Hurghada: The other side of the Red Sea

After 4 days in Sharm El Sheikh, I flew to Hurghada, another popular tourist destination in Egypt. It’s right across the sea, so the flight only takes 25 minutes but I had to count in additional time to get through the airports. It was quite an interesting experience hopping through all the security checks at the airport in Sharm. The landing was much smoother and faster, and didn’t include any “tipping” of the airport staff, unlike the first leg of the trip.

I love Hurghada, and I know it quite well since I spent the entire last winter here. It has a few really photogenic spots, and in my opinion the best food I’ve tried so far in my life.

This quirky looking restaurant is located right at the sea front. You can see a bit of a blue glimmer to the right on the photo above.

Coming from a gray and dark Europe, it’s so refreshing to see some colour.

Hurgada has a really nice long promenade (or “mamsha”) stretching all along the coastline so you can have endless walks. It’s particularly pleasant at this time of the year when the sun is shining as always but the temperatures are in the 20s.

This was the view from the rooftop of my building.

Palm trees and white walls everywhere.

I mentioned amazing food earlier - this is just one of my top picks. It’s called “knefeh” and it’s baked in a metal tray on top of charcoal. This is the best one I could find and it was recommended by the locals so I trusted them with the choice and they were right.

It’s made with vermicelli dough, a layer of white cheese in the middle, with sugar syrup poured over and pistachios sprinkled on top. I wish you could taste it!