So last week was our annual family holiday, and this year we went to Taba, Egypt for the week. It was all-inclusive pretty much 24 hours a day....so lets just say I made the most of it...and gained 1kg in the process :P
I did stick to my £10 budget while I was there though and only bought a cute little wooden and mother of pearl box and I managed to haggle (how amazing is haggling!!!) and got the guy to throw in a couple of postcards for free so I didn't go over my budget :)
It really was a magical holiday and I'm so grateful to my parents for taking us there. It was so exotic and 'Arabian'...like something out of Aladdin! We stayed at the Sofitel Taba Heights which was one of the most beautiful hotels ever...it was set right in between the Sinai mountains and the Gulf of Aquaba, looking out over Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
I was really worried at first with the revolution going on in Cairo, but when we got to the resort I couldn't believe how quiet it was! There were only British people there because all of the Europeans had left, so the hotel only had a 35% occupancy. We were talking to the waiters in the restaurant and they were saying because we were in the Sinai region there were no troubles there...they even consider it a different country! Our Assad (our waiter who served us every mealtime the whole time we were there), said that it wasn't considered the real Egypt because it used to belong to Israel.
I was really worried at first with the revolution going on in Cairo, but when we got to the resort I couldn't believe how quiet it was! There were only British people there because all of the Europeans had left, so the hotel only had a 35% occupancy. We were talking to the waiters in the restaurant and they were saying because we were in the Sinai region there were no troubles there...they even consider it a different country! Our Assad (our waiter who served us every mealtime the whole time we were there), said that it wasn't considered the real Egypt because it used to belong to Israel.
The staff at the hotel were sooooo nice and couldn't do enough for us! We also made the trip to St Catherine's Monastery and the Burning Bush in the Sinai Mountains, which was so surreal and as a Christian I felt so honoured to be able to see where Moses had actually spoken to God and received the 10 commandments. Just to be standing where Moses had stood thousands of years ago, to actually walk around a Monastery and view Icons that were thousands of years old! They also still have the relics of St Catherine there, and her thumb is actually on display! I understand some of you may not be as excited by all this as my Dad and I were...which is fair enough lol :P
It was also amazing seeing the Bedouin people and seeing how they live. Some of them still live in Caves in the mountains and travel around the desert with their camels and tents.
We also went swimming/snorkelling in the Red Sea and it was like swimming in a fish tank, the coral and fish were incredible! Really wish I had an underwater camera...but couldn't buy one before we went because of my £10 budget :(
If you ever get the chance to go there, DO! Ignore the warnings about the troubles and just do it, you won't regret it. It really was the most amazing place.
I really really want to go travelling around the Middle East now (Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia etc). It's just like a completely different world to ours.
My brother, mum and I at St Catherine's Monastery
St Catherine's Monastery....yes I climbed a mountain to take this photo.
Bedouin People at St Catherine's
A camel that we thought looked a bit like our puppy dog Dylan
The Red Sea by our Hotel
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