By El-Qamar
Photography by El-Qamar and Michael Manoly
Back in March we had a couple of excellent guest posts about cycling trips from Hurghada to El Quseir (here and here), now here’s the latest instalment in the series: from Hurghada to Marsa Alam, a 284 km (176.5 mi) road trip on two wheels over two days. Enjoy. Read more…
By El-Qamar
Photography by El-Qamar
In November, my cycling mate and I once again cycled to El Quseir. The trip was quiet, the tail wind helped us once more and we arrived at our goal, again, within just about four hours riding. You can read about our first trip right here.
A shower and a bit of relaxation were in order; the camp a very simple one.
I can’t imagine how divers can endure staying here for prolonged periods of time; the facilities are actually rather basic. The accommodation is made up of simple reed huts covered with palm leafs, and the washrooms are shared, but they do have running water. There also seemed to be a power cut when we were there!. There are huts on the beach as well, and I imagine they must be very romantic for couples in love, spending the night in one of them going to sleep to to the sound of the see… as long as mosquitoes can be kept at bay! The location itself is impressive, and the view of the mountains, the desert and the sea are gorgeous. Read more…
By El-Qamar
Photography by El-Qamar
Cycling in Egypt has not really kicked in as a recreational activity, even with the rise in some professional cycling shops, it is still something in its infancy. Attempting in the wild and chaotic streets of Cairo and Giza is certainly a challenge best left to the boldest of the bold. But the further you get away from the centre it actually becomes better. Taking it to the next level and doing endurance and long distance cycling is certainly another story, and in on and by itself can be an exhilarating experience.
Recently I was lucky enough and got in touch with a Liechtensteinerin traveller, cyclist, and blogger, who spreads her time between Egypt and Liechtenstein, she will be sharing some of her earlier adventures in Egypt ever then next few guest posts, and hopefully some of her more recent ones when she gets the chance. You can find her bio and links to her German and English blogs right after the post.
Enjoy. Read more…
By Islam El Shazly and Sue Ryan
This latest edition of 101 Places to Take your Family in Egypt has been a long time in the making. Halfway through working on the content our site was attacked by a massive BotNet that targeted websites running on WordPress, we were one of the unlucky ones, and the site was defaced. Alhamdulillah, the damage was repairable and we managed to get the site back online within a few days, but we were working behind the scenes to secure the website against any further future attacks, and insha’Allah we will do our best to prevent that insha’Allah.
Thank you for your patience… Read more…
By Susan Ryan
Siwa Oasis is the most westerly of Egypt’s oasis, about 725 km from Cairo, with Libya just 50 km away. It is worth the trek even if your children usually ask “are we there yet?” after an hour of travelling. Reaching Siwa takes between eight and 10 hours by bus or car from Cairo, but if you break the journey up with stops in Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh you will better appreciate the variety of landscapes you pass through. If you have four days or more for your Siwa trip, it is ideal to have a day in one of those coastal cities before your immersion in desert for the last four hours of travel. Read more…
By Islam El Shazly and Susan Ryan,
You would be hard pressed to find a tourist in Egypt who hasn’t been to the Pyramids or to Sharm El-Sheikh, but finding the odd tourist who is willing to get off the beaten path and separate from the crowds to discover where the road would take them or what they will find, that’s a totally different matter. Read more…
By Islam El Shazly and Susan Ryan
Most tourists have a very limited time when vacationing, there’s the time wasted in the travelling itself, and the fact that most people barely get two or three weeks vacation at the most from their work. So they don’t have much of a choice when coming to Egypt, they’re usually stuck with the same uncreative itinerary as most everyone else, and that can lead to an unsatisfactory experience. Or so they are led to believe. Read more…
By Islam El Shazly
What do James Bond and Indiana Jones have in common? Well aside from the fact they’re both fictional, they both fought baddies in exotic locations in Egypt, like the Gayer-Anderson House, and Abu Simbel. Indiana Jones went a step further by finding the Ark of the Covenant in Tanis! Even Hercule Poirot visited the great temples of Abu Simbel in Death on the Nile: A Hercule Poirot Mystery
Indiana Jones is also based to an extent on Giovanni Belzoni, the famed nineteenth century explorer who also carried a whip around. Read more…
By Islam El Shazly
Here’s another set that represents another sampling of activities that can be done and places that can be seen in a country mostly associated with either Pharaonic heritage or the beaches of Sharm. There are a couple of sites dating back to Dynastic Egypt, as iconic as they get, a Roman era outpost, a popular hike, and a sport that has been steadily gaining popularity among Egyptian enthusiasts and foreign ones alike; sportfishing in Lake Nasser. Read more…
By Islam El Shazly
Egypt has hundreds of places to enjoy, not just for the globetrotter or the single adventurer, but for the entire family, young and old. There are, of course, the usual haunts that should be on everyone’s itinerary, but that should not deter from sampling everything else that Egypt has to offer.
There are mountains to climb, trails to hike, and caves to discover. It would be impossible to do all of them in one visit, but just sampling some of the wonders on offer might just bring you and yours back for more. Read more…
