Well, we survived our trip to Egypt. no bombs and for me no emergency toilet trips either! Dahab is nice, I certainly wouldn’t call it pretty, but the backdrop of the Sinai mountains are spectacular and the views across the Gulf of Aquaba to Saudi Arabia are good. The villa we stayed in was really nice. It was clean, spacious, comfortable and had everything we needed, and the gardens were the perfect place to chill out. This was made even nicer by the fact that it is situated in Assalla, the bedouin (and therefore poorer) part of Dahab. The villa is surrounded by run down shacks, many of which don’t even have a proper roof, herds of goats and camels, but once in through the gates of the villa you enter a little oasis of calm.
Most people who go to Dahab stay in the plush hotels and resorts near the windsurf centres themselves, but I think they miss out on the real ‘Egypt’ when they do so. The resorts are very artifiical and although nice don’t really have any character. Staying in Assalla really made the holiday and Steve and I looked forward to our walks through the streets each evening.
We ate out every night, things are cheap in Egypt and the food was good. We tended to head to Masbat where most of the restaurants and bars are. There were plenty of nice places to eat, Friends and El Fanar on the seafront were probably our favourites as you probably can’t find a more relaxed chilled out restaurant anywhere. The air-conditioning of the Blue Beach Club was also welcomed.
The windsurfing was good. Wind everyday except the last day, although not really enough wind to make it exciting. We did learn a few new things though and sailing in shorts and rashvest is definitely easier than sailing in a full wetsuit. It’s a shame that there is such a slog to get out to the sailing area though as it means you end up taking a bigger board than is really necessary just so that you can get back at the end of the day.
All in all a good holiday, with some great people. Ramadan, the house-keeper at the villa is a star!! Steve suffered on the way home and had to make a few unplanned visits to the toilets on our journey. I’m not sure what he ate that I didn’t.
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