Egypt

I love visiting places with historical meaning and culture. When I got the chance to visit Egypt I was so excited as straight away I had in my mind – The Pyramids! I decided to stay in the more tourist destination in the south of Egypt, Sharm El Sheikh. It was known as a fishing village but has now extended to being a major port. This was recommended to me by other travellers as they said the beaches were beautiful and the nightlife was good.

Well the beaches certainly were beautiful. The sea it resides on is the Red Sea, the views were amazing! I stayed in the Royal Albatross Moderna Hotel. This is a 5 star hotel situated on the beach called Napq Bay. It was about 17km from the main centre Naama-Bay.

The hotel was large and very nice. The front reception was glamorous, the staff were friendly but unfortunately the room I had was not up to standard. I was given a ground floor room when asked for a sea-view but as I arrived in the middle of the night I decided not to kick up a fuss and just enjoy myself regardless. The room was rather small but it had all the commodities I needed, TV, hairdryer and complimentary toiletries.

The hotel was of course all-inclusive. I do highly recommend this for Egypt as there is the warning of having an upset stomach due to the water. I ate at the hotel most days unless I ventured to Naama-Bay to visit other friends staying there.  I also suggest taking precautions like not using the tap water to brush your teeth, use bottled water always and ask for extra water to be stocked in the room.

The hotel food had variety, chefs that cooked in front of you and a lovely desert range. There are also separate restaurants you can visit or the Pizzeria for lunch. There are even Crepes in the afternoon. Food-wise this restaurant is definitely up to scratch! Just be aware there are some restaurants that are included and some with extra charge.

Poolside was lovely. There were always enough sun beds available so don’t worry about getting up at the break of dawn to reserve one! I have now seen that there have been some developments to the hotel since my visit. They have an Aqua Park and a new Irish style bar that has up to 39 combinations of coffee, all still inclusive in your stay! There is also a kids club so this is a great place for families.

I have to say the beaches look beautiful but please be aware of sea urchins as they are everywhere! I noticed many people purchased special shoes to enable them to swim in the sea and not hurt their feet! I do recommend taking the snorkelling trip provided at the hotel for extra charge. This is a great day out. You get to venture into the depths of the Red Sea with a group of other tourists and see all the colourful coral reefs. You also get to visit a shipwreck, there are plenty of wrecks but on this particular one it is raised above the sea for clear viewing near the Tiran Island.

Naama-Bay has to be my favourite part of Sharm El Sheikh as it is the hotspot! There are markets, shops, perfumery (which is big in Egypt) as well as Shisha! There are plenty of Shisha places to go to with a variety of flavours. I adore Shisha so I made the most of my visits and made some friends with the locals! Be aware when shopping that the locals do tend to haggle and try and get you to buy so don’t get caught up in conversation unless you are seriously interested!  Also the nightclubs reside here in Naama-Bay and I recommend going to Pacha!

My friends stayed at the Hilton Hotel in Naama-Bay so I got to have a look around the hotel and would definitely recommend it! It is in the centre of all the hustle and bustle, it has great restaurants and if I went to Egypt again I would stay there.

Near the end of my trip I visited Cairo as I had to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx. It is a very long trip. You wake up at 3am to board a plane to Cairo and do not arrive until early hours of the next morning. There is a coach option which is cheaper but significantly longer. Once in Cairo there is a major difference from Sharm; it is far more crowded and intense. On the trip they do take you to a local Perfumery, the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. You even get a chance to have a look at King Tutankhamun's tomb and gold head mask found mostly intact.

They are all great to visit but for me the cherry on top of this trip was seeing the Pyramids. I have never been so excited. It is one of the seven wonders and so impressive. You can see them in the surrounding towns and the thought of the locals waking up to this sight everyday is amazing.  There are three main pyramids to visit. However there are many scattered around Cairo which can be viewed if you explore Cairo in further depth.

The three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis are a true spectacle. You get to actually touch them, go inside one of them and visit a market next to them.  The largest of the pyramids was thought to be built for the fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu[1].

The Sphinx is the next visit on this trip which is a short walk from the Pyramids.  It is a human head on a lion’s body and stands on the Giza Plateau.  The Sphinx’s origin is still debated as there are conflicting views about who built it and who it was for. There are so many chances to take photographs but again be aware of people and young children trying to sell you items, and watch your bags!

This visit also allows you to see the Nile. It runs through 11 countries and is approximately 6,650 km[2].  There are forest-like areas on the banks of the Nile and it does make a noticeable impression on the scenery.

My view: Egypt is worth the visit, just to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx. I was so happy to have seen the sights I saw but due to the trip I had to take to see them I wouldn’t go back too soon!  The weather is boiling so you get an amazing tan, the scenery is lovely and it is a once in a lifetime visit.

Note: All photos are my own

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nile

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Amsterdam!

Last year in January 2010, my friend Katie and I ventured to Amsterdam for a long weekend. We had never been there before but all of our friends had recommended it to us and told us where to go and what to visit. We booked our ticket very spur of the moment and off we went on the half an hour flight to the capital of the Netherlands.

We had been waiting to go on a trip together for a while so we were very excited. We enjoyed the ease of the short flight and were in the city before we even listened to five songs on our IPod. We grabbed a taxi and headed to our hotel which was about ten minutes away from the centre.

We stayed in Hotel Central Park and were advised by the taxi man not to walk through the park next door to us at night, as unsavoury goings on occur there! For a first night this worried us a little but as soon as we dropped our things in the small hotel room we were off to explore. We actually got lost for a good hour as we did not realise we had to take a tram to get into the centre and we did not realise what time they stopped running. We managed to find the centre point and we definitely made the most of our first night.

We found the best little coffee shop by the canal and stayed there most of the evening. I highly recommend ‘Easy Times’ as the staff are amazingly helpful and the vibe is very chilled. They play really good, relaxing music too. Lots of slow jamz!

Through being lost that first night we actually knew the place inside out! We headed back to the hotel and stopped by a convenience store to get some toothpaste and other essentials as we forgot quite a bit. Everything was in Dutch or Japanese which worried us and as you can see from the photo, our toothpaste turned out to be a disgusting mistake for Kate!

Amsterdam was originally a small fishing village in the 12^th Century and was named after the canal that runs through it. It is known now as the financial and cultural capital. We had a lot to see the next day when we finally explored the city in daylight.

As soon as we stepped out of the door we realised that overnight the whole city was covered in a blanket of beautiful white snow. It was so picturesque we took a million photos. We couldn’t believe our luck that we had come at this time of year to get snow we crave for in London!

Our first stop was of course the Van Gogh museum which is just before the main centre and accessible via the trams. We both love art so this was the perfect opportunity for us to brush up on our knowledge! We looked round for ages and admired his work. There is also an ice rink outside the museum. After that we spent ages in the snow, taking photos and had some lunch.

The cafes are what attract most people to Amsterdam, as well as the Red Light District but there is so much else to see. I must admit we did go to so many random, backstreet cafes as we loved the vibe but Bulldog is the most famous so we had to go there too! As I will soon be visiting again I am definitely staying at the Bulldog Hotel as this is the hotspot of the centre. There are so many hostels to stay in to make your stay a little cheaper and these are perfectly safe, the Bulldog also has a hostel too!

For Kate and I it was all about the shops and the architecture. The buildings were so beautiful and old looking we couldn’t stop looking up and taking photos. We shopped all day in the little random shops that sold some really quirky things. They have everything from old fashioned merry-go-rounds (which I purchased) to hemp lollies (which I also purchased)! We did of course venture into a few sex shops and I am keeping my lips sealed as to whether we purchased anything LOL.

We weren’t around to visit the flower stalls due to the weather as it wasn’t the right season for the famous tulips. It is also famous for its large amounts of bike riders as this, as well as the trams are the easiest forms of transport and I recommend being very road wary!

We found some strange artwork in the back part of the city and also featured on a show being filmed live in the square! We loved the little food stations where you could purchase hot food out of a mini vending machine. I have to say the food was pretty good. Our favourite place to eat was right in the main square, the pancake house!

For us the trip was finding out about the cultural elements of the city and we definitely found the place to be interesting. The people were so friendly and the vibe of the whole city is very laid back. The bars and restaurants are really nice and there is a great and varied nightlife!

There have been rumours that weed will only be legal to residents of the Netherlands but this has been widely criticised so it's very doubtful this will happen any time soon. Also there is a sex museum we never got to visit as well as festivals on the canal that take place over the summer months.  There is also a beautiful theatre in the heart of Amsterdam called the Stadsschouwburg which has been around since 1894.

So my overall impression of Amsterdam was a very favorable one. Since I am planning a second trip I think that says it all. It has fun and cultural elements which will suit anyone of any age. My own Mother made a trip this year with her friend and had the best time! She has so many funny stories from her trip so I can safely say that it suits everyone. If you choose to go in the winter like we did, or like my Mother in the summer, it is still a beautiful place to visit, whatever the weather as you can still do everything you set out to do.

Here are a few more photos we took from our trip:

Note: All photos taken by myself and Kate

Follow me on: @trishaaa_

My Village

My most recent venture out of the country has been to visit my family in Cyprus. I visit every year to see my Grandparents and spend some time in the village where my Grandmother was born. My Grandparents were from two different villages and met when my Grandfather had to do some work in her village, Silikou.

They met young but knew they wanted to be together. They married and had children and have been happily married ever since. They have lived in England to provide a better life for their four children but when retirement came, they moved back to the village where they first met and loved.

Since then they have preoccupied themselves with looking after the land they have worked so hard to buy. This land provides them with home grown vegetables and fruit as well as olive and almond trees. They have everything they need from this land. They also look after chickens so they have eggs and meat to sell to other villagers. They make a good living for themselves from houses, flats and land they have bought over the years.

Silikou is located in the Troodos Mountains which is 650 metres above sea level. There are winding roads that lead onto the cobbled streets of my village. Every year from the age of 13 onwards, I travelled to this village to spend time with my Grandparents and various cousins that would stay in the village during the hot summer months.

As I get older I appreciate what this place has to offer. It is so quiet during the day and night. Every morning you can hear the church bells ringing. My relative is the priest of this local church but was born and bred in London. He has his own website which not only gives you an insight into the village itself but the history of our Greek Orthodox Religion. Check it out >>> http://www.christopherklitou.com/index.htm

The reason for this post is that after spending some time with my cousin in the village on this particular visit, we were walking around and found ourselves talking about whether we would ever bring our children here. The conversation came up as we were reminiscing about our childhood days spent here. My cousin is only 13 but lived in the village for a while so we discussed the fun I used to have spending my summer holidays here, as did she.




  I told her about the late nights playing pool in the local 'Siloyo' which had a pool table, games, ice cream and was the local hotspot of the village. I spent every night with the freedom to do what I wanted and walked around the village with all the locals and my English-Greek cousins. I used to eat at the small taverna that was there and go to the well to drink fresh drinking water.

It was a simple existence but I made it fun by exploring the village I was from and making friends along the way. Every year as the locals and my cousins grow older we spend less and less time there and now it is my cousin Athena and I that go every year.

As we strolled around we looked at all the things we could improve to make the village a place more people would want to visit. We thought about how to create the bustling atmosphere it once had and that surrounding villages, such as Platres, still have. We saw the closed museum and the run down park and thought if we could do these up people would bring their children here more often. We thought about adding a convenience store as well as doing up the 'Siloyo' with better quality pool tables and games to attract the teenagers back to their village from the main town.

We had so many ideas and vowed  that when we made our millions, with myself writing and my cousin singing, we would come back here and restore the village to its once former glory. It is such a tame and quiet village now. It still has it's beautiful scenery but it has lost it's energy and this is why my family may not visit as much as they would do if there was more to do in the village.

There is actually a hotel called 'Village Life' in the heart of Silikou and we wondered if they had any visitors. It is done up in the traditional way and captures the essence of living in a village but what is the use without visitors?

I took some photos to show the beauty of my village and thought I would share a place that is unknown to so many people. I have never fogotten where I am from and as I promised my cousin, I will make this place a place to remember, for generations to come.

Here is a site with a bit more information about the history of Silikou >>> http://www.cyprusvillagelink.com/SylikouEnglish.asp








This is the 'Siloyo'

 



Fresh water well built into an olive tree



The water comes out cold from the tree

Another well, all provide fresh water unlike the towns





Where we light candles for the local Saint



Me exploring the village with the mountains behind me





Inside an olive tree

The road leading to the Church

Where the chickens are kept

The oldest well where the villagers fetched their water