Our family vacation in Naama Bay, Sharm El Sheikh

We just spent four amazing days in Naama Bay, Sharm El Sheikh. It is a tourist village with huge, fancy hotels concentrated around a bay, with the holiday goers as the only large business. It was very different from Cairo. We saw a lot of Europeans on holiday, wealthy Egyptian families and groups of young Egyptian men. Alcohol was readily available, and prices on everything were very high. Seeing past some of these things, it was also a place that offers amazing snorkeling and nature experiences, beautiful scenery, some really great restaurants, convenience, and a very relaxing atmosphere.

The hotel
We flew Egypt Air. The entire trip from Maadi to Naama Bay – door to door, including waiting time at the airport – takes about three and a half hours. The hotel we stayed at, Movenpick Jolie Ville, had free airport shuttle to and from the hotel. Courtesy of our employer, we got a good rate at the hotel, and the breakfast buffet that is included, is one of the nicest I’ve ever had, offering anything imaginable. One of the best things about it was the juice buffet, with freshly made 100% juices; strawberry, guava, mango, karkadeh, orange, grapefruit, etc. What was especially good as well was the Movenpick bread and pastries – I don’t usually eat that much bread, but here I couldn’t help myself. The hotel consists of two areas, the front area and the Palm area, which is a little cheaper and which is where we stayed. It was a bit further away from the beach and breakfast, and we had to cross a small street to get to the main hotel area, but really, it was nice. We had heard that it would be noisy because it’s closer to bars and the center of Naama Bay, but we barely heard anything.

The people
The locals were friendly, although it was a bit like living at the Khan Al Khalili, with people constantly asking you to buy their services or goods, using all tricks in the book. It was odd to be amongst Europeans again. At one point I was waiting in line for something, and it dawned on me that we really were amongst different people when nobody was trying to get ahead of me. It was also strange to see people *walk around nearly naked (i.e. wearing tank tops and shorts), *drink alcohol, and in large quantities at that (this not only goes for Europeans, but also for the young Egyptian men), and *stare at us when they heard our American accents (we didn’t meet any Americans except for our friends from Maadi that we ran into). It was also strange not to hear the calls for prayer, and not to have to speak Arabic, since everyone spoke English. William made friends with everyone, and everyone came up to see Abraham and to touch August’s hair.

The food
Trying to constrict our budget, we settle for two fancy meals at nice restaurants. The other two nights we had dinner at Pizza Hut (with McDonald’s for lunch one day – even there the prices were higher than in Cairo). Our first fancy dinner was at an Italian restaurant, Pomodoro, which is affiliated with the Camel Diving Club. We had Greek salads, margarita pizza, fried calamari, spaghetti Bolognese, and veal. Everything was really good, especially the calamari. Our second dinner was at the Indian restaurant Tandoori right next to Pomodoro, and there the food was great as well. We had samosas and a green salad for starters, rice, nan, chicken masala, prawn curry and some really spicy lamb that Courtney ordered for entrees. We both had a beer as well. At the restaurant, we ran into some friends and colleagues from Maadi – such a small world!

The beach & the Red Sea
We spent all four days on the beach and exploring the bay corals. Every day started with a thick layer of SPF 50, breakfast, and then another layer of SPF 50 before heading down to the beach. Even so, we all got a bit burned by the sun. At first we had decided to go to Ras Muhammed one day, but after we arrived, we decided to do that next year instead. There was plenty of reefs to explore in the bay for our first time there. One day we went out on a glass boat, but really didn’t see much that we couldn’t see while snorkeling. Courtney went paragliding one day – I will try to post a short movie of that. We saw so many fish and corals, I’ve never experienced anything like it; tiger fish, sting rays, clownfish, butterfly fish, Picasso fish, chocolate fish, huge fish, tiny fish, and some very, very curious fish. It was like swimming in a tropical aquarium. The added bonus was of course the boys’ excited exclaims as they explored the waters with us. “Look, mama! Look!! It’s Nemo!!!” They’re both fairly good swimmers, and quickly mastered the art of snorkeling. The water is also very salty, making it easy to stay up – even Abraham had some good swims, although he kept his head out of the water. The reefs close to the beach the boys explored by themselves, and the ones further out we took turns taking them to.

Four days of this was more than enough to invigorate us for the upcoming challenges this summer – we had such a great time! - and we will definitely go back to the Red Sea next year again. Now, after washing all the clothes, cleaning the house, watering the thirsty plants, and grocery shopping, it’s back to business. Courtney is teaching this summer, and the boys & I have two weeks to get a ton of schoolwork done and prepare for our trip to Sweden!