Port Safaga, also known as Safaga ( ', ), is a town in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, on the coast of the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

, located south of Hurghada. This small port is also a tourist area that consists of several

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

s and rest houses. Having numerous phosphate mines, it is regarded as the phosphates export center. A paved road of connects Safaga to Qena of

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

History

The town was founded between 282 BC and 268 BC, by Satyrus ().Strabo, Geography, §16.4.5
/ref>Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §Ph666.16
/ref> It was called Philotera () in honor of the deceased sister of the Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus.

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephen of Byzantium (; , ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD) was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethnica'' (). Only meagre fragments of the dictionary survive, but the epit ...

write that it was also called Philoterida (). Safaga City is considered one of the most important therapeutic tourist centres, as special medical researches have proved the potential of attracting international tourism to Safaga. Safaga was a merchant port for many years. The town has a small tourism industry, specialising in

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

. It was the host of the 1993

World

Windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

Championships.

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh), as the rest of

. The highest record temperature was on July 30, 2002, while the lowest record temperature was on February 2, 1993.

Port

Safaga port is also a gateway for Duba port to some hajj pilgrims or travelers to

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

, by

ferries A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Red Sea Governorate Populated coastal places in Egypt Underwater diving sites in Egypt Tourism in Egypt Ancient Greeks in Egypt

History

Climate

Port

See also

References