Stories Waiting Ahead
A City Named After a Desert Plant
One desert shrub may have served as a local meeting point.
The Ababda – People Between the Desert and the Sea
Before modern roads, they knew how to read the desert.
Why Is the Red Sea Called Red?
The water is usually blue, but the name has survived for centuries.
The Port That Led to God’s Land
An ancient harbor once sent ships toward a land the Egyptians considered sacred.
A rare stone from the desert became a symbol of imperial power.
A Roman Fort That Became a Christian Center
The same walls served two very different communities.
The hotels changed the coastline, but the earlier city did not disappear completely.
Before You Look for These Places
Hurghada Is a Modern City
Most of the city developed during the 20th century. Do not expect pharaonic temples or large ancient ruins among the hotels.
The Sites Are Outside the City Center
Abu Sha’ar lies north of Hurghada, while Wadi Gawasis and the ancient port connected with voyages to Punt are farther south.
The Desert Holds Much of the History
Several places mentioned in this article are located in the Eastern Desert rather than directly on the coast.
Some Places Are Difficult to Visit
Remote archaeological sites and former quarries may require special arrangements, a local guide, or permission. They should not be approached independently.
History and Local Stories Meet Here
Archaeological discoveries support some parts of these stories. Others, including the origin of Hurghada’s name and the name of the Red Sea, still have more than one explanation.
Distances Are Approximate
Names, spellings, routes, and distances may differ between maps and sources, especially for desert locations.
When we think of Hurghada today, hotels, sandy beaches, and boats leaving for the coral reefs usually come to mind first. The city does not have the long urban history of Cairo or Luxor. The coast and desert around it, however, hold stories that are much older than its first resorts.
This is not a year-by-year history of the city. These are stories about the plant that may have given Hurghada its name, the people who knew the desert long before modern roads, a sea that is not red, and ships that ancient Egyptians carried across the desert.
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A City Named After a Desert Plant
Hurghada’s Arabic name, Al-Ghardaqa, is most often linked to the ghardaq plant, probably a species of Nitraria. This hardy shrub grows in salty, dry areas and is well adapted to the conditions along the Red Sea coast.
According to a local story, fishermen and travelers gathered near a large ghardaq bush beside a natural harbor. The place gradually took the name of the plant, while Al-Ghardaqa became Hurghada in European languages.
There is no surviving sign confirming that this is exactly what happened. Still, the story fits the landscape: little water, plenty of salt, and one plant stubborn enough to survive.
The Ababda – People Between the Desert and the Sea
Hurghada’s early modern history is often reduced to one sentence: it was once a fishing village. The sentence is correct, but it says very little about the people who lived there.
Some of the first residents were fishermen connected to the Ababda people, who traditionally live between the Nile Valley, the Eastern Desert, and the Red Sea coast. Their lives were not limited to fishing. They traveled through wadis – dry riverbeds and valleys that usually carry water only after rare rainfall – raised camels, goats, and sheep, gathered medicinal plants, and knew the routes across the desert.
To a visitor, the desert can look like one enormous empty space. To communities that traveled through it for generations, it was a network of paths, water sources, grazing areas, and signs that had to be read correctly.
Experience the Eastern Desert
The old trade routes and archaeological sites mentioned in this article are not part of the usual tourist excursions. However, organized desert trips offer an opportunity to see the landscape surrounding Hurghada and watch the sunset away from the city. I joined this desert and stargazing tour and was very happy with the experience, which ended with dinner and a chance to observe the night sky through a telescope.
Why Is the Red Sea Called Red?
The Red Sea is usually blue. This has not stopped people from calling it red for centuries.
One explanation connects the name with seasonal blooms of microorganisms that can give the water a reddish or brownish color. Another links it to ancient systems in which colors represented directions, with red possibly referring to the south. The reddish mountains visible from parts of the coast have also been suggested.
No explanation has been universally accepted. The sea kept its name, and the mystery remains useful conversation material between two snorkeling sessions.
The Port That Led to God’s Land
South of Safaga, around 80 to 90 kilometers from Hurghada, lies Mersa Gawasis, also known as Wadi Gawasis. Archaeologists found the remains of an ancient harbor there, including parts of ships, ropes, stone anchors, sailing equipment, and caves used to store materials.
The location of this harbor connects the coast around present-day Hurghada with one of ancient Egypt’s most fascinating trade routes. Almost 4,000 years ago, Egyptian expeditions left the Nile and crossed the Eastern Desert carrying wooden parts of ships. Once they reached the Red Sea, the ships were assembled and prepared for the journey to Punt.
Punt is thought to have covered parts of present-day Eritrea and Somalia. The Egyptians called it God’s Land, and its goods played an important role in both trade and religious rituals.
Centuries later, Hatshepsut, one of the few women to rule ancient Egypt as pharaoh, organized the most famous expedition to Punt. Its success was recorded in detailed reliefs on the walls of her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari.
The ships returned with incense, myrrh, gold, exotic wood, animals, and even entire incense trees intended for planting in Egypt. On Hatshepsut’s temple walls, members of the expedition can still be seen carrying the trees with their roots carefully preserved.
Fragrant resins were burned in temples, used during ceremonies, and associated with the divine world. Punt was therefore more than a source of valuable goods. It connected trade, religion, and the power of the pharaoh – and part of that story began on the Red Sea coast, not far from today’s Hurghada.
The Mountain of Purple Stone
West of Hurghada, in the Eastern Desert, are the remains of the Roman quarries of Mons Porphyrites, the Mountain of Porphyry.
This was the source of a rare dark red and purple stone that became a symbol of Roman imperial power. Porphyry was used for imperial sculptures, columns, palaces, and monumental buildings. Stone from the desert behind present-day Hurghada reached Rome, Constantinople, and other centers of the empire.
Its color became so closely associated with rulers that porphyry was more than a building material. It sent a message: if something looked heavy, expensive, and sufficiently purple, it probably belonged to an emperor.
A Roman Fort That Became a Christian Center
On the southern edge of present-day El Gouna, around 20 kilometers north of Hurghada, lie the remains of Abu Sha’ar. A Roman military fort was built here in the early fourth century to protect the coast and the road through the Eastern Desert. Around AD 400, the soldiers were replaced by a Christian community, and part of the fort was converted into a church. The settlement survived until approximately the sixth or early seventh century.
The road connected the coast with the quarries of Mons Porphyrites and continued toward the Nile Valley. Parts of its route can still be traced through the desert by the remains of stations, watchtowers, and stone markers.
Today, the hotels, lagoons, and villas of El Gouna stand only a few kilometers away. Within a relatively small area, a Roman fort, the remains of an early Christian settlement, and one of the Red Sea’s most luxurious resorts now share the same stretch of coast.
Hurghada Today
Hurghada is now one of Egypt’s most visited tourist destinations. Hotels occupy much of the coast, and boats take visitors to islands and coral reefs every day.
The city looks very different from the fishing settlement established here in the early 20th century. Parts of the older Hurghada can still be felt in El Dahar, around the harbor, and in the everyday life that continues outside hotel gates.
There are no pharaonic temples in the center, and major ancient ruins are not hidden between the hotels. Hurghada’s history belongs to fishermen, desert communities, old trade routes, Roman quarries, and a plant capable of surviving in salty soil.
Planning a Trip to Hurghada?
Continue with my Hurghada Travel Guide for information about beaches, accommodation, transportation, boat trips, prices, and my seven-day itinerary.
Depending on how you would like to spend the day, you can also browse:
- Turkish hammam experiences in Hurghada for a slower and more relaxing afternoon
- Red Sea boat trips and snorkeling tours for swimming, coral reefs, and a little more adventure.