Egyptian adventure

Go reader MÁIRE HEALYescaped the Irish winter by travelling to Sharm el Sheikh, on the Red Sea

I WAS BOBBING on the Red Sea like a mother duck watching her brood diving far below. The children were pointing excitedly at multicoloured fish, swimming in water so clear it was like being in an aquarium. With year-round sun and 20- degree water, the Red Sea is the place to beat winter blues.

We were on a day trip to Ras Mohammed National Park, in Egypt, which has 1,000 species of fish in its reefs. The park is on a peninsula just south of Sharm el Sheikh, where we had flown from Dublin with our knees around our ears for five hours. The joy of charter flights.

The sea was also only a five-minute stagger across a pontoon from our family suite at the Renaissance Golden View Beach Resort. What bliss to slide into the warm water and wonder at the sights beneath the waves. The colours and shapes of the fish were amazing. We saw long, skinny cornetfish swimming in the coral, square yellow-and-black butterfly fish, which looked like hot-water bottles, and bright-red coral groupers. Touching coral or fish is strictly forbidden, for ecological reasons. In some areas the water is so shallow that its coral could easily be damaged by enthusiastic swimmers.

The peace and tranquillity of our hotel disappeared as soon as you stepped outside the compound, where the noise of real life assaulted you. Taxi drivers competed fiercely for business – and drove like boy racers, music blaring, horns tooting. Children rode camels on the inside track. It was all a bit chaotic.

We headed for Sharm’s Old Market, one of the sites where 88 people were killed in a bombing on Revolution Day in 2005. A lovely memorial was erected on the coast in memory of them. Today a very large security presence is visible everywhere, to protect Egypt’s visitors.

Our senses were assaulted again in the market. Tacky coloured lights twinkled over the passageways, rugs and papyrus paintings hung to attract attention, and all shapes and sizes of leather goods competed to catch the eye.

The noise was both exciting and deafening. Besides the music, vendors raised the decibels to make you listen. An opening question was always: “Where are you from?” When you turned to reply, the charmers tried to entice you to their stalls – and kept shouting until they got a reaction.

Smells from exotic baskets of spices were both Asian and African in origin. Some we identified as chilli, fennel, aniseed and caraway. There were also ammi visnaga seeds and a royal-blue powder we would never have imagined as a culinary addition. Perfume and essence wafted from candle stalls – and some unpleasant odours attacked our nostrils from sources we did not wish to explore.

Leather goods were thrust into our hands so we could feel the authenticity of snake and antelope skin, and our taste buds were tantalised by beautiful fruit stalls stacked high with dates, figs, pomegranates, mangoes, guavas, peaches and pears.

Many people enjoy haggling, but I’m a spoilsport and find the bargaining irritating. Every purchase was a palaver, with the huckster multiplying the price by 10 and enjoying the banter until a “reasonable” amount was agreed. Much shouting and excitement ensued, but after a couple of sales we were weary and packed it in. We returned to the peace of our oasis to be soothed and pampered, leaving the hassle behind in the bazaar.

We met friends later to compare our adventures. They were exhausted but elated after a long day visiting the sixth- century Orthodox monastery of St Catherine’s, at the foot of Mount Sinai, where they saw Moses’s burning bush. Many tourists make the gruelling trek up the mountain overnight to watch the sun rise from where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments.

Some say that Sharm has no charm, but we loved our base there, particularly the magical underwater world. If chilling out is your requirement, then you can relax at one of the resort’s many hotels.

We loved our forays into Egypt, later visiting Cairo and Luxor, and our earlier concerns about safety and hygiene were unfounded.

We rarely saw female Muslims but found male Egyptians warm and friendly. Though I’m not so sure I liked the local who offered my husband 42 camels for our daughter but reduced his offer to 20 when I was included in the deal.

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