Sahl Hasheesh - Walking Around the Old Town

Old Town Courtyard

Ironically, the Old Town in Sahl Hasheesh is quite new. It’s designed to be a place of little streets where you wander through and look at the shops, with the occasional courtyard and fountain. When complete and full of visitors, it should be a very attractive place to be. However, at the moment, tourism is still down from the peak, developments in Sahl Hasheesh have stalled, and many shops are empty.

As in El Gouna, it’s a policy in Sahl Hasheesh that tourists shouldn’t be hassled, but this doesn’t mean that the shopkeepers won’t try to persuade you to come in their shops. For much of the evening, they stand outside in the warm night air, trying to entice customers in. I guess many of them are bored and looking as much for someone to chat to as anything else. Consequently, if you want to go to the Old Town, you have to make a point of it, and you have to be prepared to stop and chat with every single shop owner (but you can just say “no” and that’s OK!). It’s just how it is and you can’t blame them for trying to get business as they need the money in order to survive.

Anyway, Lena and I had set aside an evening for the purpose of wandering around the Old Town. I can’t even remember now all the people to whom we talked. Each time you get stopped, you also get invited in for a cup of tea. It’s part of Egyptian hospitality. I have no idea if I am being rude for virtually always refusing, but if I accepted every invitation, I would be bloated and not get home until 2am!

The most memorable shops for me were a tea shop that had some beautifully-smelling guava tea and that also sold a dried-up root thing that developed into a flower, I think, when immersed in water; another shop sold papyrus and the guy demonstrated how he had some special pictures that glowed in the dark; a third shop sold some very good quality leather bags of all colours and sizes. We went into one shop selling sandals. The poor guy there who was trying to sell us a pair was being watched by his boss, so when he was unsuccessful, his manager stepped in! At each stop, we were offered tea.

We also discovered a courtyard with a small fountain that I hadn’t seen before (pictured, but looks even more beautiful when the fountain is working!). There’s only one shop there just now (selling jewellery) and he’s finding it hard to get people even to know it’s there. If he speaks to people out on the seafront, they immediately withdraw, so it’s tough to do business.

The owner of a perfume shop claimed that I had promised to have tea with him the next time he saw me and he managed to guilt me into accepting the offer (“no hassle”) this time. Fortunately for us (if you look at it that way), two customers suddenly came into his shop just as we sat down, so we made a hasty and polite exit.

I hope that tourism picks up and the population of Sahl Hasheesh grows in time so that people can make a good living by setting up shop here. The Old Town is beautifully designed and will make a lovely place for a stroll and a shop. Actually, it already does, if only the people would come!