Beyond Sharm el Sheikh

Hi, still full from Christmas lunch, I grabbed the last available flight to Sharm el Sheikh and arrived with no bookings whatsoever at Naama Bay, surprised by the temperature (not as high as expected) and by the beauty of the place. I found excellent accommodation in the hotel next to the famous MOVENPICK, a stone's throw from the beach and in the middle of everything.

I later learned that it was the first hotel to be built in Naama Bay and indeed it had an "Egyptian" feel that recent hotels no longer have, almost resembling those in Las Vegas with discos, shopping centres, bars and restaurants of every kind around them. I immediately took the boat excursion to the Ras Mohamed marine park with snorkelling at three spots on the coral reef, I watched a wonderful sunset from the hill at the end of the bay, I wandered a bit through the night-time chaos of Naama Bay only to decide that it wasn't the place for me.

The next morning I took the first bus north and after a couple of hours I arrived in DAHAB. As soon as I arrived I immediately realised I was in the right place, and indeed I stayed there for all of the following 6 days.

Dahab is a truly lovely little town with small hotels, bars and restaurants along its long pedestrian seafront road, where it's pleasant to stroll especially in the evening and stop at one of the many seafront places, to eat fish, smoke a narghile or simply chat with the sociable tourists from all over the world who don't put on airs as they do in Naama Bay. The place is extremely cheap and I'm ashamed to say how little I spent, without denying myself anything and doing numerous excursions. At night, under an enchanting starry sky, slaloming among the camels on offer, I climbed the famous Mount Moses to watch the sunrise, shivering, and then visit the monastery of St Catherine.

With the off-road vehicles and a nice group of Slovenians I went to see and travel the white canyon, not exceptional, and instead the incredible coloured canyon, whose impact is only slightly less than the Grand Canyon in Arizona. There was also a stop at a lovely oasis with a Berber lunch. I hitchhiked to the Blue Hole, a famous inlet a few kilometres north of Dahab where all the divers come to plunge into the cool, crystal-clear waters and admire fish and corals of every colour and size.

I prefer to stay free and admire the unlucky ones from above with my flippers and mask. Diving is the big business of the place: about 200 dollars for a 4-day course, theory lessons and dives with the instructor. Finally I walked from the Blue Hole to the Berber village a few kilometres away, following a rocky path and pitying the dozens of madmen on camels who are taken to the same place after a couple of hours of torment. In my opinion the walk is much more pleasant and you arrive at the village with a decent hunger, just right for tasting the fresh fish in the local little restaurants. I socialised with other lone travellers in the various bars and restaurants along the sea: English, Americans, Irish, Russians and even Japanese, with whom I stuffed myself with local dishes of excellent fish.

For a few days I was in the company of a nice group of Milanese, couples with children who took diving lessons every day with an Egyptian instructor engaged to an Italian woman. So we were able to eat magnificently, thanks to his local knowledge, in a restaurant set up inside a Berber tent where, when we were completely full and about to ask for the bill, they told us that we had only eaten........ the starters!!! The following evening in a restaurant run by an Italian couple, and we finished in style by spending New Year's Eve night in the huge disco set up inside an enormous vessel pulled ashore, with about 500 people of every background and nationality, all happy and tipsy, with great music. Before leaving I stocked up on music CDs, with the latest international hits at 2 euros per CD.

On the beach, near the Blue Hole, I also met two Israeli lads from Jerusalem who told me that, under the agreements following the return of Sinai to Egypt, Israelis could enter and holiday throughout Sinai itself! There is, in any case, a lot of police and checks on traffic and on the documents of every traveller at every road junction. The local craftwork is quite interesting and costs very little, and in general life in Dahab costs very little, while the quality of services and food is only slightly lower than in Naama Bay, costing about a tenth, excursions included.

What else can I say? Go to Dahab, but please don't ruin it, don't turn it into a new Naama Bay, otherwise you'll force us to flee even further north towards Nuweiba, which by hearsay is another excellent place, a little Dahab.

One last note: as soon as I got home I phoned my daughter, who, all flustered and worried, let me know that the flight a few hours after mine had crashed with over 100 dead.