Boasting
more than 5,000 years of history, culture and art, and with a climate that all
but guarantees year-round sunshine, few countries in the world can match Egypt’s
claim to be one of the world’s great travel destinations. Even fewer are
able to conjure images the way Egypt does. The Pyramids, the Great Sphinx, the
Nile, Tutankhamun and the Pharaohs, the Red Sea – it’s an impressive
list but the really impressive thing is that it’s all just a 5 hour flight
away. Hurghada is the Red Sea resort we’ve chosen for a week or two of sun-worshipping,
swimming in crystal clear, brilliantly blue waters, enjoying the shops, bazaars
and night-life and, of course, taking advantage of the excellent sightseeing and
excursion possibilities. The resort is new-ish (with an old quarter, Saqala, close
to the harbour area) and stretches along several kilometres of coastline. Hugging
the coast is an impressive mountain range beyond which is the eastern desert which
separates the Red Sea coast from the magnificent River Nile. Here, on the Nile
at Luxor, you will find the Valley of the Kings, the Karnak Temples and an array
of river vessels from ancient feluccas to imposing Nile cruisers. | 
