Sharm El-Sheikh

Sharm el-Sheikh (شرم الشيخ, also transliterated as Sharm ash Shaykh), often known simply as "Sharm," is a city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in Janub Sina', Egypt, on the coastal strip between the Red Sea and Mount Sinai.

Ten years ago, Sharm El Sheikh was barely big enough to qualify as a sleepy fishing village. Today, it has become a sinonim for turism! City without real inhabitants, just men working in tourism (it’s too expensive for them to live there, so whenever they can, they drive back home to Cairo, Dahab, Taba…). Major luxury hotels, such as The Ritz-Carlton and The Four Seasons, as well as franchises like Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Cafe, can be found in Sharm el-Sheikh. A number of international hotels and noted restaurants are gathered around Naama Bay, with golf courses and other leisure facilities further up the coast.
You probably wonder what I was doing alone in city of Russian young couples, golf players and German old ladies...Well, Sharm has a dramatic landscape, year-round dry and temperate climate and long sections of natural beaches. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the year and have become popular for various water sports, particularly scuba diving and snorkeling (which many consider to be among the best in the world).

Sharm el-Sheikh was captured by Israel during the Sinai conflict of 1956 and restored to Egypt in 1957. In 1967 Six Day War was recaptured by Israel and renamed Mifratz Shlomo, Hebrew for "Gulf of Solomon". Sharm el-Sheikh remained under Israeli control until the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in 1982.

The city was struck by two major disasters in recent years. On January 3, 2004, Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashed into the Red Sea shortly after leaving Sharm el-Sheikh's airport. On July 23, 2005, a series of bombings killed more than 80 persons. But that didn't stop me. I packed my things and .... Instead of postcards, here you have some pics of my first days in Egypt.

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