Your rating of this hotel:
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Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms:
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Service:
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Cleanliness:
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Food:
9.0
Amenities:
9.0
It all started on 24.06. , and it's not a pity, but it ended on 04.07. 2008. So...
I don’t want to start badly, so I’ll write about Transaero at the end, I’ll start from the airport.
We were the first to enter, the first (for some reason, in a free window and, apparently, therefore, for $ 17) received visas, filled out questionnaires, stood in line and ....on this, the speed of falling into Egypt fell. The queue was obviously not the right one, the queue was for a surprisingly sociable Egyptian, only he preferred to communicate not with tourists, but with friends or colleagues. There was no longer any talk of any dutiks after passport control, the employees of the TEZ-Tour met us with reproachful eyes and our luggage in their hands. There are no complaints about TEZ-Tour, everything is clear. The number of employees of the meeting party at the airport resembles the Salvation Army. It is impossible to miss and pass by. People in yellow T-shirts stand every 10 meters to the buses.
15 minutes by bus and we are at the hotel.
10 minutes of waiting at the reception, $10 in the passport and we are escorted to room 614.20 minutes to understand that we like the room, change clothes ....although, perhaps, it is worth stopping at the room. So…
We arrived at the hotel around 14.00, perhaps that's why we did not wait for the check-in. For $10 we were thanked and asked if we needed one bed or two. Room 614 was on the first floor, with one large bed, a huge balcony, a view of the kids club and mini golf courses. I arranged the room and liked it. If you set a goal, flaws can be found everywhere and the room’s flaws include the lack of one door in the closet, a scratch on the lamp, the lack of shampoo and the fact that liquid soap was not added to the dispensers even once. You know better whether this will spoil the picture, it did not cause discomfort for us.
In my opinion, it is much more important that whether the air conditioner works and to what temperature it cools depended only on us, that the mini bar turned out to be a fairly decent-sized refrigerator, in which two bottles of water were put every day, that the TV was not small, that the view is not on the pool and therefore it was quiet and there were no flies or mosquitoes, and the room was just cozy, however, like the whole hotel. Cleaning did not cause complaints, 1-5 pounds and you have everything clean, washed, changed and made up. Once they did not leave a tip, the cleaner, the asshole reminded me - he turned off the air conditioner. ))) The bathroom is combined, everything is convenient, everything works, there is no hair dryer. It seems that everything is about the room, we are returning ...
20 minutes to understand that you like the room, change clothes, find on the hotel map (issued at the reception) the places where the afternoon snack is held and towels are issued, and the rest begins.
The program of the first day, in addition to getting acquainted with the menu for an afternoon snack, included a trip to the beach, meeting with a guide at 19.30.
and dinner. An afternoon snack is a so-so event, but it’s even worth writing about the beach. So…
The beach is not close. The beach is far. Anyone who thought it was the first or second line nervously smokes on the sidelines. There is a bus to the beach, rather a bus, small, looking like the 60s. It runs from 8 am to 12 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm every 15 minutes. Drive 5 minutes. The beach belongs to the Dana Beech hotel, "our" part of the beach is on the right. A bus brings you there, there is a bar (10.00 -17.00). Sunbeds can be used on the entire beach, the bar is only the one on the right. There are always enough beds. We came early, at 8 o'clock and chose on the first line where we wanted. Later, oddly enough at 12 o'clock, the people are pulling up, and the first line to the sea is busy, there are enough for the rest of the places. At 5 pm the beach is empty. Sunbeds, mattresses for free, towels on cards at the hotel, for the loss of the card a fine of 50 pounds.
Sandy beach, artificial lagoon. Sea entry is good. There are pebbles, but they are trying to remove them. Good for kids, lots of kids.
There are practically no waves in the lagoon, small fish swim near the shore, in shallow water. On the left is a long pier, along it is a shoal, along it you can reach the very sea, there is a small reef, low tide opens islands. Take your mask and snorkel. On the right, where “our” part of the beach ends, there is also a small pier, it belongs to the excursion office (right there on the beach). Here, on the right, they provide an opportunity to do water sports, horses and camels are also ridden here.
From the hotel to the beach you can walk, it will take about 20 minutes, if you do not be distracted. That is how we got to the sea on the first day. The path is divided into two parts, up to Dana Beech and through the territory of Dana Beech. We leave the hotel, go to the barrier and go along the asphalt road, the landscape is really not very good, there is a construction site on the right behind the fence, sand and garbage on the left, although two rows of palm trees enliven the picture, the palm trees are already green.
We reach the "central" street on one side of which there are many shops and a discotheque Havana Club, on the other side there are hotels. We thank the local taxi drivers for their attention, refuse to go anywhere, cross the street, climb the stairs and with our heads held high enter the Dana Beech hall. Further path through the territory. Beautiful. You can swim to the beach along an artificial canal in a motorboat, you can walk along the canal. Take the road as an adventure and it will not bring anything but positive emotions. Well, enough, probably, about the beach, let's move on to meeting with the guide ...
At 19.30. newcomers gathered in the hall. Meeting with the guide, in addition to, of course, offering excursions, included a lot of useful and informative.
The guide (actually two, Mohammed and Marina, however, Marina was rather the background of Mohammed, that's why I am writing about them in the singular) told about the hotel, about the rules and regulations, about the opening hours of restaurants, bars, buses and the beach, about prices , about how, on what and how much you can get to Hurghada, what you need to say if the sellers are tiring (it’s worth remembering, they are tiring), he told what and where is in the hotel, and at the end he led me to show (it’s better to go, for example, a restaurant, It's hard to find where lunch is held. After that, it was time to order excursions, but first about the hotel. So…
The hotel where the 1001 Nights show takes place should look like a fairytale castle, and so it looks. Red walls, yellow roofs, blue water of pools with wooden bridges, lawns and palm trees, domes and arches, sculptures and waterfalls… Stop, abstract from emotions and try again and in detail. ))
The hotel stands on the outskirts, there is nothing behind it, only sands.
To the right and left of the entrance to the hotel there are "public gardens", a lawn, flower beds, trees, plastic cows. Nice and beautiful. From the entrance begins the "central street" of the hotel, which leads to the arena where the show takes place, along it there are shops with all kinds of goods, the surroundings vaguely resemble GUM, although GUM is under occupation, since there are a majority of Germans in the hotel, which is why there are more German television channels than Arabic ones. Sellers constantly beckon, but not very intrusive. The hotel consists of several two-three-storey buildings. On the territory of 6 pools, two "central", the rest in the courtyards of the buildings. 2 pool bars, one at the reception, 3 restaurants, one for breakfast and dinner, another for lunch, the third for afternoon tea. I liked the one where breakfast and dinner are prettier, bigger and more comfortable, however, flies get out on the open terrace. I can’t say anything about daytime animation, but there is something that isn’t there, so it’s evening.
There is live music (more precisely, live vocals) in the bar and a nightly (in Russian 3 times a week) show "1001 Nights". It's all. The show includes a short digression into the history of Egypt, the performance of jigits is sometimes comical and for some reason under "Katyusha" and the dance of men in skirts. The scenery of the arena (reduced copies of historical monuments) looks better during the day, you can take a walk and take pictures. There is a stable next to the arena, in the morning you can ride horses. There is a museum, mini golf, volleyball court and football field. The kids club turned out to be a surprisingly quiet place, although there are a lot of children in the hotel. There is a local tour company at the entrance to the lobby. There's a bank there.
The level of service was as expected. They did not extort money, they did not infringe on a national basis. Cleaned well, even when we were not in the room. The reception staff speaks Russian. We woke up on excursions, gave breakfast with us. There were no problems with the extension of the number ($ 30 until 18.00. ).
In the shops on the territory you can buy everything you need. Bargaining as an integral part of shopping.
Perhaps the most appropriate word for a hotel is the word "cozy". The fact that, when we were going to go to the hotel, for example from the beach, we told each other let's go home, is not enough. The fact that he wrote beautiful and I wrote before me, but I want to repeat and repeat ....See photos, all posted here are true. The distance to the sea and the lack of animation were not a minus for us, we chose the hotel not for a noisy beach holiday, we chose a quiet hotel that would be the starting point for numerous excursions. It's time to book tours...
You can discuss the pros and cons of ordering excursions from a guide or local agencies for a long time, but I will not do this here. The decision to order from TEZ-Tour was made at home and the decision was final.
Since there is a $5 discount for each excursion when ordering on the first day, the guide was pleased with our desire to proceed with the order immediately. We have been preparing for this moment. At the first meeting, the guide gives everyone a piece of paper with a description, a schedule for the days of the week and prices for excursions. Exactly the same price list was downloaded from the TEZ-Tour website back in Moscow and a list was made according to it. This list was announced to the guide. The expression of surprise mixed in equal proportions with pleasure from the anticipation of profit on the face of the guide, as well as his question about who made the program, strengthened our confidence in the correctness of the choice. The following were chosen: "sugar park", "paradise island", "Cairo + Alexandria", "Luxor", "dancing fountains". So, the choice is made, the money is paid, it's time for dinner. Let's talk about food...
The food leaves much to be desired. And now I'm not talking about the hotel, but about Egypt in general.
Comparing my impressions later with the reviews of friends, I realized that we had something else very good. First, what is good. There are always free tables in restaurants, if not inside, then outside. Queues only to where they cook in front of you, and even then they are not long and not always. Pizza, scrambled eggs, spaghetti (everything with toppings to choose from) are cooked in front of you, meat, chicken, fish, etc. are fried. There is always a choice. Several types of hot dishes (meat, poultry, fish almost always, eternal meatballs, sometimes something incomprehensible such as crabs similar to spiders), cooked potatoes in different ways, pasta, vegetables in various variations, salads, fresh vegetables, and dressings for them. Sweet table is just a fairy tale. Fruits are always melons, apples, oranges, sometimes watermelon, all in pieces, with syrups for them. Coffee, tea always. Cola, Fanta, Sprite, UPI of course. Fresh 12 pounds.
I can’t say anything about alcoholic beverages, I don’t drink.
It is impossible to stay hungry, but! With all the abundance and variety of food in most cases fresh, sometimes not tasty. Potatoes and vegetables are half-baked, pasta is undercooked. Unfortunately, such a picture is everywhere, and among the Bedouins, and in Cairo, and in Alexandria, and in Luxor. But how many people have so many opinions and you will certainly have your own. Let's leave the food alone, let's move on to travel ...
Although, let's make a digression and talk about the weather. The trips began on the third day of the stay, and on the second day, an opinion was formed about the climate of Egypt during this period. We expected worse. Humidity is very low, so we did not suffer from the heat. It's hard from 12 to 16, the rest of the time it's comfortable. By the sea, you don’t feel the heat at all, the wind constantly blows from the sea, you want to lie down, lie down ...The moment of burning is also not felt, so smear and smear everything. By the way, after a long lying water +27 seems cold.
And the room, where the air conditioner is set to +24, resembles a cellar. We came to the sea from 8 to 9 and left for the hotel for lunch at 12 (the bar on the beach was not associated with a place to eat), at 16 we returned to the beach, so we spent the hardest time in the room. With the weather sorted out, it's time to go. So…
26.06. "Sahara Park". After breakfast, we take water, arafatki (40 pounds for 3 pieces in the hotel store after bargaining or 25 one in the desert), glasses, get into a jeep and rush into the sands. We arrive at the base where, after a short briefing and dressing in arafats, we have at our disposal a battered ATV, and the most interesting begins. The sun, the sky, the sand and the ATV, and on the horizon in the haze of the mountains ....I don't want to describe it, I want to experience it again. Then again we get into jeeps (by the way, riding in them is a rather dubious pleasure.
The Arabian desert resembles a cemetery of speed bumps, and two longitudinal, hard benches in a jeep instead of seats allow your ass to fully enjoy the features of the relief) and we go to watch a mirage. Mirage is a so-so mirage, any asphalt road near Moscow in 30 degrees of heat will give 100 points ahead. The next stop is "mountain with a surprise". The surprise, it seems, was that we still managed to climb it. About 40 degrees of heat, the feeling of the liver pressing on the Adam's apple, but the views are beautiful, however, thoughts are only about water ....We drive down the mountain along the white sand, empty our slippers and rush in a jeep to the Bedouin village. Bedouins are waiting for us with camels. The Bedouins are waiting, the camels are not. The ships of the desert turned out to be obstinate and not comfortable. Then rest under a canopy, tea and a lecture on the manners and customs of the Bedouins. Unlike other excursions on this tour, our guide was not an Arab, the guide was the girl Maya, everything was clear and interesting.
Then there was a short buggy ride (I suspect that the cars were stolen from the filming of Mad Max), the sun, mountains, buggies and children's delight, visiting the local zoo and serpentarium, then we went to visit. On a visit to the master of making bottles with sand (the process itself is interesting, it is not necessary to buy, the prices are high), on a visit to the healer, he is also a dealer in all sorts of crap (everything that is laid out on the counter, from herbs to what seems to have been picked up for tourists, for the most part it’s really crap, it’s not necessary to buy, although you will be offered to write recipes for using crap), on a visit to the Bedouins, they baked a flatbread for us (they tried it, it is a flatbread in Africa) and, finally, on a visit to the potter, he, of course, made a jug (you can mold it yourself under his strict guidance, then, after firing, you can purchase this masterpiece). Then the Bedouins treated us to what Allah had sent. Allah did not send much that evening.
Well, we still liked it.
28.06. "Paradise Island". Before that, Paradise was presented as in an advertisement for the Bounty. Either the advertisers are lying, or the Egyptians ....I'll tell you in order. After breakfast, we take water, towels, get on the bus and rush to some hotel in Hurghada, where we get masks, snorkels, fins and go up to the boat. 40 minutes before stopping at the reef pass unnoticed. There were not many people, the boat was quite free, everyone took pictures or just basked in the sea and the sun. What is a coral reef and why you need to dive to it, I think it is not necessary to describe. I will only mention that our boat was closer than others to the reef. After the reef we swim for 15 minutes, and we are at the island. 10 minutes to disembark and we start exploring paradise. It turned out that nothing grows in paradise, nothing at all, no greenery.
But in paradise there is a restaurant (lunch is included in the price of the tour, drinks are paid separately), in paradise there are very beautiful reed umbrellas with mats under them, in paradise there is a lot of sand and a stunningly beautiful blue-green transparent sea. The entrance to the sea is gentle, the depth begins far from the coast. In shallow water there is a small reef, a lot of colorful fish, children squeal with delight. However, in this beauty, adults become children. 1.5 hours in the water with a mask flew by for me like 15 minutes. You can wander along the coast (the sea brings shells and pieces of corals ashore, interesting specimens come across), it's a pity that 4 hours on the island is just the peak of the heat. But in general, Allah is with her, with greenery, and without her it is very beautiful. But it all ends, we are loaded onto the boat and are happy to sail back. A powerful charge of positive emotions before a tiring trip to Cairo and Alexandria.
29.06. "Cairo + Alexandria".
We take a lot of water, change of clothes, breakfast at the reception and at 2 am we get on the bus. We are the last to be taken. We don’t pick up anyone else, we don’t wait for anyone else, but the choice of seats on the bus is limited. Drive 7 hours with one stop. We overslept the road to Cairo.
Cairo…. Cairo is hard to describe. It is big, it is different, it is dirty, poor and respectable, it arouses admiration and disgust, in it landfills are adjacent to parks, and skyscrapers with shacks, there are crowds of people in it and no one follows the rules of the road, life does not stop in it day by day, not at night, they ride in it on everything that can be ridden and sell everything that can be sold, in it they throw garbage on the streets, but the houses are not completed, the Arabs are friendly in it, and it has the Nile, Cairo must be seen, in Cairo it stands visit.
Our first stop is the Cairo National Museum.
There we are met by the second guide, he became our guide in Cairo and Alexandria (we met the first one back in Hurghada, he served as an escort on the way). Very interesting, informative and very crowded. Then lunch on the ship, perfume factory and we go to the pyramids….
Pyramids and Sphinx...THIS is worth seeing. Impressive. Highly. If it were not for the terrible heat, we would regret that they give little time for inspection. The route was as follows: we walked at the pyramids, then moved to the observation deck, and, in the end, to the sphinx. It makes no sense to describe how IT looks, everyone knows. I will write about what I did not know. So…. The equipment for the show "Sound and Light" spoils the overall picture, sorry. Nothing to do inside the pyramids! For some reason, many believe that a mummy will surely meet them inside, and a scarab will wave its paw at them and show the way to the pharaoh's treasures. Citizens, the events of the film "The Mummy" are fictional and will not happen to you.
There is nothing interesting there and it is very stuffy. The guides themselves warn about this. Entrance to the pyramid of Cheops costs 100 pounds. All the time at the pyramids you have to repulse the attacks of the local population of the thirsty baksheesh. Everyone wants money for everything. They offer to sit on a camel for free, you have to pay to get off. They give gifts, then ask for gifts in return, usually with money, but, by the way, everything will do for them, caps, glasses, cigarettes, lighters, for them the process itself is more important than the result, this is a lifestyle. Cool guys in toe-length overalls, in turbans and with sticks in their hands, attach themselves to you when you are photographed and ask for baksheesh for it. Tourist police - guys in white uniforms on camels, kindly offer to take a picture of you, to get the camera back you need to pay baksheesh. Treat this as a feature of the local color, smile, and refuse "services".
Guides warn about all this in advance.
After the pyramids, we drive to the Sofitel Le Sphinx hotel. 1.5 hours to take a shower and change clothes and we will have dinner on a three-deck ship. The program includes live music, belly dancing and men in skirts. We preferred to sit on the upper deck, enjoying the evening views of Cairo. The cruise on the Nile completed this day with dignity, ahead of us was a short sleep, rise, breakfast from 4 to 5 in the morning and the road, Alexandria was waiting for us ahead of us.
Alexandria…. Alexandria is easier to describe, many words are not needed. Alexandria is beautiful, I want to fall in love with Alexandria and I almost succeed, there is not enough time. The city stands on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The main street is the embankment. Along it are the most expensive and beautiful houses (in Cairo along the Nile). The city is more Europeanized, calmer, greener. Alexandria as a museum, Alexandria as a sleeping area. Beauty and tranquility - this is Alexandria.
I want to return to Alexandria before leaving.
The day starts beautifully. The first stop is a park on the seashore, where a castle stands among palm trees and trees - the residence of the former king of Egypt, Farukh. An hour to take a walk in the park or swim in the sea, and we drive along the embankment to the other end of the city to the fort of Kite Bay, built on the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Then there was the mosque, dinner, the Roman amphitheater and the Alexandrian library. That's it, we're going to Cairo again. I had to be brief so as not to constantly repeat the word "beautiful. " Photos will say everything for me.
In Cairo, we stopped at a jewelry factory and said goodbye to our guide. We are going to Hurghada. We are already traveling unaccompanied, alone. First through the desert, then by the sea. Sea on the left, mountains on the right. We saw dolphins in the sea. I want to look out the window and take pictures, I don’t want anything else. Then desert again.
In the desert, the bus breaks down, but this is also a plus - everyone went for a dune. It's getting dark fast, anxiety is growing. An hour of battle with naughty mechanisms, an Arab checkmate, and people win. Already in the dark we applaud the drivers and get on the bus. Everything. "Home". Sleep. We rest tomorrow. Then Luxor awaits us.
02.07. "Luxor". We take water, we don’t take clothes, we take breakfast and at about 5 in the morning we get on the bus. We are the last ones again, there are more people, the choice of places is less. We drive to the place of gathering of the caravan, on the way we get acquainted with the guide. Unlike the previous Muhammedovs without exception, this one (op-pa! ) introduced himself as Khasam Susanin. I wanted to write about the work of the guides at the end, which will be done, but for this I will have to make an exception and mention it in the course of the story, without this person the picture will not be complete. So, we got acquainted with the guide, reached the bus collection point, waited for everyone. The caravan set off.
It takes 4 hours to drive with one stop (the entrance ticket to the toilet costs 1 pound, they won’t give change, food and drink are unreasonably expensive, local handicrafts are in abundance, there are camels, a little girl brought a goat, they also give her money for this). The road is divided into two parts, through the desert (most) and through the Nile Valley. The valley is full of greenery. We drive along the canal, around palm trees and fields of sugar cane. The feeling that we are in the 17th century in Barbados, now a slave market will appear, soldiers in cocked hats with guns, the governor's carriage, and there, beyond the horizon, the sea and, of course, a sailboat. But no, mountains are looming on the horizon, with guns only local “vigilantes” do not let on the road along which our caravan of Arab peasants travels, not at all like slaves, but instead of a carriage, a cart drawn by a donkey. The truth is, it doesn't bother us at all.
Our first stop is the Temple of Karnak, but first the guide's briefing:
- What do you shout when you have fireworks?
- Hooray! (sluggish chorus)
- Good. Get your tickets ready. Let's get to control. There's a queue. I shout Susanin. You chorus Hurrah! Everyone turns around for 30 seconds. We skip the line.
Let's go. There is no line, there is a crowd. But the idea is embodied, we are inside. It's hot there. There is even more crowd. We run all the time. The guide tells something, something interesting. But the ears do not hear, the eyes run, the mouth is open. It's not because of the heat, it's because of what's around. What is around does not need to be described, it needs to be seen, it needs to be touched. The temple does not leave anyone indifferent. Millennia passed, cultures changed, peoples came and went, and no one brought anything, on the contrary, each of those who came erased, broke, carried away a piece or part from here. Obelisks stand in Europe and America, but what is left, probably, for everyone who has been here, is associated with the word "grand". There is time for everything.
The Egyptians say that the French, for example, come here for three days, the Russians only for one. It turns out that for a moment we look into the gap. Very sorry….
We're going to have lunch. At dinner, we are offered to make cartouches (silver - $13, silver with a gold inscription - $17, gold from $24). The guide is zealous, advertising, we order. After lunch we cross the Nile on motor boats. Leaving the valley of life and entering the valley of death. We go to the colossi of Mnemon. Short stop to take pictures. The aborigine is sure that in his company, against the background of colossi, I will look better. Convinced and earned 5 pounds. Now our path lies to the shack with the proud name "Alabaster Factory". The presentation of goods performed by Mr. Susanin leaves us indifferent. In addition, I wanted to look into the shops at the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, so temptingly described in one of the reviews on another site. We're going to the temple.
The pursuit begins. On the way to the bus, the price drops rapidly. As a result, I hear: “all Russians are bad” and patriotism takes precedence over stinginess. The price of the image of the motherland is $5.
Now the "valley of the kings". It seems to be the most tempting, but in fact it turns out to be the most uninteresting and tedious part of the tour. You can’t take pictures in the tombs, you can’t enter with phones, we leave everything on the bus. From the bus, we are also brought to the valley hot by the sun by a “train”. The heat is incredible. The tombs of the pharaohs are carved into the rocks. Excavations are still ongoing. We are invited to the farthest. We go down 40 meters. Very, very, very stuffy. Apart from an empty stone sarcophagus, there is nothing in the tomb. Nothing at all. There is not enough air. We rise. Wet, angry, disappointed. +40 at the top seems cool. 5 minutes we come to ourselves under a canopy in the shade. On the offer to visit the next tomb, there is a unanimous “no! ".
True, then curiosity takes over, it was not in vain that they came. The second tomb corrects the situation. It is not so deep, it is more spacious, it has more rooms, it is not so stuffy, all the walls are covered with drawings. After the tomb, everyone only wants to get on the bus. Merchants at the exit from the valley are no longer even annoying, they are simply not paid attention to.
We are going to a shop with the romantic name "Papyrus Museum". We look at how they make it, admire it, reject offers to buy it. We are going to the last stop, where we are again going to the caravan and that's it. Home. To the hotel. Tired. Sleep.
03.07. At the "dancing fountains" we were taken from the hotel at 8 pm. Until that time, we decided to go to the beach and buy souvenirs in Hurghada. Therefore, now about the “shopping” part of the excursions and just about “shopping”. On excursions, this part is integral, but not intrusive. I wouldn't say it takes a long time.
In Cairo, we were brought in and given to the shop staff for “processing”. On a visit to the Bedouins, Maya represented the goods, but she did it somehow reluctantly. In Luxor, Susanin did this (cartouches and alabaster, papyrus were untwisted by the owners). But none of them forced them to buy anything, did not interfere with making purchases elsewhere, and did not take offense at such purchases. In Cairo, we bought oil, rather as an exotic souvenir (20 ml - $ 30), in Luxor we ordered cartouches. There was a temptation to buy a figurine made of moonstone at the "alabaster factory", but the situation was reminiscent of trading on the stock exchange and this repulsed me. The prices in these places are much higher, the motivation is true quality. Street vendors are always rubbing next to shopping stops. They literally put the product in your hands. Do not take it, take it, they will regard it as an agreement to buy for their price. Change money for pounds (the hotel has an exchanger), it's more profitable to shop, it's more profitable to tip.
Trade anytime, anywhere. Bargaining is a national feature, it is like a game for them, it is loved and welcomed, you will not bargain, they will not respect you. And keep in mind, no matter how much you bring down the price, they will always win. In the same store, for the same product on different days, prices are different. We regularly bought water, juices in the hotel shops, we had to buy glasses, arafatki, etc. Having made a purchase twice in the same store, I became “oh my friend! ". I asked to exchange pounds, exchanged. Smile, thank, learn a couple of words in Arabic, promise to come back for sure. All this is not usual and we are tired of it in the end. Therefore, for souvenirs, we decided to go to the store with fixed prices "Master" (thanks to the reviews about Hurghada). Deciding to taste the exotic, we abandoned the hotel taxi ($10 round trip, just say how much to pick you up) and took advantage of the local one.
For 20 pounds, we did not get to McDonald's at the Sheraton, but at the beginning or end of the Sheraton, about 2 kilometers from McDonald's. The search for the "Master" was perceived as another adventure. Found. The prices are fixed. The average papyrus is 15 pounds, the same in the "museum" 55. And most importantly, they bought hibiscus (55 pounds for 2 kg, merchants wanted 55 for 1). No more haggling with taxi drivers, $5 and we're at the hotel.
The trip to the fountains turned out to be individual. Driver, guide and the two of us. Lasts half an hour. Beautiful. Great. Liked. A worthy end to the last full day in Egypt. The guide, busy with his problems and talking on the phone, led, seated in the "best seats", took back to the car. Everything. Oh yes, about the guides….
The hotel staff answered the few questions that we had, ordered an alarm clock for excursions and breakfast, helped extend the room, agreed that our bracelets would be cut off not at 12, but at 18.
Excursion. Everything went great with Maya in the desert.
Mohammeds of Cairo are also okay guys, quite understandable Russian, interesting stories, but they love to talk about themselves very much, for example, it would be more interesting for me to hear about the places we pass by. Khasam Susanin a separate article, a historian by training, amazing stories, cool Russian, a lot of energy, presentations of cartouches and moonstone figurines are not perceived as vparivanie and are forgiven.
04.07. That's all. The last day has come. How do you not want to leave! 11 days was pretty damn short. It doesn’t leave a feeling of incompleteness, we haven’t done a lot of things, we didn’t go to many places, we didn’t dive, we didn’t buy in the sea, we didn’t lie on the beach, we didn’t rest! On this day, we still managed to swim, and sunbathe, and relax in the room, and calmly get together, and take the last photos, but everything is somehow sad. To say that I liked the rest, to say nothing.
There were also unpleasant moments, and sunburns, and legs swollen from a long ride on the bus, but I remember not this and not a scratch on the lamp ....We were determined to have fun and we got it to the fullest.
The bus picked us up at 8 pm. This time we were first. At passport control, we were all the same sociable Egyptian. This "pleasure" did not end there. We received a boarding pass for the 40th row. There were 38 of them in the Boeing 767 of the Transaero company ....There were 12 of us, the lucky ones. The problem was solved for an hour and a half. Someone was left for a day in Hurghada at the expense of the company, someone was transferred to a business class. We still flew away. But we will probably be back...
Thanks to everyone who read. I will answer questions.
I don’t want to start badly, so I’ll write about Transaero at the end, I’ll start from the airport.
We were the first to enter, the first (for some reason, in a free window and, apparently, therefore, for $ 17) received visas, filled out questionnaires, stood in line and ....on this, the speed of falling into Egypt fell. The queue was obviously not the right one, the queue was for a surprisingly sociable Egyptian, only he preferred to communicate not with tourists, but with friends or colleagues. There was no longer any talk of any dutiks after passport control, the employees of the TEZ-Tour met us with reproachful eyes and our luggage in their hands. There are no complaints about TEZ-Tour, everything is clear. The number of employees of the meeting party at the airport resembles the Salvation Army. It is impossible to miss and pass by. People in yellow T-shirts stand every 10 meters to the buses.
15 minutes by bus and we are at the hotel.
10 minutes of waiting at the reception, $10 in the passport and we are escorted to room 614.20 minutes to understand that we like the room, change clothes ....although, perhaps, it is worth stopping at the room. So…
We arrived at the hotel around 14.00, perhaps that's why we did not wait for the check-in. For $10 we were thanked and asked if we needed one bed or two. Room 614 was on the first floor, with one large bed, a huge balcony, a view of the kids club and mini golf courses. I arranged the room and liked it. If you set a goal, flaws can be found everywhere and the room’s flaws include the lack of one door in the closet, a scratch on the lamp, the lack of shampoo and the fact that liquid soap was not added to the dispensers even once. You know better whether this will spoil the picture, it did not cause discomfort for us.
In my opinion, it is much more important that whether the air conditioner works and to what temperature it cools depended only on us, that the mini bar turned out to be a fairly decent-sized refrigerator, in which two bottles of water were put every day, that the TV was not small, that the view is not on the pool and therefore it was quiet and there were no flies or mosquitoes, and the room was just cozy, however, like the whole hotel. Cleaning did not cause complaints, 1-5 pounds and you have everything clean, washed, changed and made up. Once they did not leave a tip, the cleaner, the asshole reminded me - he turned off the air conditioner. ))) The bathroom is combined, everything is convenient, everything works, there is no hair dryer. It seems that everything is about the room, we are returning ...
20 minutes to understand that you like the room, change clothes, find on the hotel map (issued at the reception) the places where the afternoon snack is held and towels are issued, and the rest begins.
The program of the first day, in addition to getting acquainted with the menu for an afternoon snack, included a trip to the beach, meeting with a guide at 19.30.
and dinner. An afternoon snack is a so-so event, but it’s even worth writing about the beach. So…
The beach is not close. The beach is far. Anyone who thought it was the first or second line nervously smokes on the sidelines. There is a bus to the beach, rather a bus, small, looking like the 60s. It runs from 8 am to 12 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm every 15 minutes. Drive 5 minutes. The beach belongs to the Dana Beech hotel, "our" part of the beach is on the right. A bus brings you there, there is a bar (10.00 -17.00). Sunbeds can be used on the entire beach, the bar is only the one on the right. There are always enough beds. We came early, at 8 o'clock and chose on the first line where we wanted. Later, oddly enough at 12 o'clock, the people are pulling up, and the first line to the sea is busy, there are enough for the rest of the places. At 5 pm the beach is empty. Sunbeds, mattresses for free, towels on cards at the hotel, for the loss of the card a fine of 50 pounds.
Sandy beach, artificial lagoon. Sea entry is good. There are pebbles, but they are trying to remove them. Good for kids, lots of kids.
There are practically no waves in the lagoon, small fish swim near the shore, in shallow water. On the left is a long pier, along it is a shoal, along it you can reach the very sea, there is a small reef, low tide opens islands. Take your mask and snorkel. On the right, where “our” part of the beach ends, there is also a small pier, it belongs to the excursion office (right there on the beach). Here, on the right, they provide an opportunity to do water sports, horses and camels are also ridden here.
From the hotel to the beach you can walk, it will take about 20 minutes, if you do not be distracted. That is how we got to the sea on the first day. The path is divided into two parts, up to Dana Beech and through the territory of Dana Beech. We leave the hotel, go to the barrier and go along the asphalt road, the landscape is really not very good, there is a construction site on the right behind the fence, sand and garbage on the left, although two rows of palm trees enliven the picture, the palm trees are already green.
We reach the "central" street on one side of which there are many shops and a discotheque Havana Club, on the other side there are hotels. We thank the local taxi drivers for their attention, refuse to go anywhere, cross the street, climb the stairs and with our heads held high enter the Dana Beech hall. Further path through the territory. Beautiful. You can swim to the beach along an artificial canal in a motorboat, you can walk along the canal. Take the road as an adventure and it will not bring anything but positive emotions. Well, enough, probably, about the beach, let's move on to meeting with the guide ...
At 19.30. newcomers gathered in the hall. Meeting with the guide, in addition to, of course, offering excursions, included a lot of useful and informative.
The guide (actually two, Mohammed and Marina, however, Marina was rather the background of Mohammed, that's why I am writing about them in the singular) told about the hotel, about the rules and regulations, about the opening hours of restaurants, bars, buses and the beach, about prices , about how, on what and how much you can get to Hurghada, what you need to say if the sellers are tiring (it’s worth remembering, they are tiring), he told what and where is in the hotel, and at the end he led me to show (it’s better to go, for example, a restaurant, It's hard to find where lunch is held. After that, it was time to order excursions, but first about the hotel. So…
The hotel where the 1001 Nights show takes place should look like a fairytale castle, and so it looks. Red walls, yellow roofs, blue water of pools with wooden bridges, lawns and palm trees, domes and arches, sculptures and waterfalls… Stop, abstract from emotions and try again and in detail. ))
The hotel stands on the outskirts, there is nothing behind it, only sands.
To the right and left of the entrance to the hotel there are "public gardens", a lawn, flower beds, trees, plastic cows. Nice and beautiful. From the entrance begins the "central street" of the hotel, which leads to the arena where the show takes place, along it there are shops with all kinds of goods, the surroundings vaguely resemble GUM, although GUM is under occupation, since there are a majority of Germans in the hotel, which is why there are more German television channels than Arabic ones. Sellers constantly beckon, but not very intrusive. The hotel consists of several two-three-storey buildings. On the territory of 6 pools, two "central", the rest in the courtyards of the buildings. 2 pool bars, one at the reception, 3 restaurants, one for breakfast and dinner, another for lunch, the third for afternoon tea. I liked the one where breakfast and dinner are prettier, bigger and more comfortable, however, flies get out on the open terrace. I can’t say anything about daytime animation, but there is something that isn’t there, so it’s evening.
There is live music (more precisely, live vocals) in the bar and a nightly (in Russian 3 times a week) show "1001 Nights". It's all. The show includes a short digression into the history of Egypt, the performance of jigits is sometimes comical and for some reason under "Katyusha" and the dance of men in skirts. The scenery of the arena (reduced copies of historical monuments) looks better during the day, you can take a walk and take pictures. There is a stable next to the arena, in the morning you can ride horses. There is a museum, mini golf, volleyball court and football field. The kids club turned out to be a surprisingly quiet place, although there are a lot of children in the hotel. There is a local tour company at the entrance to the lobby. There's a bank there.
The level of service was as expected. They did not extort money, they did not infringe on a national basis. Cleaned well, even when we were not in the room. The reception staff speaks Russian. We woke up on excursions, gave breakfast with us. There were no problems with the extension of the number ($ 30 until 18.00. ).
In the shops on the territory you can buy everything you need. Bargaining as an integral part of shopping.
Perhaps the most appropriate word for a hotel is the word "cozy". The fact that, when we were going to go to the hotel, for example from the beach, we told each other let's go home, is not enough. The fact that he wrote beautiful and I wrote before me, but I want to repeat and repeat ....See photos, all posted here are true. The distance to the sea and the lack of animation were not a minus for us, we chose the hotel not for a noisy beach holiday, we chose a quiet hotel that would be the starting point for numerous excursions. It's time to book tours...
You can discuss the pros and cons of ordering excursions from a guide or local agencies for a long time, but I will not do this here. The decision to order from TEZ-Tour was made at home and the decision was final.
Since there is a $5 discount for each excursion when ordering on the first day, the guide was pleased with our desire to proceed with the order immediately. We have been preparing for this moment. At the first meeting, the guide gives everyone a piece of paper with a description, a schedule for the days of the week and prices for excursions. Exactly the same price list was downloaded from the TEZ-Tour website back in Moscow and a list was made according to it. This list was announced to the guide. The expression of surprise mixed in equal proportions with pleasure from the anticipation of profit on the face of the guide, as well as his question about who made the program, strengthened our confidence in the correctness of the choice. The following were chosen: "sugar park", "paradise island", "Cairo + Alexandria", "Luxor", "dancing fountains". So, the choice is made, the money is paid, it's time for dinner. Let's talk about food...
The food leaves much to be desired. And now I'm not talking about the hotel, but about Egypt in general.
Comparing my impressions later with the reviews of friends, I realized that we had something else very good. First, what is good. There are always free tables in restaurants, if not inside, then outside. Queues only to where they cook in front of you, and even then they are not long and not always. Pizza, scrambled eggs, spaghetti (everything with toppings to choose from) are cooked in front of you, meat, chicken, fish, etc. are fried. There is always a choice. Several types of hot dishes (meat, poultry, fish almost always, eternal meatballs, sometimes something incomprehensible such as crabs similar to spiders), cooked potatoes in different ways, pasta, vegetables in various variations, salads, fresh vegetables, and dressings for them. Sweet table is just a fairy tale. Fruits are always melons, apples, oranges, sometimes watermelon, all in pieces, with syrups for them. Coffee, tea always. Cola, Fanta, Sprite, UPI of course. Fresh 12 pounds.
I can’t say anything about alcoholic beverages, I don’t drink.
It is impossible to stay hungry, but! With all the abundance and variety of food in most cases fresh, sometimes not tasty. Potatoes and vegetables are half-baked, pasta is undercooked. Unfortunately, such a picture is everywhere, and among the Bedouins, and in Cairo, and in Alexandria, and in Luxor. But how many people have so many opinions and you will certainly have your own. Let's leave the food alone, let's move on to travel ...
Although, let's make a digression and talk about the weather. The trips began on the third day of the stay, and on the second day, an opinion was formed about the climate of Egypt during this period. We expected worse. Humidity is very low, so we did not suffer from the heat. It's hard from 12 to 16, the rest of the time it's comfortable. By the sea, you don’t feel the heat at all, the wind constantly blows from the sea, you want to lie down, lie down ...The moment of burning is also not felt, so smear and smear everything. By the way, after a long lying water +27 seems cold.
And the room, where the air conditioner is set to +24, resembles a cellar. We came to the sea from 8 to 9 and left for the hotel for lunch at 12 (the bar on the beach was not associated with a place to eat), at 16 we returned to the beach, so we spent the hardest time in the room. With the weather sorted out, it's time to go. So…
26.06. "Sahara Park". After breakfast, we take water, arafatki (40 pounds for 3 pieces in the hotel store after bargaining or 25 one in the desert), glasses, get into a jeep and rush into the sands. We arrive at the base where, after a short briefing and dressing in arafats, we have at our disposal a battered ATV, and the most interesting begins. The sun, the sky, the sand and the ATV, and on the horizon in the haze of the mountains ....I don't want to describe it, I want to experience it again. Then again we get into jeeps (by the way, riding in them is a rather dubious pleasure.
The Arabian desert resembles a cemetery of speed bumps, and two longitudinal, hard benches in a jeep instead of seats allow your ass to fully enjoy the features of the relief) and we go to watch a mirage. Mirage is a so-so mirage, any asphalt road near Moscow in 30 degrees of heat will give 100 points ahead. The next stop is "mountain with a surprise". The surprise, it seems, was that we still managed to climb it. About 40 degrees of heat, the feeling of the liver pressing on the Adam's apple, but the views are beautiful, however, thoughts are only about water ....We drive down the mountain along the white sand, empty our slippers and rush in a jeep to the Bedouin village. Bedouins are waiting for us with camels. The Bedouins are waiting, the camels are not. The ships of the desert turned out to be obstinate and not comfortable. Then rest under a canopy, tea and a lecture on the manners and customs of the Bedouins. Unlike other excursions on this tour, our guide was not an Arab, the guide was the girl Maya, everything was clear and interesting.
Then there was a short buggy ride (I suspect that the cars were stolen from the filming of Mad Max), the sun, mountains, buggies and children's delight, visiting the local zoo and serpentarium, then we went to visit. On a visit to the master of making bottles with sand (the process itself is interesting, it is not necessary to buy, the prices are high), on a visit to the healer, he is also a dealer in all sorts of crap (everything that is laid out on the counter, from herbs to what seems to have been picked up for tourists, for the most part it’s really crap, it’s not necessary to buy, although you will be offered to write recipes for using crap), on a visit to the Bedouins, they baked a flatbread for us (they tried it, it is a flatbread in Africa) and, finally, on a visit to the potter, he, of course, made a jug (you can mold it yourself under his strict guidance, then, after firing, you can purchase this masterpiece). Then the Bedouins treated us to what Allah had sent. Allah did not send much that evening.
Well, we still liked it.
28.06. "Paradise Island". Before that, Paradise was presented as in an advertisement for the Bounty. Either the advertisers are lying, or the Egyptians ....I'll tell you in order. After breakfast, we take water, towels, get on the bus and rush to some hotel in Hurghada, where we get masks, snorkels, fins and go up to the boat. 40 minutes before stopping at the reef pass unnoticed. There were not many people, the boat was quite free, everyone took pictures or just basked in the sea and the sun. What is a coral reef and why you need to dive to it, I think it is not necessary to describe. I will only mention that our boat was closer than others to the reef. After the reef we swim for 15 minutes, and we are at the island. 10 minutes to disembark and we start exploring paradise. It turned out that nothing grows in paradise, nothing at all, no greenery.
But in paradise there is a restaurant (lunch is included in the price of the tour, drinks are paid separately), in paradise there are very beautiful reed umbrellas with mats under them, in paradise there is a lot of sand and a stunningly beautiful blue-green transparent sea. The entrance to the sea is gentle, the depth begins far from the coast. In shallow water there is a small reef, a lot of colorful fish, children squeal with delight. However, in this beauty, adults become children. 1.5 hours in the water with a mask flew by for me like 15 minutes. You can wander along the coast (the sea brings shells and pieces of corals ashore, interesting specimens come across), it's a pity that 4 hours on the island is just the peak of the heat. But in general, Allah is with her, with greenery, and without her it is very beautiful. But it all ends, we are loaded onto the boat and are happy to sail back. A powerful charge of positive emotions before a tiring trip to Cairo and Alexandria.
29.06. "Cairo + Alexandria".
We take a lot of water, change of clothes, breakfast at the reception and at 2 am we get on the bus. We are the last to be taken. We don’t pick up anyone else, we don’t wait for anyone else, but the choice of seats on the bus is limited. Drive 7 hours with one stop. We overslept the road to Cairo.
Cairo…. Cairo is hard to describe. It is big, it is different, it is dirty, poor and respectable, it arouses admiration and disgust, in it landfills are adjacent to parks, and skyscrapers with shacks, there are crowds of people in it and no one follows the rules of the road, life does not stop in it day by day, not at night, they ride in it on everything that can be ridden and sell everything that can be sold, in it they throw garbage on the streets, but the houses are not completed, the Arabs are friendly in it, and it has the Nile, Cairo must be seen, in Cairo it stands visit.
Our first stop is the Cairo National Museum.
There we are met by the second guide, he became our guide in Cairo and Alexandria (we met the first one back in Hurghada, he served as an escort on the way). Very interesting, informative and very crowded. Then lunch on the ship, perfume factory and we go to the pyramids….
Pyramids and Sphinx...THIS is worth seeing. Impressive. Highly. If it were not for the terrible heat, we would regret that they give little time for inspection. The route was as follows: we walked at the pyramids, then moved to the observation deck, and, in the end, to the sphinx. It makes no sense to describe how IT looks, everyone knows. I will write about what I did not know. So…. The equipment for the show "Sound and Light" spoils the overall picture, sorry. Nothing to do inside the pyramids! For some reason, many believe that a mummy will surely meet them inside, and a scarab will wave its paw at them and show the way to the pharaoh's treasures. Citizens, the events of the film "The Mummy" are fictional and will not happen to you.
There is nothing interesting there and it is very stuffy. The guides themselves warn about this. Entrance to the pyramid of Cheops costs 100 pounds. All the time at the pyramids you have to repulse the attacks of the local population of the thirsty baksheesh. Everyone wants money for everything. They offer to sit on a camel for free, you have to pay to get off. They give gifts, then ask for gifts in return, usually with money, but, by the way, everything will do for them, caps, glasses, cigarettes, lighters, for them the process itself is more important than the result, this is a lifestyle. Cool guys in toe-length overalls, in turbans and with sticks in their hands, attach themselves to you when you are photographed and ask for baksheesh for it. Tourist police - guys in white uniforms on camels, kindly offer to take a picture of you, to get the camera back you need to pay baksheesh. Treat this as a feature of the local color, smile, and refuse "services".
Guides warn about all this in advance.
After the pyramids, we drive to the Sofitel Le Sphinx hotel. 1.5 hours to take a shower and change clothes and we will have dinner on a three-deck ship. The program includes live music, belly dancing and men in skirts. We preferred to sit on the upper deck, enjoying the evening views of Cairo. The cruise on the Nile completed this day with dignity, ahead of us was a short sleep, rise, breakfast from 4 to 5 in the morning and the road, Alexandria was waiting for us ahead of us.
Alexandria…. Alexandria is easier to describe, many words are not needed. Alexandria is beautiful, I want to fall in love with Alexandria and I almost succeed, there is not enough time. The city stands on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The main street is the embankment. Along it are the most expensive and beautiful houses (in Cairo along the Nile). The city is more Europeanized, calmer, greener. Alexandria as a museum, Alexandria as a sleeping area. Beauty and tranquility - this is Alexandria.
I want to return to Alexandria before leaving.
The day starts beautifully. The first stop is a park on the seashore, where a castle stands among palm trees and trees - the residence of the former king of Egypt, Farukh. An hour to take a walk in the park or swim in the sea, and we drive along the embankment to the other end of the city to the fort of Kite Bay, built on the site of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Then there was the mosque, dinner, the Roman amphitheater and the Alexandrian library. That's it, we're going to Cairo again. I had to be brief so as not to constantly repeat the word "beautiful. " Photos will say everything for me.
In Cairo, we stopped at a jewelry factory and said goodbye to our guide. We are going to Hurghada. We are already traveling unaccompanied, alone. First through the desert, then by the sea. Sea on the left, mountains on the right. We saw dolphins in the sea. I want to look out the window and take pictures, I don’t want anything else. Then desert again.
In the desert, the bus breaks down, but this is also a plus - everyone went for a dune. It's getting dark fast, anxiety is growing. An hour of battle with naughty mechanisms, an Arab checkmate, and people win. Already in the dark we applaud the drivers and get on the bus. Everything. "Home". Sleep. We rest tomorrow. Then Luxor awaits us.
02.07. "Luxor". We take water, we don’t take clothes, we take breakfast and at about 5 in the morning we get on the bus. We are the last ones again, there are more people, the choice of places is less. We drive to the place of gathering of the caravan, on the way we get acquainted with the guide. Unlike the previous Muhammedovs without exception, this one (op-pa! ) introduced himself as Khasam Susanin. I wanted to write about the work of the guides at the end, which will be done, but for this I will have to make an exception and mention it in the course of the story, without this person the picture will not be complete. So, we got acquainted with the guide, reached the bus collection point, waited for everyone. The caravan set off.
It takes 4 hours to drive with one stop (the entrance ticket to the toilet costs 1 pound, they won’t give change, food and drink are unreasonably expensive, local handicrafts are in abundance, there are camels, a little girl brought a goat, they also give her money for this). The road is divided into two parts, through the desert (most) and through the Nile Valley. The valley is full of greenery. We drive along the canal, around palm trees and fields of sugar cane. The feeling that we are in the 17th century in Barbados, now a slave market will appear, soldiers in cocked hats with guns, the governor's carriage, and there, beyond the horizon, the sea and, of course, a sailboat. But no, mountains are looming on the horizon, with guns only local “vigilantes” do not let on the road along which our caravan of Arab peasants travels, not at all like slaves, but instead of a carriage, a cart drawn by a donkey. The truth is, it doesn't bother us at all.
Our first stop is the Temple of Karnak, but first the guide's briefing:
- What do you shout when you have fireworks?
- Hooray! (sluggish chorus)
- Good. Get your tickets ready. Let's get to control. There's a queue. I shout Susanin. You chorus Hurrah! Everyone turns around for 30 seconds. We skip the line.
Let's go. There is no line, there is a crowd. But the idea is embodied, we are inside. It's hot there. There is even more crowd. We run all the time. The guide tells something, something interesting. But the ears do not hear, the eyes run, the mouth is open. It's not because of the heat, it's because of what's around. What is around does not need to be described, it needs to be seen, it needs to be touched. The temple does not leave anyone indifferent. Millennia passed, cultures changed, peoples came and went, and no one brought anything, on the contrary, each of those who came erased, broke, carried away a piece or part from here. Obelisks stand in Europe and America, but what is left, probably, for everyone who has been here, is associated with the word "grand". There is time for everything.
The Egyptians say that the French, for example, come here for three days, the Russians only for one. It turns out that for a moment we look into the gap. Very sorry….
We're going to have lunch. At dinner, we are offered to make cartouches (silver - $13, silver with a gold inscription - $17, gold from $24). The guide is zealous, advertising, we order. After lunch we cross the Nile on motor boats. Leaving the valley of life and entering the valley of death. We go to the colossi of Mnemon. Short stop to take pictures. The aborigine is sure that in his company, against the background of colossi, I will look better. Convinced and earned 5 pounds. Now our path lies to the shack with the proud name "Alabaster Factory". The presentation of goods performed by Mr. Susanin leaves us indifferent. In addition, I wanted to look into the shops at the temple of Queen Hatshepsut, so temptingly described in one of the reviews on another site. We're going to the temple.
The pursuit begins. On the way to the bus, the price drops rapidly. As a result, I hear: “all Russians are bad” and patriotism takes precedence over stinginess. The price of the image of the motherland is $5.
Now the "valley of the kings". It seems to be the most tempting, but in fact it turns out to be the most uninteresting and tedious part of the tour. You can’t take pictures in the tombs, you can’t enter with phones, we leave everything on the bus. From the bus, we are also brought to the valley hot by the sun by a “train”. The heat is incredible. The tombs of the pharaohs are carved into the rocks. Excavations are still ongoing. We are invited to the farthest. We go down 40 meters. Very, very, very stuffy. Apart from an empty stone sarcophagus, there is nothing in the tomb. Nothing at all. There is not enough air. We rise. Wet, angry, disappointed. +40 at the top seems cool. 5 minutes we come to ourselves under a canopy in the shade. On the offer to visit the next tomb, there is a unanimous “no! ".
True, then curiosity takes over, it was not in vain that they came. The second tomb corrects the situation. It is not so deep, it is more spacious, it has more rooms, it is not so stuffy, all the walls are covered with drawings. After the tomb, everyone only wants to get on the bus. Merchants at the exit from the valley are no longer even annoying, they are simply not paid attention to.
We are going to a shop with the romantic name "Papyrus Museum". We look at how they make it, admire it, reject offers to buy it. We are going to the last stop, where we are again going to the caravan and that's it. Home. To the hotel. Tired. Sleep.
03.07. At the "dancing fountains" we were taken from the hotel at 8 pm. Until that time, we decided to go to the beach and buy souvenirs in Hurghada. Therefore, now about the “shopping” part of the excursions and just about “shopping”. On excursions, this part is integral, but not intrusive. I wouldn't say it takes a long time.
In Cairo, we were brought in and given to the shop staff for “processing”. On a visit to the Bedouins, Maya represented the goods, but she did it somehow reluctantly. In Luxor, Susanin did this (cartouches and alabaster, papyrus were untwisted by the owners). But none of them forced them to buy anything, did not interfere with making purchases elsewhere, and did not take offense at such purchases. In Cairo, we bought oil, rather as an exotic souvenir (20 ml - $ 30), in Luxor we ordered cartouches. There was a temptation to buy a figurine made of moonstone at the "alabaster factory", but the situation was reminiscent of trading on the stock exchange and this repulsed me. The prices in these places are much higher, the motivation is true quality. Street vendors are always rubbing next to shopping stops. They literally put the product in your hands. Do not take it, take it, they will regard it as an agreement to buy for their price. Change money for pounds (the hotel has an exchanger), it's more profitable to shop, it's more profitable to tip.
Trade anytime, anywhere. Bargaining is a national feature, it is like a game for them, it is loved and welcomed, you will not bargain, they will not respect you. And keep in mind, no matter how much you bring down the price, they will always win. In the same store, for the same product on different days, prices are different. We regularly bought water, juices in the hotel shops, we had to buy glasses, arafatki, etc. Having made a purchase twice in the same store, I became “oh my friend! ". I asked to exchange pounds, exchanged. Smile, thank, learn a couple of words in Arabic, promise to come back for sure. All this is not usual and we are tired of it in the end. Therefore, for souvenirs, we decided to go to the store with fixed prices "Master" (thanks to the reviews about Hurghada). Deciding to taste the exotic, we abandoned the hotel taxi ($10 round trip, just say how much to pick you up) and took advantage of the local one.
For 20 pounds, we did not get to McDonald's at the Sheraton, but at the beginning or end of the Sheraton, about 2 kilometers from McDonald's. The search for the "Master" was perceived as another adventure. Found. The prices are fixed. The average papyrus is 15 pounds, the same in the "museum" 55. And most importantly, they bought hibiscus (55 pounds for 2 kg, merchants wanted 55 for 1). No more haggling with taxi drivers, $5 and we're at the hotel.
The trip to the fountains turned out to be individual. Driver, guide and the two of us. Lasts half an hour. Beautiful. Great. Liked. A worthy end to the last full day in Egypt. The guide, busy with his problems and talking on the phone, led, seated in the "best seats", took back to the car. Everything. Oh yes, about the guides….
The hotel staff answered the few questions that we had, ordered an alarm clock for excursions and breakfast, helped extend the room, agreed that our bracelets would be cut off not at 12, but at 18.
Excursion. Everything went great with Maya in the desert.
Mohammeds of Cairo are also okay guys, quite understandable Russian, interesting stories, but they love to talk about themselves very much, for example, it would be more interesting for me to hear about the places we pass by. Khasam Susanin a separate article, a historian by training, amazing stories, cool Russian, a lot of energy, presentations of cartouches and moonstone figurines are not perceived as vparivanie and are forgiven.
04.07. That's all. The last day has come. How do you not want to leave! 11 days was pretty damn short. It doesn’t leave a feeling of incompleteness, we haven’t done a lot of things, we didn’t go to many places, we didn’t dive, we didn’t buy in the sea, we didn’t lie on the beach, we didn’t rest! On this day, we still managed to swim, and sunbathe, and relax in the room, and calmly get together, and take the last photos, but everything is somehow sad. To say that I liked the rest, to say nothing.
There were also unpleasant moments, and sunburns, and legs swollen from a long ride on the bus, but I remember not this and not a scratch on the lamp ....We were determined to have fun and we got it to the fullest.
The bus picked us up at 8 pm. This time we were first. At passport control, we were all the same sociable Egyptian. This "pleasure" did not end there. We received a boarding pass for the 40th row. There were 38 of them in the Boeing 767 of the Transaero company ....There were 12 of us, the lucky ones. The problem was solved for an hour and a half. Someone was left for a day in Hurghada at the expense of the company, someone was transferred to a business class. We still flew away. But we will probably be back...
Thanks to everyone who read. I will answer questions.
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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