Alf Leila Wa Leila Alf Leila Wa Leila

Upon arrival at the hotel, a painful wait awaited us - from 5.00 to 10.30 in the morning we all waited for accommodation in rooms, because, as we were told, according to international law, in all hotels it takes place at 12.00 local time. Our wait dragged on for a long time, until a "experienced" tourist approached our newly arrived group, sitting near the reception desk, and advised us to offer the administrator $ 10 per room ...As soon as the dialogue with the administrator took place, and the money was given, he immediately appeared a bag boy who perkyly began to take our suitcases to our rooms and rather brazenly beg for tips. No, he didn't say anything, he just stared meaningfully and just didn't leave the room for about five minutes : ) That's how our life at the Alf Leila Wa Leila hotel began.

Now, in order about service, food and the hotel in general.

The hotel imagines an interweaving of buildings with oriental colorful turrets, labyrinths, corridors, in some places diluted with small pools (we happened to have one of them under the window), in a fabulous Arabic style. In principle, this is just a huge area, covered with tiles, almost without greenery. In reservoirs, the water is very cold, even in the large main, rather beautiful pool with bridges, it was impossible to swim. In the far left part of the hotel territory there is a heated pool, it was not possible for us to relax next to it, because all the sun loungers were constantly occupied, and in the pool itself, despite its modest size, several dozen people were constantly splashing. Not far from the heated pool is a rather small playground, next to it is a mini zoo with a monkey and turtles, and a strange all the time castle building with the inscription "Kid Klub".
Further green area with a small number of trees and mini-golf. Volleyball court and soccer field. At the very end of the green area is the arena for the Animation-Show, the existence of which we discovered on the day of departure, naturally no shows were held there during our stay at the hotel. Walking along the main street of the hotel, you run into the arena for the night Sound & Light Show "Fantasia", these are several glazed and open halls with a view of bigatures (these are not miniatures, reduced copies, but still huge! ) Ancient Egyptian monuments and plastic chairs for sitting inside. To the right of the arena is the building of the "Egyptian Museum", which, no matter how hard we tried, did not get in - according to the schedule inscribed on the door, the museum did not want to work in any. Behind the bigatures of the temples there is a tent for the night "Belle Dance Show", and a stable, where, having previously signed up at the reception, you can ride a horse, camel, donkey, and cuddle lambs.
Nice for both adults and children.

The Cave du Rois restaurant is quite spacious and cozy, we had breakfast and dinner there, but the Arabisck, where we had lunch, is quite cramped and often did not accommodate all those who wished and suffered. We were, as I wrote in January, and in the early days it was rather unpleasant and cool to dine outside, a breeze, you know: ). It is completely incomprehensible why it was impossible to make lunch in the same Cave du Rois. In addition to these two restaurants, you can go for an afternoon snack to the Sindbad restaurant, which is generally all in the open air, under the roof and on the main street through the entrance. The food is not bad, there are a lot of vegetables, it was nice to gnaw cucumbers and tomatoes in the middle of winter, there are very few fruits, but compared to our previous visit to Egypt, normally cooked meat (goulash, barbecue, kebabs) appeared in the diet here, as well as chicken, well, pigeons of course : )

We were pleasantly surprised by fried crabs, and wonderful sweet puff pastry buns for breakfast in the morning...Drinks, as always, leave much to be desired. Juices are just a name, in fact it’s Invite and Yupi in Arabic, I post a photo of what happens to the tongue after drinking such a “juice”, beer is not for everybody, it doesn’t get drunk at all, but it quenches thirst. So-so beer "Luxor", better "Stella" and more or less "Sahara". All locally produced strong liquor, which is bottled to tourists "for free" of absolutely the same taste, differs in color and name - vodka, gin, whiskey, cognac. In addition to restaurants, drinks and tea (by the way, even packaged just awesome! - hibiscus, with mint, etc. ) can be consumed using the All Inc system in the Sultan bar and the beach bar by the pool.

The central street of the hotel territory is a rather long and varied row of shops with souvenirs, papyrus, there is even a pharmacy and a fitness club.
So about this street, if it wasn’t okay ...The Arabs selling in these shops, of course, are not as unwashed and arrogant as, for example, in the center of Hurghada, but they got it so that by the 14th day of their stay I wanted to or shoot yourself or rush at all these merchants, barker with your fists, because the constant - "Drug, zati suta, papyrus-papyrus, my laffka lucche fsekh", and especially to my beautiful other half like "Hey kamsamolka! You are just beautiful, fihoti zamush "tolerate there was no strength! I don’t argue, my wife is beautiful, I love and appreciate her very much, but leave me words of admiration, you weren’t asked ...I understand the mentality of the local population, they can’t do otherwise! But I, too, once, given my mentality, I can’t ...and it will be very painful!

The staff was constantly swarming around the hotel, cleaning, sweeping, washing, in the evening water splashed right under the feet of tourists .....but it didn’t get cleaner ...
it’s unpleasant that someone is constantly washing, whitening, painting, cleaning somewhere before your eyes ...During our stay on the main street, and our room was in close proximity, something suddenly began to break, dust flew and for 3 days we heard through the thin walls how someone was hammering.


The hotel room is standard, it cannot be more standard, the tiles on the floor were annoying, rather cold, they constantly compared the room with the room at the Titanic Hotel, it was better there. There is no hair dryer in the room, no safe, soaps - shampoos are not brought, (and everything was in the Titanic) towels were changed if only dirty or badly wrinkled. For 2 weeks the bed linen was not changed even once. On the 8th day of stay in the room, hot water disappeared and turned on more than a day later. Balcony and window from the room overlooking the indoor pool. (Cm.
photo) At this time of the year, the sun did not wander into our room even for a moment, and in the first 2 days it was quite cool, I really wanted the sun.

About the pool under the eye. At first, we tried not to run anywhere, but to calmly sunbathe nearby, as they say, "without leaving the cash register", but that was not the case. Waking up at 8-9, we found that there were no free sun loungers, they were all occupied by someone's towels and things. It turned out that this is a company of Germans of retirement age, thus reclaiming their territory under the sun, and towels and things on many sun loungers could lie until the evening and no one appeared there, but touch them for NO WAY! There was always someone who guarded the territory.

Exactly the same situation happened after 18.00 at the lobby bar, where the Germans took places for "their own" and, having gathered by 20.00, the German society rested, drank, relaxed, danced and sang with and without animators.
And Russians, British, Ukrainians and other tourists huddled in the corners, or ran with mugs and glasses into the street. Fortunately, there are also tables and chairs, though not as bright, warm and cozy as in the lobby ....We breathed freely only in the last 3 days, because somehow this pension for the elderly Germans left the hotel territory .......


Around the hotel, as well as everywhere in Hurghada, there is a desert and a garbage dump, which is aggravated by the fact that opposite the hotels of the 1st line there is a sea, and here again a piece of desert and the same garbage dump, and on the right they started to build something and the view is no less nice. The real Beach is 2.5 kilometers, not 500 meters as they say in the travel agency and write in advertising. And you don’t really want to walk through the “beauties”, the bus helps out, which in 5 minutes will take you to the beach of the Dana Beach Hotel, it runs every 15 minutes, but for some reason, his break falls on the most “fish” time - from 12.00 to 14.00.

The beach of the hotel "Dana Beach" is not bad, sand, sun loungers shaft.
But for some reason, cards for beach towels do not work here, that is, towels must be dragged with you from Leila. And not everyone has enough protections from the wind, but from the sea there is a breeze! : ) The sea, or rather its part in the form of a beautiful lagoon, bridges and moorings for yachts to the left and right, someone constantly cuts through surfing or kite, beauty. But the water is cloudy and cold. There is no sense in swimming with a mask - you will not see anything. I learned from the locals in the Diving Center where to swim to see the fish, it turned out that a long shallow stretches for 200 meters along the left pier, and bends to the right, protecting the lagoon from the sea.

From this sandbank towards the sea you can swim with a mask, and just swim, the water is warm, there are more than enough living creatures, standing knee-deep in the water, lower your face in the mask into the water and see - here it is! Red sea! Lives! Just don’t step on a sea urchin, there are a lot of them here!
So I lay face down in the water every day for several hours and was crazy about beauty! : )


About entertainment. I saw the animators at the hotel when I asked them, I had to meet with someone and try to make contacts, since I myself work in show business. Then a couple of times I noticed them playing in the lobby with children, on the last day of our stay, the guys (and the animators were only Arab guys) did water aerobics with tourists for the first time. Moreover, only young Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians were selected: ) Oh, yes, there were also football and volleyball games every other day, but I didn’t get into the national team, because I don’t really like ball games. In the evening from 20.00 at the Sinbad Restaurant, a pleasant chubby uncle of about 45 sang, mostly popular songs in English. There you could also order alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails for money and smoke a hookah. AT 21.
30 every night, a bunch of tourists flocked to the hotel, who were brought from other hotels to the Fantasia show, and locals who got to it themselves.

What is the Fantasy Show? To be honest, I wouldn’t pay money for this, and even more so in Russia, maybe I’m too fed up with this? The show consists of 4 parts. Part 1 - Light and Sound. People sit down in the arena in the halls and watch how the backlight turns on on the bigatures of ancient temples and the Sphinx and the voice tells about the history of Egypt, it happened in Russian. Part 2 - equestrian performance - 8 equestrian Arabs with flags are prancing around the arena, all this lasts for 15.3 minutes part - dance of spinning skirts, it's hard to explain, you need to see: ). After all, the audience is invited to go to the tent for bigatures, there is a show "Belly Dance".
Local dancers and dancers (8-10 people) perform rather carelessly 4-5 national dances, after which the belly dancer comes out directly and sausages to 3 compositions, and the lady clearly has not an Arab, but some painfully Russian face! : ) That's the whole show.

In principle, there is no more entertainment in the hotel. There are excursions. They are the same everywhere in Hurghada, for all agencies and operators. Tez Tour has more expensive tours, but the guide selling you the tour is at least at your hotel every day, and if something goes wrong, you can always show and shake your rights, and this trick is unlikely to work with the rest. Moto safari on jeeps is exciting in terms of a trip on an ATV, and useless as an excursion - do not believe it, you are not being taken to a Bedouin village, this is a dummy! The Bedouins don't live there, they earn money from you. Diving as always - no comment.

For those who like to combine extreme sports and contemplation of beauty - I recommend it. Before diving, it is better to practice on the shore with a mask and fins. A trip to Cairo is a must! To be in Egypt and not touch the pyramids? Let this excursion take away a precious day of your rest, but the minimum program will be fulfilled! : ) Not a bad excursion to Luxor - again, for those who easily endure the bus, love antiquities and honor history. So-so excursion to all sorts of submarines, bathyscaphes, etc. , it is better to see everything, as they say "live", and not through a magnifying glass half a meter thick.

As for the city itself and trips to it for entertainment and shopping - advice. Not worth it alone. Especially in the areas of "Old Hurghada" - Sakkala and El Dahar. Especially girls. Quite enough area "New Hurghada" next to the hotel "Merlin Inn". There, the streets are clean and beautiful, and there are many shops, and no one is missing you by the hand and dragging you nowhere.
Near the local "McDonald's" there is a wonderful restaurant "Romantic" with swings instead of tables and chairs - excellent cocktails, a good soft hookah and pleasant unobtrusive service. Taxi to any part of Hurghada from Leila $4. It is better to go with Albatros Limousine - new cars and mostly drivers who at least somehow understand Russian. By the way, in the hotel, many Arabs simply do not want to speak Russian, which is sometimes annoying.

So I dumped a lot of things, sorry, I don’t know how, I wanted to share, maybe something will help someone on the journey. Good luck to all trips!