Sharm
el Sheikh is the principal resort on the "Red Sea
Riviera", situated almost at the extreme tip of the
Sinai peninsula, a triangle of land about 150 miles
wide by 200 miles long that has Egypt to the west
and Israel to the east.
For a
long time there was nothing in Sinai, it being
regarded as a pretty useless piece of land that
provided a useful buffer zone between Egypt and
Israel. In fact there is still pretty much nothing
in Sinai, though in the last 20 years or so, tourism
has been a boom industry due to the guaranteed
sunshine, warm sea temperatures and in particular
the underwater life.
The
tourist areas are exclusively along the coast and
there is no real reason to leave the coast other
than to visit St. Catherine's Monastery which dates
back to 527AD at the base of Gebel Musa -
traditionally accepted as Mount Sinai where Moses
received the 10 commandments from God. Sinai is also
accepted as the desert where Moses and the
Israelites wandered for 40 years.
A
backdrop to many hotels and tourist features
therefore are the ancient, parched and desolate
desert mountains of Sinai.
