The Citadel
After visiting the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, we joined another convoy
out to Hurgada on the Red Sea Coast. 20 years ago this was a quiet little
fishing village with a population of hundreds, until the Germans discovered
it and turned it into a major tourist destination. There are heaps of huge
self-contained resort plazas and the town has the most construction work
being done in Egypt. Unfortuately, though, there's not much to look at in
the town itself. The outskirts are desolate with unfinished construction
sites scattered about everywhere. Every so often are the huge resort plazas
which offer package deals so that you don't need to leave them at all.
However the main attraction to the town, and what brings the tourists, is
the amazing reefs in the Red Sea. It is meant to be one of the best places
in the world to dive. We only went snorkelling to three spots for one day
but the experience was terrific. The quantity and variety of fish were
huge! As well as the bright lively colours of the coral and even the colour
of the sea was a wonderful turquoise. Unfortunately we didn't get any
pictures there, although you can get an idea of the colour of the sea in
some of the shots we took from the place on our way to Singapore.
Anyway, we got back to Cairo on the afternoon of Wednesday, 20th June. In
the evening we went with Simon, Helen, Sharon and Debbie to the Kahn Al Kalili
bazaar to see the Sufi whirling dancers and the markets. Unfortunately we got
there too late to get in as the hall was full. However we got lots of last
minute souvenir shopping done!
The next morning we met up again to visit the Citadel and the Mosque of
Mohammad Ali in the Islamic quarter of Cairo. There were also great views
of the city skyline from there.
