Sharm el Sheikh

We arrived in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt on Friday afternoon. Upon pulling up to the Hilton Sharm Waterfalls Resort, we knew we were in good hands. When we were leaving our honeymoon, also spent in a Hilton Worldwide Resort, we were checking out some of the other 40 resorts they have, and saw that there were several in Egypt on the Red Sea. Three years later, when we decided we were going to spend some time in Egypt, we decided to check out one of the resorts we had seen. We were not disappointed!

As soon as we pulled up, our guide began calling Matt and I the "king and queen" of the resort. We were greeted in the lobby by a beautiful view of the Red Sea and the mountains of Saudi Arabia through the back of the welcome center, which was all glass. Complimentary Egyptian tea was waiting for us and was delicious! And similar to our honeymoon, we were upgraded right away…at no charge! They brought us to our room, which was a suite with a private balcony, and, as they told us, "three views". Apparently most rooms have either a view of one of the seven pools, OR a view of the garden, OR a view of the Sea. We had a view of all three. We were stoked. After exploring the hotel a bit, we decided to order room service for dinner, and ate on our balcony, admiring the view of the full moon over the Sea. It was spectacular.

The next morning, we ate a huge breakfast, where we were introduced to the ways of the "rooster". Matt had read some reviews of the resort before we arrived, and most of them were from Europeans, complaining about the Russians, the fact that they are rude, and that they do not know how to "queue" in line. Matt was already dreading this, but I was keeping an open mind. That very first morning, though, I was cut off by two Russians on line, who did not even glance my way as I was patiently waiting to order my omelet. We decided that most of the Russians we were seeing seemed unhappy and weren’t smiling. Since we thought we may spend a good portion of our time dissecting their actions, we decided to come up with a code word…"rooster. So, hopefully none of you reading this will take offense. It was all in good fun, as we learned the ways of the rooster holiday."

We spent that first day lounging at the pool in the hot desert sun. I love the desert heat. It was like a Vegas pool day…sort of. Very hot, very dry, very tolerable, a few pool bars, fun music. But, no dirty Rehab water. And the addition of the Animation Team. When I saw signs for this, we thought, "Huh…wow. They must really be into drawing here." It turns out the Animation Team is an energetic, if slightly obnoxious, group of 20-somethings who work at the resort and try to get the guests to participate in group activities like dance class, water polo, water aerobics, basketball, etc. Once we convinced the animation team that we were not going to play any sports, they left us alone and the day was very relaxing. Matt didn’t appreciate the beauty of the salt water chlorination in the pools, though. He wouldn’t have lasted a day at the LNCC pool. We had a few drinks at the Tipsy Turtle pool bar, which we later found out actually has some turtles hanging out at it (there was a tank with three turtles in it…we were certain they were fake until the bartender pulled one out and it started nibbling on a cucumber and crawling on the bar). That night we ate at the Lebanese restaurant. It turns out that Lebanese food was very similar to Greek food. The appetizer of deep-fried cheese in phyllo was to die for, and Matt loved his beef kabobs. I was less than impressed with the chicken I got, but our waiter made up for it by bringing some complimentary desserts.

The next morning we woke up and spent some more time at the pool, successfully avoiding the animation team again, and enjoying some more Heinekens at the Tipsy Turtle. We are not big Heineken drinkers in the US. But, when we travel…I’m not sure if it is truly different abroad, or it is the attraction of something familiar…it goes down so easy. We had another relaxing day and then headed out to Naama Bay, about ten minutes away by taxi, for some drinks on the beach. Naama Bay seemed like a really cool little town. Lots of house music on the beach, lots of foreigners looking ready to party, lots of bars. We enjoyed happy hour there, but were even happier that we were staying at the Hilton Waterfalls. This was the "relaxing" part of our trip, and the place we chose was definitely geared toward that.

Around 10pm the next night,after yet another day spent at the pool and a couple rounds of room service (which was extremely cheap…$3-5 per meal per person), we were picked up for our trip to Mt. Sinai. We’re becoming used to these excursions where you get picked up anywhere from 15-60 minutes late, then drive around the city you’re in for another 15-60 minutes, picking up guests at other hotels. We were officially on our way by 11 or so, and began the hike up Mt. Sinai at 2:30am, in an effort to see the sunrise from the top. When we booked the trip, the agent told us it would be about 30 degrees overnight. I logically assumed he meant Celsius, since that’s how everything else works here. Fortunately, Matt is an avid "Man vs. Wild" fan and pointed out how cold the desert can be at night, so we both wore long pants, and brought sweaters and a change of shirts. Thanks, Bear Grylls! It was FREEZING when we arrived, never mind once we started our ascent! However, since it was about three and a half miles straight up (I am talking Half Dome tough), we were sweating in our t-shirts and pants. We powered through, saving our dry clothes for the top. We were much more prepared than anyone else in our group, including the roosters, who were miserable from the moment we arrived until the moment we dropped them back off at their hotel the next day. We finished the hike and subsequent 750 steps to the pinnacle while it was getting light out, but were there in plenty of time for the sunrise. Thank goodness for those dry clothes! Matt and I found a perfect rock for us to enjoy the view and promptly changed into our new shirts. We were shivering and are certain we would have been sick if we hadn’t changed.

When I was researching this hike, I read that it was a "religious" experience, even for those who looked outside the fact that this is where Moses received the ten commandments, and spent his 40 days and 40 nights. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve seen sunrises before, but this was magnificent, surrounded by beautiful mountains, with the moon still high in the sky. The colors were amazing and the views were astounding.

After the sun was up, we began the trip back down. What took about two and a half hours up took a mere 40 minutes down, thanks to our crazy guide, Raymond. When we arrived at St. Catherine’s monastery, at the bottom of the mountain, I couldn’t believe we had done so much with the day by 8:30am. And already, the desert heat was setting back in. Such extreme conditions in the desert. We didn’t spend much time in the monastery, but it was beautiful; not just for the architecture, but also for the history inside…the church, mosque, burning bush. It was unbelievable to think this had been built nearly 2000 years ago.

We were so happy to pull back up to the Hilton after the long bus ride back. We ran straight out to a new pool, and had a few rounds of Heinekens at the Chillax Bar. It was just what we needed after the strenuous hike and lack of sleep. We were definitely "chillaxed". We showered and headed over to the Italian restaurant. We had both been craving Italian, and apparently that is the place to be at the Hilton. We had tried to go there the previous two nights, but were turned away the first night, and couldn’t get a reservation the second night! It was worth the wait. Pretty authentic Italian food…the caprese was out of this world, and our meals were delicious. Also, Egypt has very good bread. We have been eating way too much of it and are definitely enjoying every bit.

We were so sad to leave the Hilton this morning. Not quite as traumatizing for me as when we left our honeymoon (I was physically in tears), but part of me wanted to cry. We really enjoyed our time here and have added it to our list of places to which we will definitely return. I would recommend Hilton Worldwide Resorts to anyone. The service is top-notch and so is the atmosphere. Even though we had already stuffed our faces at breakfast, the staff at check-out wanted us to take breakfast with us to the airport! We settled for some bottled waters, which came in handy when we had to stop on the way because the taxi got a flat tire. Ever the gentleman, Matt assisted in the process of changing the tire, while I sat in the near-90-degree heat watching them, snapping pictures and drinking my water.

The views flying out were amazing and we will definitely miss Sharm! While it the most popular beach city in the Middle East, we were the only Americans at the resort! Everyone should go here! It is fantastic! We certainly got some much-needed relaxation…exactly what we needed before our upcoming days in Cairo.