I want to tell you about a sightseeing tour of Sharm el-Sheikh city. I have been to the Sharm el-Sheikh region a couple of times, but today I will be talking about my first sightseeing tour there.
We had an afternoon tour, so a minibus was waiting for us at the entrance to the hotel at 15.30. There were only 8 people (all from different hotels), so the minibus was enough. To begin with, it was a real discovery for me that it turns out that I am vacationing in Asia, and not in Africa. Egypt itself, sometimes they say "mainland"; that is, where the capital Cairo and the Nile River flow, is located on the continent of Africa, and the Sinai Peninsula is already part of Asia.
On the way, we were told a lot about the history of the peninsula; it turned out that the Jews began to develop the resort here, because at one time this land belonged to Israel, and after the six-day war and their departure from Sinai, the Egyptians had already picked up this deal. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak distributed land to his associates and began intensive construction of hotels and the city of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Sharm itself, by modern standards, is a very young city, only 51 years old. Previously there was only a desert and the Sinai mountains, and everything was washed by the beautiful Red Sea. There lived mostly only Bedouins, local natives, breeding camels and living in dilapidated shacks. Today it is an absolutely modern city, all the water supplied in the city and hotels is desalinated sea water, so in no case should you drink from the tap. Drinking water is brought bottled from Cairo. All plants are watered with recycled wastewater from the sewer. Of course, it is clean, but it is not recommended to lie on the grass. But this is a little about the specifics, and now about the excursion itself.
Our first stop was a metal installation. Locals call it a monument, erected after a conference-forum on peace, which took place in the city of Sharm. It is located on the so-called Peace Square and is a huge metal ball with different figures: a ball, wings of the god Ra, lotus flower petals, doves. It is even listed in the Guinness book as the largest metal sculpture. The ball symbolizes the planet Earth, doves are the well-known birds of the world, the god Ra is the ancient god of Egypt. The creation looks large and pompous.
Nearby are flower beds, a fountain and a mini-park with decorative palm trees. By the way, the figure is made entirely of aluminum. There are also a number of flagpoles with the flags of the countries participating in this event. On the horizon you can see the beautiful Sinai mountains and the desert. In principle, such a landscape is seen throughout the peninsula. But even on the opposite side of this monument, there are very amusing statues of camels, "richly" painted with gold paint. Although these statues do not provide any value, our tourists take a lot of pictures of them.
Next, we had a visit to the Presidential Mosque, El Salam Mosque. Of course, he did not build it himself, he just prayed there during his stay in Sinai. The mosque itself is small, with only one minaret. It is decorated with a green dome. As is customary in Islam, there are no images or icons inside. Of course, Christians are not allowed inside, but you can look in, they even allow you to take a photo. This mosque is considered rich in decoration, but this is noticeable only by the blue carpet that covered the entire floor and chandeliers. And it is lined inside with beautiful blue marble. You cannot enter the mosque with shoes on, so there is a special place next to the door where you can leave them. The inner courtyard is also small, but thanks to the canopy, there is shade.
We visited the amazingly beautiful Coptic church and it was possible to go inside. Believers of the Coptic Orthodox, Catholic and Coptic Protestant churches are called by this name, and in a generalized sense, all Egyptian Christians. This is the most famous and beautiful Coptic temple in the Sinai Peninsula. There are some very interesting paintings inside. The exodus of the Jews under the leadership of Moses from Egypt is depicted, because it was through this desert that he led them. There is a fresco telling how the sea parted. These events took place, according to some researchers, also here in the Gulf of Aqaba.
By the way, the Coptic Church is not subordinate to any patriarchate, not even to Constantinople. Copts, like Christians, but as if by themselves. And in the church, they have pews to sit on, which is what Catholics usually do. They also do not have such strictness in dress when visiting the temple and women are allowed to visit church with their heads uncovered, but it is only desirable that their knees and elbows be covered.
Next, we moved to the famous, beautiful Sharm El Sheikh Mosque. This is also a modern building, but this mosque is larger both in appearance and area. In the space there are even separate buildings, the so-called wash basins, separately for men, separately for women. It was built of light shell rock and lined with marble. There are two minarets here. In appearance and decoration, the mosque is more pretentious.
We stopped at a huge hospital built in the form of a pyramid; local rulers were even treated here. The water park looks very interesting, it is very large and looks like a fairy-tale palace. Then we visited one of the most beautiful Moscues - Sahaba Mosque.
Well, how without shopping of souvenirs on such an excursion? This was a less exciting activity. They took us to an oil factory, or rather a store. The factory itself is located near Cairo, and here they had only products. They tell us about production and offer to buy some goods.
From there, they brought us to a couple of other shopps. All shopping went ccording to the same scheme - papyri, silver, sweets. There are signs in the shops that photography is prohibited, but this is more likely to avoid taking pictures of prices, because they are actually three to four times higher than in the market in the Old Town.
The downside is that we were not brought to the Old City, but we have already visited it by ourselves. There is a beautiful square with fountains, many shops with affordable prices, and my passion is fish restaurants.
This tour, in my eyes, is more focused on getting to know the city and its relationship with the Sinai Peninsula and Egypt itself. On this tour, we saw Sharm El Sheikh, not only geographically, but also geopolitically, its connection with Christianity and Islam, we got to know why this city is called the "City of Peace", who started to build it, where the beginnings were, how this city is developing now, what trends, how the city is divided to...
Even with the imposed shopping, I advise you to book this tour because the objects are located far from each other and it is not very convenient to see them by yourself!
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