Nekhel

Nekhel, also spelled Nikhel or Nikhl, is a city in the middle of the Sinai Peninsula and the capital of the Nekhel markaz in North Sinai Governorate. It lies at the foot of the Tih mountains at an elevation of about 420 metres, bordered to the south by South Sinai Governorate and to the east by the international border with Israel. Its position at the centre of the peninsula made it a strategic fort and the ancient capital of the Sinai province; the Pharaohs built the Way of Shur across Sinai from the sixteenth century BC, and the region supplied turquoise, gold and copper from mines and temples whose ruins can still be excavated. Under Islamic rule it sat on the Hajj route and became a rest and trade stop for pilgrims, and the Ayyubids and Mamluks built forts and castles here against the Crusaders. Its climate is classed as borderline hot desert and cold desert.