Sinai Peninsula

---

During our cruise, we still hadn’t planned the remaining four days of our vacation in Egypt. We decided to head to the Sinai Peninsula for some relaxing on the beaches of the Red Sea. We stayed at the Hilton Sharm Waterfalls, located right on the beach. Alex enjoyed his first morning of not setting an alarm, and we snorkeled on the reef next to the hotel. For the next two nights, we headed into Na’ama Bay, a very touristy outdoor pedestrian thoroughfare. There were hundreds of souvenir shops and restaurants. We chose TGI Fridays both nights because they had a seriously awesome drinks list and a non-smoking section (very rare and elusive in Egypt). During our last day, we went out on a glass bottom boat ride to see some amazing sea life (see video), and we went parasailing.

On Saturday, we caught a short flight to Cairo and went back to the pyramids during the day. The size and scale of the pyramids was truly impressive, but we were constantly being harassed by people selling junk and camel rides, including one guy who was shoving his wares into our hands so we would have to buy them. This may have been less of an issue had we hired a guide to keep everyone at bay or gone during the high tourist season when there are more prey. Even our taxi driver tried to drop us off in a back alley filled with camels and horse carriages, where his “brother” explained that the pyramid “system” had changed since we were there a week ago, and we must ride in on an animal. However, we eventually convinced the driver to drop us off at the official entrance, an unmarked gate, and walked between the pyramids. That evening, we went to the huge, western-style shopping mall, saw a movie, and savored a delicious Mexican meal.

---