Marsa Matruh

We are on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, near El Alamein, on a stretch of sea still unspoilt. Flights to Marsa Matruh land directly at the city's airport; but this is a novelty since until recently the airport was military; in fact this area could only be reached from Cairo and with a long bus transfer. The season opens in May and ends towards the end of October, and the climate already from May is fantastic; there were about 30 degrees by day, little temperature range at night and a constant but not annoying breeze; the clouds just don't pass by here! The area at sea level is truly beautiful even without a coral reef; the beaches, interspersed with rocky outcrops, are long and of very fine sand, and the often calm sea looks like a swimming pool.

Here you go, it is a sea that could become fun; I repeat, there is no reef, but since there is a bit of breeze, you could windsurf or canoe; the hotel unfortunately was not equipped, who knows, maybe later. The hotel area is being born now, in the sense that several building sites are visible while currently the hotels in operation can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The town of Marsa Matruh remains a bit out of the way; it is a fairly large little town that existed already independently of tourism, and where you can do some shopping before leaving. The destination lends itself to a few excursions: Siwa Oasis, El Alamein, Alexandria and Cairo even as a day trip.

Unfortunately the weather was not on my side, and even though it is the third time I land in Egypt, on this trip too Cairo eluded me!!!!!!! I can, however, describe the only excursion I made, to Siwa: it is a fairly demanding little trip since you leave early in the morning and return in the late afternoon. Honestly I did not like it much; the coach transfer to get there lasts 3 hours out and 3 back, crossing the desert, air conditioning as usual at absurd levels, and a rather monotonous landscape..... maybe it's that I am not a lover of these desolate places. Anyway all that effort to see the remains of houses built of mud and salt that are melting under the sun... nothing to do with the ruins of the pharaonic era along the Nile. On the way back you stop near a salt lake in the middle of the desert.

I recommend this holiday to those who want to switch off, because the destination is truly relaxing and reachable in two and a half hours of flight, to those who love the beach and a beautiful sea thirty metres from the room, and to those who perhaps want to take the opportunity to see the Pyramids; then yes, it is money well spent! SHOKRAN