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The Second Coming: Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Territories
Via Poland and Gemany
Summer 2008  Egypt: Taba 
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We drove a few more kilometres and arrived at the Safari Beach Hotel, not far from Taba.
The Safari Beach Resort is a nice and cheap place. Staff is very helpful and friendly but where was a funny situation when we were there: we were the only guests. We had the whole staff, some six people, only for the three of us.
Apparently a group from Switzerland cancelled and so the hotel was empty before our arrival. |
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The good thing is that we had the beach for us alone, which was something great.
We only saw a couple of dogs, a fisherman and a boat from a nearby resort in the few hours we spent there.
Well, I have to say also that water wasn’t working properly so we had to call reception to make the water system work anytime we wanted to wash our hands or when we took a shower. But they all managed that pretty well and someone came the next day to fix this. |
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Salah El Din Castle on Pharaoh's Island |
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It’s incredible how warm it is at night.
Normally when it’s very hot outside you want a strong wind to cool off.
Well, not there…The wind is actually warmer than the outside temperature, it was the first time I felt something like this. As we were the only guests we had a big choice about what we would like to eat for the night.
The Safari Beach Hotel is quite isolated and only surrounded by other hotels, so there were no restaurants around nor any place to go out at night. |
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They opened the kitchen only for us and we spent the evening talking with the manager and the staff, all very kind people.
The next morning we were on the road again. We had no transport so we tried to hitchhike at first, but the bus to Taba stopped for us and took us to this small border town. |
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Taba is becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination, but most hotels are not in Taba itself but south to the town.
The dusty bus station is a short 5 minute walk to the border, but of course anyone with a car will offer you an overpriced ride. |
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Border formalities are straightforward on both sides, but of course, as security is tight in Israel, you feel like when boarding a plane, with x-ray controls, bag scanning and metal detectors.
After an Egyptian duty free shop, we got into Israel. |
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