Wonderful

Written: 5 november 2012
Travel time: 10 — 17 october 2012
Your rating of this hotel:
8.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Reviews of holidays in the UAE, Citymax Hotel Sharjah 3 *.
Rested in this hotel in October 2012 for the promotion of "Fortune". Several Dubai hotels and one in Sharjah took part. Under the terms of the promotion, distribution to a specific hotel takes place at the airport upon arrival in the UAE. We got Cityimax Sharjah, and to be honest, we were a little upset, because from Sharjah to Dubai 20 km. So, you need to spend time and money to get there. However, everything is fine:
1. Travel agent in Ukraine: Fly Travel, Kyiv. Well, we have been with them for a long time, so I will be reticent: everything is fast, professional, without unnecessary chatter and admiration, and, most importantly, cheap! At noon, a mobile phone arrived - a call to the agency - they confirmed the reservation in faith.

2. Tour operator in the UAE: Travco (cool name, right? ); Also good. At the exit of the airport 4 guides hand out envelopes with the distribution of hotels and advertising stuff (tour, etc. ) and distribute all the buses depending on the direction.
Unfortunately, I forgot the name of our guide, a wonderful girl. Upon arrival at the hotel and settlement, without delaying the gathering of the group until the evening or the next day, as is customary, say, in Egypt, immediately held a briefing. She provided everyone with tourist maps of Sharjah and Dubai, told about the sights that can be visited, possible ways to travel (taxi, bus). Unobtrusively offered a tour. Since we did not plan to take excursions, it was nice that we were not involved in these events.
3. Hotel: Citymax Hotel Sharjah 3 *. Buildings of 2011, modern interior, all very democratic - quality city hotel. For 3 * very great. Breakfasts are not varied, but very tasty. Of the fruits - only watermelon and melon. The work of the restaurant staff is just great - the area of ​ ​ the restaurant is not large, and the hotel is not small, the people are decent.
But it is almost impossible to find an empty tray (plate) with food, as well as a dirty table with plates.
The room has a kettle, water and sugar-tea-coffee-cream is replenished daily and is included in the price. Room cleaning daily. Tips were not left, a young Pakistani cleaner does not understand English, then tried to come to clean at a time inconvenient for us, then forgot to give a big towel. Not particularly stressful, but did not deserve a tip. From the hotel twice free of charge are taken by bus to the city beach for tourists, and, accordingly, two walks back in the south (longer stay is difficult, it becomes very hot). A couple of times there were not enough seats, we took a taxi - 17 derham = 38 UAH. Divided into two families - just for free. The location of the hotel is not the best - it would be wrong to say that it is on the outskirts, but not in the center. Around - car dealerships. There are used cars in rows on all the surrounding streets - I think there are hundreds of thousands of them.

By the way, this is another type of excursion - when you return to the hotel on foot in the evening, in any way through a number of cars of all brands, models and colors. You can take part in the reviews, smell their bribes. They, like ours, are impudent (probably, the specifics of the work  ), but much more good-natured. I'll tell you, the passage along a series of 10-12 Range Rovers, BMW 7 Series, Mercs, Mustangs GT or Chevrolet Camaro is very exciting. How to continue to live, as the owner of the damage, I do not even know .
4. Sharjah. By the end of our stay in the UAE, we were glad to be in Sharjah, not Dubai. Because there is also something to see, and, of course, this emirate has its own color.
- beaches. The beach for tourists - a fairly clean, convenient access to the sea, to be as if in an artificial bay, ie covered from the open sea by a bulk pier. Unfortunately, there are no toilets, changing rooms, umbrellas with shade and sunbeds. They don't even have money.
However, you can go to the reception of any of the neighboring hotels and buy these beach joys (about 30-40 UAH per person). But there are many more people, and they are more crowded. In addition to tourists, 90% of cats. Slavs, a decent number of Pakistani guest workers on the beach, a few Arabs, and some other nationalities, whose ethnicity I could not determine. Pakistanis love water, so they splash incessantly without going ashore. They all love the naked parts of our women's bodies, so some (mostly Arabs) or locals from the CIS are trying to make acquaintances, and unfortunate Pakistanis, probably because of the insurmountable language barrier, just stare at the girls, slowly approaching them (for absence of men). However, everything is harmless, no one can afford such impudence as the Egyptians.
Some guys from our hotel went to the beach in Dubai, said that Sharjah beach is the best and the water is much cleaner.

The beach is quite long, if you move away from crowds, when entering the sea it is better to be careful - marine life - my wife almost stepped on a healthy stingray! Minus the beach - on the right is a view of the port industrial zone with some kind of smoky plant. Just do not think that this plant smokes like our Kryvorizhstal or Ilyich. Yes, a mini-factory. But in windy weather, when there is no suspension of sand and smog in the air, when you look to the left you can clearly see the Burj Khalifa - the world's tallest building. On the tourist map, carefully issued to us by a guide, we found another line of beaches located on the other side of the port, and one day we took a taxi there. These are beaches for locals.
Where it is cleaner, there is no view of the port, there are umbrellas with concrete tables and benches, large palm trees grow, but the open sea, so with little excitement difficult access to the sea, intense waves, muddy water due to sand rising water, the beach is real desert, so again, the risk of stepping on a marine inhabitant. Again, the appearance of women in swimsuits causes a sensation, locals are slowly beginning to gather for viewing. About half an hour later, a patrol car with police arrived and we were very politely explained that women are not used to being so naked on this beach, so we were asked to either wear something that covers from neck to knee, or move to the beach for tourists. Surprisingly, of course, they did not try to take us to the regional department and fine us for violating public order. As "not civilized", not in Slavic….
To be clear, these beaches are on the outskirts, the place is very deserted and very far from tourist routes.
- Monuments. The pedestrian zone exists only around Khalid Lagoon, Al Majaz district, so-called Cornish Street. Elsewhere, walking is very difficult, preferably by taxi. I advise you to walk around the lagoon, the most beautiful mosques, the impressive modern architecture of office and residential townhouses, a very beautiful musical fountain, inferior to the size of the fountain near Burj Khalifa, but also very interesting, and, of course, Venetian-style canal connecting the lag khan. I also recommend visiting the Sharjah Aquarium (UAH 44) and the Maritime Museum - you will not be indifferent to a small and heartfelt excursion into the history of Sharjah (included). Yeah, I almost forgot - the Golden Bazaar. Very beautiful building, among tourists, called "cars".
There you can enjoy jewelry in oriental style.

Personally, I have never seen so much gold in my life! It is not much cheaper than ours, but someone who loves oriental style - will be satisfied. Other attractions, in my opinion, include the fish market - a sea of ​ ​ different fish, shrimp, shellfish, and a real oriental flavor, including fish cleaners who fight for every customer!
- Logistics. The best way to get from point A to point B is by taxi. All municipal taxis, boarding 7 UAH during the day, 9 UAH in the evening, minimum payment 22 UAH. I don't remember a kilometer, but it will cost more than UAH 50 to move to Sharjah. very difficult. The very fact of crossing the Sharjah-Dubai border costs 44 hryvnias. , all taxis have meters, and the fact of crossing the border is displayed on its screen. Many taxi drivers, especially old ones (mother bombs) like to cut an extra few kilometers, but these watersheds are not global.
They can also hear about mythical extras, if you think you are being bred, ask the taxi driver for a check, each car has a cash register, and pay only what is in the check. You can also take a comfortable double-decker bus from Sharjah to Dubai and back for UAH 15.5. from the nose. at one end. With 4 people, you will not save anything compared to a taxi, but the color of the bus ride with a colorful audience of different nationalities is worth it. Yeah, still cool stops - clean and air-conditioned (that's the Slavic tradition to write or vomit drunk. Or break the windows, let Conder try to cool the street! ). Metro is also an expensive pleasure - 15.5 UAH from the nose, also clean, modern, but the essence is the same - a few in tomatoes .
5. Dubai. For the first two days in Sharjah, we got used to the pompous architecture. But DUBAI! ! ! !!
These buildings of gigantic dimensions and colorful architectural styles do not fit into the frame of the camera, but also into the mind! Of course, not America, but it's all built in 20 years in the desert! ! ! !!

- Monuments. I liked it the most…. No, it broke! Jumeirah. The famous Palm. Atlantis Hotel. This is a MACHINE! This is a monument to human capabilities and vanity! There was a taxi, from there a monorail - such a monorail road on magnetic pillows, controlled by a computer, without a driver. Near Atlantis we penetrated into those areas (similar to the building of the pumping or electrical substation of Atlantis, huge! ), Just above the tunnel under the sea, from there a magnificent view of Dubai. However, in 10 minutes. photo shoots rushed to us in a jeep outfit police or private security (judging by the footprints in the sand, where we climbed, a man's foot did not step very long ago, cats and birds).
And heck, despite the lack of identity documents and clearly suspicious behavior (what should normal people do in such a place? ), We, again, were not taken to the regional department or security office, and we did not try to cut money. that b) only our cops did not get a job for them! ). They did not approach us at all, stopped 10-15 meters away and silently watched us! So, I had to give up myself  . The guys were asked to drop us off at the monorail, to which they received smiles, a polite refusal and detailed oral instructions on how to get to the station. Distracted. For the soul: Fort Al Fahidi Museum in the Dubai Bar area. Be sure to visit! With the help of wax figures, the old fort recreates the atmosphere of the Bedouin port city, which 40 years ago was Dubai.
) in 20 years, everything that parents and grandparents built, stretched in their pockets, by joint efforts "brought the country to ruin", and Bedouins in the same time in the middle of the desert built modern cities with singing fountains, state-of-the-art infrastructure. countries of the world, while hundreds of thousands of our citizens are forced to wander around the world in search of income    . And no one will convince me that they say that they have cheap and high-quality oil almost from the ground, and the territory is much smaller than Ukraine. These are also factors, BUT…. What budget will withstand 20 years of total theft (yes, probably not 20, it all started in the "stagnation"). Are our vile bureaucrats officials? They must be transported around the world in iron cages, shown to everyone as particularly dangerous predators, or as deadly bacilli. Well, I suffered again; ). Let's continue.
The museum has a souvenir shop, not a great choice, prices are slightly higher than in the markets, but the quality of souvenirs is much better and they are more meaningful than Chinese trash in UAE gifts. I advise you to skimp on presents. Walking in this area in a chaotic manner, came to the market of fabrics (bazaar) in the oriental style - color, however. A monument of Bedouin architecture, carved wooden canopies, beams, and, of course, sellers - called. Bought on the emotions of national clothes. By the way, very decent quality and inexpensive. Then we rode across the bay in an old wooden boat with an old stinking diesel engine. In general, on these open boats from one shore of the lagoon to another move local, as in minibuses (9 UAH from the nose). But you can charter it for a ride around the lagoon for 220 UAH. They will also give the helm.

As we passed a building, I counted 20 Liebherr tower cranes on the construction site (anyone with an idea of ​ ​ construction will appreciate the scale). Yeah, and still cool old wooden cargo ships, in my opinion, 19th century buildings. And yachts of a modern look, only completely from a tree, fat. In addition to the above, of course, Burj Khalifa (if without a tour, tickets (220 UAH) is better to buy in advance via the Internet, or come to pick up, every day may not be); Dubai Pier with an aquarium - these fish can be watched for hours - sharks, stingrays, tuna and others, other marine life (165 UAH); Musical fountain - super impression.
- Shopping. There is no shopping there. In branded stores, the price is twice as high as ours. However, the choice is twice as big. Any counterfeit markets for Al Karam are not even funny.
Textiles - cheap (but not for the price  ) Chinese rubbish, counterfeit watches and mobile phones - we have in February retail is cheaper than their wholesale; ).
In grocery markets, crazy cuisine - Lebanese cuisine - all that can and can not be imagined on the basis of milk - white cheese (such as mozzarella, Philadelphia, feta and so much more, do not even try) - 60-80 UAH / kg. Try, by the way, give a disposable spoon everything you want. Fresh vegetable salads of the First freshness! They have a variety of sauces, season with whatever you want. 20-30 UAH / kg. Pakistani or Indian cuisine - all baked - peppered (samosa with different fillings) and sweet (bananas in batter and just balls of rice dough with invisible spices - an explosion of taste! ). 6-10 UAH / piece. Roasted almonds, cashews and pistachios in different breadcrumbs - spicy, salty, sour, sweet. And, of course, fruits: mangoes, pineapples, bananas of different varieties. For some reason, they reduce those fruits that are just ripe for consumption.
If you do not take a reduced price, keep in mind - wait until 3-5 days to ripen. Juices of excellent quality, ice cream, chocolate.
Alcohol is nowhere to be seen, take care of Duty Free. By the way, after arriving at the Dubai Dutico, it's a good idea to grab a box or two of beer, still a hot country, a beer after the beach - mmmmmm! ! ! ! ! But in the room! It is impossible in public places - maybe a scandal.

7. Air carrier. Wind Rose. When he saw the ticket, he was immediately upset. I had flown with this company twice before, and both times there were problems, the first time a delay, the second a flight rescheduling and a delay. However, I flew on the May holidays, when the lines were really congested. And the technique is responsible, you can't close your eyes to the "knock in the suspension". This time everything turned out to be just great: takeoffs - landings like a stopwatch, rose smoothly, sat down gently, fed deliciously. The company is growing. Only stewardesses and stewardesses are very serious and strict, probably because they are young.
And for some reason they couldn't say which countries we were flying over - young people are not interested in geography .
Nifiga myself, I sprinkled. Who will read it all?
Translated automatically from Ukrainian. View original