Cleopatra spa treatment and Red Sea dinner

I arrived in Sharm-el-Sheik on the Red Sea coast after a 7 hour overnight bus ride from Cairo. "Sharm" as it is affectionately called by locals, is a beach retreat for mostly Italians and Russians and there is a season for each. It is now Italian tourist season so I was greated everywhere with "Ciao" and "Ciao Bella". I arrived at my hotel, took a quick nap, and then went to have The Cleopatra spa treatment. My Egyptian masseaur, Beso, was very helpful in explaining each treatment in detail available at his spa. We then began the "Cleopatra Spa Treatment" that started with an Egyptian massage. The technique incorparates alot of detailed finger work around the muscle. It felt like my back was dough being kneeded and that this recipe called for LOTS of oil. The aroma of my new favorite Egyptian essence Lotus was intoxicating. Next on the line-up, the Turkish bath. The Turkish bath is the Turkish variant on a sauna distinguished by a focus on water as opposed to steam. Don't get me wrong, this one had plenty of steam to go along with the buckets of water being poured over me throughout the session. The room itself had marble walls with one big marble table in the center in which I was laid out on. Beso started the treatments by scrubbing shredded coconut onto my entire body. In between scrubs, he would wash me down with coconut milk. There were about 5 scrub/wash combinations followed by the "mummy wrap" in which my body was wrapped up like a mummy with towels and I laid deadpan in the steam for about 20 minutes. Next up, a mountain of foam. Beso used a towel to twirl up huge mounds of foam filled with special soaps and then threw the mound on my body until the only thing that remained foam free was my face. More hot water for wash and more soaking in the steam. And if that wasn't enough to make me walk on clouds, Another coconut and oil massage to finish me off! Ahhhhhh. At the end of it all Beso said, "And now your are a Queen!"

Naturally after all that pampering, I was ready for a cat nap and a Red Sea dinner. So I headed out to Old Market Sharm for what my Lonely Planet AFRICA book called the best seafood dinner on the coast, Sinai Star. On the menu and in my order for the night was a typical Egyptian meal. For starters, the Egyptian bread that is alot like a Greek pita served with a sauce made from an endemic plant called Simsen and is absolutely delish. The salad is always a cucumber, tomato, and shredded lettuce salad, no dressing. For the main course, I was adventurous and ordered the Mugil Fish of the Red Sea. In AFRICA, when you order fish, you order the whole fish. They bring out the entire fish in its form baked and if you are lucky, they remove the eyeballs. I was lucky this time, but when my main course was set in front of me, I couldn't help but think of my pet beta, Gavin, and feel a tinge of remorse for eating one of his distant relatives of the oceans. It's so much easier to eat animals in their food form. So, I used my fork to make the fish my food again in my mind and fully enjoyed the meal!