Up a little earlier but not much. Breakfast of panee bread, tomatoes, cheese and onion and lunch prepared in a similar vein. We set off at around 10 by catching a taxi outside the hotel. A minor argument with another taxi driver, and our one bundled us into the car and accepted my 40LE offer to get to the Old Town (surprised as the advice of the people we had met on the first night was 50LE). As we drove along, he realized how far we were going and he re-negotiated, settling for 50LE. 
It was a fair distance – about 30km. We got to the general area and drove past mile upon mile of similar looking resorts. I was expecting ‘Old Town’ to be an old town, but once he got directions, the driver was clearly not going there. We entered through a huge entrance. The road was lined with pharoic statues and lots of security. Our taxi driver was a real character. As we passed the statues, he saluted and hooted and waved to each of the gardeners tending the roadside plants for 3km or so before the main area. There we saw a sign ‘ Old Town’. This was not a village but a huge resort. 
He dropped us off (having taken his cell number) and we entered through the huge imitation palace. The area wasn’t fully developed yet and there was hardly anyone around. WE walked past the long sparkling pools and the tall columns and one tended to wonder what archaeologists would think if they dug these up in 500 years time. ON the other side of the palace was there was the sea and to the left was a pier (where we had been told to go). We walked past 3 or 4 large resorts until we got to the pier. Along the way there were imitation columns with fake ancient facades dotted around as well as something that looked like a causeway. Till then, only one of the beaches was occupied – that one with people lounging on large 4 poster beds with sun covers. 
We stopped at the pier and settled down next to one of the columns. Around 200m further on, there appeared to be a lot going on with loud music and hundreds of thatched sun shades. After a few minutes we were approached by a security man. When he discovered that we were not from the area e got a bit beligerant and told us that we had to leave. 
We apologised and asked if we could pay someone to stay heref or alternatively if there was anywhere else we could go. His answer was NO on both counts (he clearly wan’t from Cairo). Then e backed down and said that we could snorkel for 1 hour – no more. So we did. There was no where near as much corel as we had expected (the Brits on the first night had indicated that this was better snorkelling than on the islands) but there was a large variety of fish. There were lots of pipe fish, golden butterfly fish, parrot fish, a small mantra ray and most impressive were a couple of lion fish.
After about an hour we retreated to the beach to enjoy some relatively wind-free sun bathing. It was also fun to watch a number of people doing ‘photo shoots’ which were clearly privately paid for and various people making either individuals or couples pose for pghotos on the beach. Lauren did her own photo shoot - who needs professionals! By around 2pm we were happy with having had enough sun which was already starting to go behind the p;ier (it was difficult to get used to how early the sun went down in Egypt). We phoned the taxi driver and returned through the palace to wait for our driver – who took a little longer to arrive than anticipated but still deserved the small extra tip for his efforts.
After a short relaxation period (as if we hadn’t been relaxing all day already), we did a wantder through the resort to see what was on offer. First we went out on the pier to see the small museum of fish and models of old boats, and then took a look at the two submarines (we had decided that the extra 1500LE was beyond our budget for this excursion). There were lights on next to the subs and the fish were attracted to them so we spent a while watching the various fish come up – presumably to catch insects that the lights attracted. There were a couple of similar spots in a closed restaurant.
We set out for supper in the main town at around 7pm and after a small walk found a restaurant offering a special of ‘flame grilled chicken on a bed of yellow rice – for 13LE. After a very satisfying meal, including cool drinks, we came away with a bill of 75LE. 
We caught the next minibus back, went off to do some shopping (and buy some magnums for pudding at 4LE each) then returned to our room. Fiona and I sat on the veranda enjoying our Egyptian port (we had thought that it was wine when we bought it, so were fairly surprised at the sweet taste. We decided that it must be port and we got used to it very quickly – in spite of being a little rot gut like! The children went to play some pool and to meet people more their own age. They returned once – very angry because someone had taken their pool table, but the second time we didn’t see them again and figured that had been more successful. We retired to the other room for coffee and Fiona’s patience game. By 12.45, the children were still socializing so I went up and told them the door would be open. They returned a few minutes later having met a couple of dutch boys.
