucca ride on the Nile is an absolute MUST!! We took both a sun-rise cruise as well as the sun-set cruise!! You must take a horse-ride through the city, it feels really nice, we did!!
My brother and father are ardent fishermen, so they managed to land a Nile Perch, which the hotel chef dutifully cooked for dinner!!
I would suggest that you go to the Island of Philae, its stunning!! And above all the sound and light show is really nice, except that the sound, I didn't hear, well its not really worth going if you aren't gonna hear the story of the Nile and Philae, my mummy translated the whole thing for me!!
We had tea one fine afternoon at the Cataract hotel, would suggest it!! Kitchner's island is fine for a visit, and so s Elephantine island, and then upriver you see, some exotic plants, and the tombs of Muhammed Shah Agha Khan, hopefully I heard right!! From the tomb you can see the Coptic Monestary of St.Simeon!
You can see built into the cliffs some pharonic nobles and dignataries. I would suggest that you visit the botanical gardens, the beautifully trimmed hedges and wondrous designs, and off course exotic plants.
We also had an opportunity to visit the Nubian village, which is something I will never forget! I also was fortunate to have a camel ride through the desert!
We then took a cruise to the High Dam, of Aswan, that was really nice as wel... because we went in the afternoon, we could hear the local call for prayer (Azaan)... We also went for a tour of the Unfinished Obelisk, that thing is huge!! We took a walk down the Nile Corniche-that is another MUST!! We passed the Philae gardens, then the Nubian Museum, and they have tombs dated from the Fatimid Period!! We also saw something like a graeco-roman sarcophagi(the largest one is in India-In Goa...I've seen that too!!), you also see an unfinished colossus which remains half-buried in the sand!!
Luxor is a must if you want to see Egypt architecture at it's best besides the great pyramids in cairo!
Will update later...tell me if you wanna know more!!
Sorry to bore you guys to death...hope this helps!
Kashveera