We try to get out of town whenever we have a three- or four-day weekend, but most of our regular Fridays and Saturdays (that’s right – weekends in Egypt are Friday/Saturday) are spent close to home catching up with household and school tasks.
This weekend we did something different and escaped to the seaside, where the air is fresh and the weather is warm. We bussed to the airport with a few of our friends right after school Thursday and flew to Sharm el Sheikh, at the tip of the Sinai peninsula. A van met us in Sharm and drove us north to the beach town of Dahab on the east coast facing Saudi Arabia.
It was after 11 when we got there, but the beach bars close late in Dahab.
Dahab is a laid-back sort of place, with inexpensive hotels, shops, and cafes catering to low-budget divers and snorkelers. It’s got a very different feel from glamorous resort towns like El Gouna and Sharm. Less Las Vegas, more Santa Cruz. My husband says it reminds him of Bolinas in the 70s.
Although I’m pretty sure Bolinas had paved streets.
Some of our party went diving and snorkeling at the Blue Hole, a nearby spot favored for checking out the sea life, but my husband and I deemed it too chilly for that sort of thing. Andreas is taking an on-line class, part of his IB Theater teacher training, and he had some assignments to do anyway.
If you have to work on the weekend, why not here?
I left him to his laptop and wandered off to explore the length of Dahab’s “boardwalk”, a pathway made of cement but still charming. Actual boards are in short supply in the Sinai. I did a lot of window shopping and picture taking. Although bargains were plentiful, I managed not to buy anything.
In the late afternoon some friends hailed me from a rooftop bar.
Rooftop bars are very much a thing in Dahab.
Andreas joined us a little later, followed by the chilly-but-happy divers.
Eventually we all headed across the road for a delicious fresh fish dinner and shisha to end the evening.
Lorna of Arabia 
Love the pics! What can I say: I love Dahab!