Time to Relax

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The day has finally dawned, now we can relax, lie in the sun and basically just kick back.
But first things first, do we eat breakfast in the hotel or do we go hungry. The thought of all those steps to the town centre won the day and we took our seats in the hotel "dining room".


Our day was spent lounging around on the sun loungers on what the hotel laughingly calls a beach. I think the sand is the left overs from the building site next door and the flat area is about 3 feet above the water, with a wooden jetty and a metal tube step to get you into the sea.
The sea and coral however more than makes up for all the downsides. Lots of fish, coral and sea anemones, and finally we saw a crab scuttling over the rock under the jetty. Saw one of the strangest fish imaginable a Unicorn fish with 2 blue barbs either side of the tail. Plenty Parrot fish, the occassional lion fish that we gave a wide berth, and the stunning black spotted grunt fish.



Urgent appointment in The Camel Bar tonight 1700hrs France v Scotland. Great turn out, plenty support for Scotland (we needed it) and one lonely voice cheering for France, wish this had been an omen for the score but no we got beat again, but it was a good game.
Our day in the sun was taking its toll, Mike was bright red in just about every visiable place the sun could find, Sunstroke why oh why do us northerners never learn, we must remember to use sunscreen and keep out of the mid day sun.



When in Egypt, what do you do with the shells from the monkey nuts the bar so thoughtfully provide you with, you do as everyone else and chuck them on the floor, felt really bad doing this but it seemed to be the done thing.

Day 2 for relaxing, it must get easier.

They have got to be having a laugh. We wandered along the beach in Namma Bay and decided to have the day there which we had to pay, yes pay LE30 EACH.

I knew we could expect to see muslim women in the sea, swimming in their traditional clothing. Very hard for me to understand. On a more practical level, they must be very cold when they come out of the water.

The sand was much nicer, softer, and it leads straight into the sea. The sea is not as clean here as it is round the headland, and I think there are less fish, and most definitely a lot more rubbish lying on the sea bed here, but that is maybe because we can actually see the sea bed.
Much more cloudy for our last day lounging, but we still managed to add to the colour be it red or brown.
Last chance to wander thru the souk and try to dodge the salesmen, not sure who won the day because they did manage to sell us some tourist tat, but we did manage to haggle them down. I don’t suppose it was 50/50 probably more like 80/20 for the Egyptians.

Taking no chances with our food tonight, well an aeroplane is not the place to be with travellers tummy is it. Mike thinks the HRC would be our safest option, didn’t like to say it is more than likely Egyptians doing the cooking. A wee bit odd seeing Bacon Cheeseburger on the menu, but when you read the small print it points out it is Beef Bacon.

Our last night in Sharm, so where else do you go, yes you guessed it, Camel rooftop bar where you pay more for the fruit juice than the beer, but who cares when the view is as magical as it is from there.

Monday

That’s it Weeks all done have to go home today.

But first things first, we have a wee while before we have to clear the room of all our junk, so after a final game of Russian roulette in the hotel dining room, and a gentle trot down the "beach" we dive into the Red Sea. We came out of the sea all prune like, think we swam & snorkelled for most of the 2 hours we had left.

Packing to go home is just so easy, just stuff everything into the bag, then sit on the top to zip it up, took us about 20mins to shower and pack and get out the room.
Our last couple of hours in Namma Bay were spent running the gauntlet with the Egyptian stall holders and café owners.

Airport rules humph why cant they all be the same, we managed to get rid off our water and juice before we got to the security gates, only to find out we could have taken it with us. Vastly inflated prices after security for a bottles of water, but we will know for our next visit. Will there be a next visit??? Hope so.

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Photos

Those steps
Good for the calf muscles

Namma Bay
Beach and Mountains

Early Afternoon
King of Bahrain Street - Naama Bay