Ancient and Modern: Timeshare Egypt

Location

The Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh is outside the Eurozone, and offers superb value for taking timeshare holidays. Interval's Robin Gauldie takes time out to visit Cairo, Luxor and Mount Sinai.

At the tip of the Sinai Peninsula, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aqaba, Sharm el Sheikh has become one of Egypt’s premier winter sun resorts. Around five hours’ flying time from northern Europe, Sharm and the Sinai offer perfect winter weather. In summer, the temperature can soar to a scorching 40°C (104°F), but from December to March it’s a comfortable 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F), with an average six to eight hours of sunshine daily. And it almost never rains.

In the 1970s, Sharm was little more than a laid-back and fairly basic dive resort. It has since grown into a full-scale holiday destination with excellent accommodation and a choice of activities on land and water. Sharm sits on a 10-mile (16 km) stretch of sandy beach, which incorporates the neighbouring resort towns of Ras Nusrani, Na’ama Bay and Shark Bay.

Offshore, there’s superb snorkelling around the coral reefs and rocky islands of the Ras Mohamed National Park and, for more experienced divers, there are dozens of accessible shipwrecks within easy reach. You may find it hard to tear yourself way from Sharm’s palm-fringed beaches and poolsides, but make the effort, because there is much more to see beyond the resort area.

The Sinai Peninsula’s must-see historical attraction is the breathtaking St Catherine’s Monastery, which is built on the site where the Old Testament says Moses encountered God in the form of a burning bush. Founded during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, this monastery is a treasury of ancient manuscripts, icons and works of religious art. It has survived almost 1,500 years of turbulent history, protected by its massive fortress walls and its remote desert location.

Above St Catherine’s Monastery looms Mount Sinai, known to the Egyptians as Jebel Musa, where according to Muslim tradition, the Prophet Mohammed rose to the seven heavens on Boraq, a white horse-like creature.

THOU SHALT NOT WALK?

At the summit of Mount Sinai, God is said to have given Moses the tablets on which were carved the Ten Commandments. Watching the sun rise over the desert from the summit of Mount Sinai is a particularly memorable experience. There’s a pathway to the top, hacked out of rock by the monks of St Catherine’s. But, be warned, the climb is 3,750 steps, and can take one to three hours, depending on your level of fitness.

Alternatively, you can rent a camel and guide to ride up the gentler path known as the “camel road”, but these smelly, bad-tempered beasts take around four hours to reach the top. It’s an uncomfortable ride, and you will probably wish you had chosen to walk.

Mount Sinai is about three hours’ drive from Sharm el Sheikh, and there are plenty of tour companies in Sharm offering day trips to the mountain and the monastery. Combine the trip with a visit to the Coloured Canyon, deep in the heart of the Sinai Desert, which has towering sandstone walls streaked in dramatic shades of red, purple, gold and yellow. Take the opportunity to visit the nomadic people of a Bedouin tribe, many of whom are geared up for tourists and will even provide you with a picnic meal.
 
The night life in Sharm el Sheikh is very cosmopolitan. You can lounge on a couch while watching a belly dancer wiggle through her alluring routine, gamble your spending money at the roulette wheels, or opt for a laid-back evening at one of a dozen or more clubs and music bars.

Sharm’s restaurant portfolio stretches from Egyptian and Middle Eastern to Japanese, Thai and Korean — and there’s even a Hard Rock Cafe if you feel the urge for a burger. For a taste of Egyptian dishes such as kebabs, falafel and ful medames (brown bean stew), try Tam Tam in the Ghazala Hotel in Sharm. Here, the traditional cafe atmosphere is enhanced by a shisha corner where you can puff away at a bowl of apple-flavoured tobacco from a hubble-bubble pipe. Sharm also has dozens of pizza and pasta spots. For up-market, classic Italian dishes such as osso bucco and fresh made gnocci, La Luna in the Ritz Carlton Hotel is an excellent choice.

CAIRO AND KING TUT

If you have the urge to explore Egypt’s ancient temples and monuments, flights to Cairo and Luxor take less than an hour from Sharm. A visit to Cairo, Egypt’s busy, noisy and crowded capital (population estimated at around 17 million) can be an overwhelming experience. If you take an escorted day-trip from Sharm you can pack in the pyramids and the Sphinx, as well as a visit to the National Archaeological Museum with its huge collection of ancient treasures, including those of the boy king Tutankhamen.

King Tut’s tomb itself is worthy of a visit to Luxor, in the Nile Valley, less than 322 km (200 miles) west of Sharm. However, the tomb is small and unremarkable compared with some of the grander burial chambers carved out of stone nearby. Be sure to see the Temple of Hatshepsut, a stunning tribute to ancient Egypt’s most powerful female ruler. Its stones are elaborately carved with images of the cow-headed goddess Hathor and detailed representations of the fishes of the Red Sea. Luxor’s top attraction lies on the opposite bank of the Nile, about 3.2 km (2 miles) north of the modern town. The Karnak temple complex, which contains a forest of soaring stone columns and avenue of sphinxes, is the largest ancient temple complex in the world and was begun more than 3,500 years ago.

THE NILE, MILE BY MILE  

At Luxor you can enjoy three of the finest experiences that Egypt has to offer. The sound and light show, held every evening at the Temple of Karnak with narration by Sir Richard Burton, really shouldn’t be missed. Hot-air balloon flights take off just after sunrise from the banks of the Nile, not far from the Valley of the Kings. Depending on which way the wind is blowing, you will drift tranquilly over the Valley of the Kings and the arid hills of the West Bank to land for a breakfast picnic on the desert fringes, or float across the Nile and over the rooftops of Luxor and the columns of Karnak.

And finally, spend a blissful hour or more on the Nile aboard a white-sailed felucca. Dozens of these little sailing boats still work on the Nile, ferrying villagers, farm produce and the occasional goat across the river, as well as plying for tourist hire. If you’re prepared for some energetic bargaining with the boatmen, you can pick one up along the Luxor quayside in the centre of town, opposite the Temple of Luxor. If not, there are plenty of  tour agencies in your base of Sharm el Sheikh, which can arrange felucca trips for you.

This article first appeared in the Autumn 2008 issue of Interval World UK magazine. © Interval International, Inc. Used with permission.

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