Eilat

Ever since I finished my last post, I've been trying to think of nice things to say about Eilat. As this post will show, I'm still trying to find those things. But here we go anyway...

I see the point of Eilat. The city occupies 6 kilometers of coastline on the Gulf of Aqaba, a long narrow stretch of water that is technically part of the Red Sea. Three other countries have coastlines along the Gulf; Egypt, Jordan & Saudi Arabia. Egypt's stretch of coastline is the most populous, with the cities of Nieweba and Dahab and some decent diving sites located along it's blue waters. Aqaba, Jordan is a medium size market town, but it is growing quickly and has started to become a more popular vacation spot for many of Jordan's secular Muslims. Eilat is Israel's beach destination. There are a number of popular beach spots along the Mediterranean coast, but the coast there has a more temperate climate. Eilat is hot and sunny year round and sees very little rain.

One stretch of the long glitzy (expensive) beachfront mall

And that's Eilat's function, it's a beach resort just like the hundreds I've visited elsewhere in the world. It has lots of glitzy (and expensive) hotels and resorts lining it's beachfront and the streets adjacent to it. It's beaches are not spectacular, but they are crowded as if they were the best in the world. Much of the crowds are Israeli families here on vacation. What surprised me was the unbelievable amount of Russians who piled on to these beaches. I can understand visiting Israel to see the sights in the country. I hope this blog has been a testament as to how many fascinating things there are to see. What I will never be able to make sense of is why anyone would come to Israel just to visit Eilat. One of the guys who worked at my hostel told me that there were cheap packages deals that brought the hordes of Russian tourists in. That was incredible to me since Eilat's airport was tiny and couldn't handle the 747 traffic necessary to make such package deal available. But there they were anyway, thousands upon thousands of Russians. Some of the restaurants I ate in had pages in their menus in Russia. I guess when you come from a country that is notoriously lacking in beaches in warm weather climates (what you mean people aren't flocking to the beaches in Vladivostok?), some of it makes sense. I just find it hard to believe that they wouldn't head to Spain or southern France, but I'm sure those destinations are a lot more expensive, as well as probably being a much bigger hassle to acquire visas in. It's still hard to see Greece being more expensive, and I know their beaches are better...

My biggest problem with Eilat is it's lack of stuff to do. Ok, I should rephrase that, my problem with Eilat is it has a lack of things to do that I like to do. It doesn't have any historical significance, meaning there are no ruins or associated ancient historical attractions. It has lots to do, most of which are the types of activities you associate with touristy beach resorts. There were lots of shopping malls, some very nice (from what I hear- I avoid malls as a rule when traveling). The one thing I did do was take a glass bottom boat tour.

Eilat's coral reef if an environmental tragedy. Forty years ago, right about the time Eilat became a popular beach destination, the reef started to disappear. Today what is left is mildly interesting- to someone who's never seen real coral reef like that of the Caribbean regions or the Great Barrier Reef of the coast of Australia.

Upscale Hotels in Eilat from a boat on the Gulf of Aqaba

That criticism leveled, I really did enjoy the boat tour- it gave me a perspective from the water of the area around Eilat.

We were able to see the coastlines of the other countries. Above is the border with Egypt. The white building peaking around the corner of the mountain is the Taba Hilton, a luxury hotel just over the Egyptian border once popular with Israeli tourists until a 2004 terrorist bombing killed 34 and wounded hundreds more.

The coast of Saudi Arabia that was visible was cargo ships and oil tankers. That was of little surprise in a country where beach resorts would serve little purpose. As with my travels near Syria and Lebanon, my natural instinct as a traveler made me long to get a glimpse inside such a mysterious place, but I understood the reality that Saudi Arabia is an almost impossible country to visit for the common American tourist.

The city of Aqaba, Jordan looked prosperous from the water.

While I was out on the boat there were some Jordanian Air Force fighters out either doing some practice maneuvers or doing an air show.

Eilat has a couple of other popular tourist attractions. The building above is the Underwater Observatory Marine Park, which does receive good reviews for it showcasing of the diverse marine life of the Red Sea. I'd thought about visiting, but figured I probably wouldn't have been too impressed after what I'd seen of the reef from the boat.

The other attraction was Dolphin Reef, a place where people can go and interact with dolphins as well as seeing them up close. I love dolphins and also debated visiting here, but after seeing the crowds from the boat, I figured the expense of this place would not be worth the hassle that would go along with it. I've been fortunate to have a number of close encounters with dolphins in my travels, so I didn't feel like I was missing too much.

There were, of course, other options for recreation that most beach resorts offer, like parasailing and windsurfing. There were also numerous boating options from the cheap glass bottom boat ride like the one I did all the way up to the deluxe schooners which offered dinner and entertainment. I'm sure many of these are well worth the money, but it was near the end of my trip and I was trying to limit how much over budget I was going to be.

I contented myself with one early morning dip in the gulf (thankfully for my readers there are no more pictures of me with my shirt off). The water was warmer than most oceans I've been in, but there was nothing outstanding about the experience. I spent a total of six nights in Eilat, which is way too many for someone who hates beach towns as much as I do. I stayed at a wonderful hostel, Corrine's, which I will talk more about a few posts from now when I talk about all of my lodgings. I used the time in Eilat to rest and recharge my batteries (with the air-conditioning in my room blaring) for my daytrips to Jordan and Egypt. I'll be covering my tour to Petra in the next two posts.