The fourth season in Sharm
Sharm el-Sheikh 2016
Better than Egypt can be only two Egyptians, and better than three ...As it turned out, and the fourth trip to Egypt was just once. Egypt is one of our favorite countries. This is the only place on earth where we really rest. There is no rush between buses, connections, difficult flights and even no preparation for the trip. Just buy a tour and enjoy your vacation. The main thing is to choose the right hotel. We love to discover something new, this time Dasha chose Island View Resort for us and she was right. Our Teddy Bear, and even more so my favorite mother-in-law, is looking forward to the annual trip to Egypt.
Collecting things at home took a little longer, and at the last moment it turned out that you still need to collect things. Everyone was running around the apartment like in the movie "One at Home", I even turned on the music from that plot to make it easier to gather.
Our team is back together, let's start our flight! Flights Kyiv-Sharm are the funniest and most positive flights among our trips.
There was a faint smell of whiskey on the plane, someone came with an offer to exchange whiskey in a circle, the children were empty and climbed through the rows. The newlyweds had a wedding, the whole plane shouted bitterly, the frightened flight attendant ran into the cabin and sighed with relief that it was just a wedding.
One of the guys, looking through the catalog of the Sky Shop, asked the steward if it was possible to drink whiskey on board. Then shouted a toast to the Red Sea! ”200 people flew like one big friendly company. When the plane began to land, angry people helped to read the pilot's meters. 50 ...40 ...30 ...20. . 10.0!
The pilot was slapped almost standing still, it seemed that the triumph and applause for an excellent landing was more than when Leonardo DiCaprio won the Oscar. This is Egypt! We're back! It was even sad to get off the plane, so everyone became friends.
Obtained migration cards. Immediately two Arabs at a good stand said: Dear, come to us! And quite convincingly, apparently, trained. But there is a golden rule, at the airport communicate only with your operator and border service. Divorce for money from the guys failed. Everyone, by default, wanted to fill in the cards for us. While studying my visa history, the border guard was so impressed that he put the wrong stamp in my passport. The boy was not confused, crossed it out with a pen and put another. Before boarding the shuttle bus, the guides were interested in someone in Egypt. My fourth time and I were like children.
In this case, people had enough fingers on their hands to list their trips.
On the bus, I decided to test my public speaking and acting skills. While the guide was away, I took a sign from the driver's seat to look more presentable and began to tell the surprised tourists the standard speech that guides usually give. In general, everyone had fun. Then the guide came in and started telling the same thing.
Zombie Apocalypse
Arrived at the hotel around midnight. There was no one at the reception except the entertainer. The question "Where is everything? " ”There were no people on the streets of the hotel. It seemed that the hotel had survived a powerful zombie attack and no more people. The biggest surprise was when they were not found in Soho Square, where we lived. Everything seems to be working and glowing, but tourists are zero.
At the reception we were promised that snacks would be brought to the room, because we did not have time for dinner.
Considering that everyone ate at dinner, it's probably a good thing we didn't have time.
In the bar behind the counter stood a lonely, silent and impossible drunken waiter. There was sadness in his eyes and voice, as if he missed his recent friends. An Arab drove us to the room by electric car, two other tourists were traveling with us. Now there are at least six of us. The size of the two-room rooms impressed. Although the room required cosmetic repairs. The first thing we did was close the only key in the room. I had to call for help. The waiter was the first to come to us with snacks.
As a result, we also stood at the door with three large plates. The lack of people was a little nerve-wracking. I always wanted to visit Egypt without Russians, but it was very unusual.
The second worm of doubt was that the hotel could significantly reduce the service due to the outflow of tourists.
But no wonder this hotel used to belong to the Sunrise chain! In the morning we began to feel the benefits of rest. After breakfast, the hotel was difficult to determine, breakfasts are fairly the same in hotels. But the empty beach is really nice. No one took the last deck chair from 6 am and went to bed. Everything is free, choose anyone. Eventually, people pulled up, and I even counted 21 people who didn't take up ten percent of the beach. A guy was sitting on the pontoon, sniffing everyone's masks. Well hello favorite corals and fish! The water is warm. Coral was quite unusual, with forks and gorges. As a spoiled coral tourist, I can't put a high five, because a lot of things were inanimate, but there are definitely four with a plus.
Last year, Myshko was afraid of the sea like fire, he was persuaded only under the pretext of "scaring" fish. This year, his opinion changed dramatically in the water for a day he was sometimes bigger than others.
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At ten o'clock in the morning water slides opened by the pool. More precisely, more often the slides were waiting for us to come, and at the request of the only visitors to the pool they were included.
But once there was a real "crowd" - a man 10. There was a bar by the pool, which in most cases worked for us personally.
The bartender even invited me during the flight from the slide so that I could look at him for a cocktail. Cocktails at this hotel did the right thing. We stopped at the bar at night for the traditional "Cuba Libre" and with the first sip we felt the familiar taste of Egypt.
An hour and a half of intense slides with Misha, then a cocktail-relax on the loungers, while Misha rides himself.
The bartender made cocktails on his conscience, once he sang to us that it was not an easy task to get up from the deck chair and get to the room.
The air temperature in the first days was about 35 degrees, after seven Kiev degrees the heat melted nicely. There was not even a desire to hide in the shade while walking around the hotel.
After the slides on schedule was lunch.
When I saw the rice poured into sliced pineapples, I realized that we were right about the gastronomy of the hotel. There was a lot of variety of food. Once there were even dumplings. Salads were laid out both in large dishes and in small plates beautifully served. Personally for Misha in the restaurant there was a children's area. There were more people at lunch than at breakfast.
Apparently, those who had a good night woke up. Afternoon traditional quiet hour. Then the sea again. We especially like the evening sea. Misha - because french fries are poured on the beach, I - the color of the water. And predatory fish are starting to pull up.
To the left of the pier lived a family of four stingrays. A little further is a family of lionfish, very beautiful but fatal fish. However, if you irritate the family of stingrays, everything will end badly. But they were our friends. I was bitten by striped fish several times, and once I was bitten in the back, but to tell the truth, I myself was not without sin before them. Next door was an expensive hotel, but tourists admired our reef. Territorially it was possible to swim as the imagination allows.
During the trip we got acquainted with the reefs of 4.5 neighboring hotels.
One was simply unfinished.
At 17:00 the sun was hiding behind the mountain, it was the turn of predators, it was no longer possible to swim. For half an hour the kingdom of night completely enveloped Charm. Every day it consisted of two long halves - solar and lunar. What were the lunar landscapes can not be described in words.
Five-star hotels usually have a green seating area, our hotel did not have a zone. But it was a pleasant surprise, absolutely the whole hotel area was very green with many different plants.
Including our favorite Asian trees with white flowers. The hotel had many artificial rivers with wooden bridges. Unfortunately, during the tourist crisis, rivers were not filled with water. But the elegance of the territory did not get worse. The towel cleaner in the room created real works of art, decorating with fresh flowers.
As a florist for a wedding, you will find figs, and here the cleaners in such a hotel make. This was the first time in our history that it was a pity for the cleaner to leave a dollar. Because there were only a few people, all the staff's attention was focused on the guests.
Everyone smiles at you, greets you in your name and tries to help. Dinners were held at a restaurant on the shores of Fatima. This restaurant used to belong to the Alya Carte network, but now it has been made open to all.
A la carte restaurants are restaurants where you can eat for free only once per trip. And the fact that due to the queue of people we did not always manage to do it. And here, right at the first breakfast, the entertainer approached us and immediately enrolled us in the second restaurant A la Carte.
Fatima's restaurant was located above the cliff, giving the impression that you were sitting directly above the water.
The attention of all the waiters is back to us, if you want wine, it will definitely be brought to you. Even if you came to the bar to pick it up. Dinner was even cooler than lunch. A variety of grills, meat, fish, lasagna and more.
Lunch restaurant desserts
Several times for dessert there was ice cream. The wines in this restaurant were delicious. In the past hotels we did not like wines, and here, oddly enough, even very much. There were many toasts, even for our friends "For the family of stingrays". I got used to the almost complete absence of tourists very quickly and it seemed completely normal. We sat down to dinner and realized that the rest was successful from day one. And the nicest thing you know what?
6 more times in a row all the same according to the same chic program, except for excursions and various night festivities. Eat-swim-ride-drink cocktails-eat-rest-swim-walk-eat.
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After walking through the empty Soho Square, we took a taxi to Naama Bay. Our hotel was located directly on Soho, which was its good advantage. The next pleasant surprise was the price. Tariffs that were bargaining a year ago were now basic.
And so on, goods, souvenirs, taxis and more. Most of all, taxi drivers dropped prices. There were few Arab families on Naama Bay in the shopping district, and so were we. The sellers looked at us as prey that they had been hunting all day. Going to a local travel agency, where they took tours a year ago, I began to wonder when the next trip to Jordan. That year, the trip failed due to a strong spill of water. This year, when I started asking questions, I realized in my head how failed this prank was. Of the long-distance excursions, Jordan was abolished. There were also a number of local excursions.
Unfortunately, there were much more plans for this trip. After adjusting the plans, we took other tours and again at fabulous prices. I then asked for a discount for wholesale in the form of ten percent. The seller did not even try to bargain.
In a nearby store, they quickly found what they needed to buy in Kyiv, but the prices got in the way. In Egypt, the crisis is now, the pound on the black market is twice as high as in the bank. And taxi prices and tours in dollars. So it turns out that in the dollar they are willing to give up, because in pounds they will get more.
The black market exchange rate was burned for the first time in this store. After counting one hundred pounds, the seller said that now the exchange rate is different from the bank and will divide not by 8.87, but by 14. To get a dollar. Dividing not in his favor, instead of 12 dollars we were charged 7 and was pleased to round up. Well ok.
With each passing day, the number of Ukrainian and Arab tourists at the hotel began to grow significantly. That even the musical fountain in Soho Square sang a Ukrainian song. The Arabs clung to the phrases "Glory to Ukraine" and "Hello my friend! " Are you from Ukraine? Come on in!
"No hint of Russians. All the following days until the evening were identical, except for the growing Ukrainian diaspora in Egypt. But the evenings were varied and full. On the second evening, my mother-in-law and I raced ATVs through desert landscapes! Nina was a little worried at first, but when she started her ATV, she became a professional racer, a storm of seven deserts. We rode to glory. I always ride in Egypt every time. It is cheaper than in Ukraine and really fun.
The four of us had a romantic dinner at the A la Carte. As always, it was positive.
The restaurant was half full, which is not typical of this network. The next day we had evening visits to the spa. Usually the spa at the hotel breaks high prices, but not this season. At first we had a visit to the sauna.
It is quite strange to visit a sauna in a hot country, but this is the reality) After the sauna there was a forty-minute full body massage. The massage I want to note did really well. Then a mega-health mask was applied to our face, which, according to the guide, saved us from all the diseases he could only remember. After the massage we continued to steam in the hammam. And finally relax in the jacuzzi. All this fun cost $ 15 per person. Oily and radiant we went out to dinner.
Tirana Island Reefs
In the morning, Dasha and I went on an excursion, which in three years, by some miracle, never happened.
It was necessary to find out how steep the reef of our hotel is in relation to marine reserves. Only the two of us spoke Russian for the whole ship. Which is twice as much as last year (when I visited Rasmohammed alone)! Apparently, people want to buy tours from local travel agencies. It is not surprising.
When we checked into the hotel. A hotel guide with such art told how dangerous it is and that we have no right to do so. He cited horrible facts that did not quite logically coincide with his rules. The most memorable story is how the Rehan Hotel was closed because someone bought a tour from the locals. But the coolest thing, we were “Rebels! ”Without filling out a questionnaire in which we had to waive the responsibility of our insurance company in favor of tours, which we will have the right to buy only from the hotel guide.
Legend has it that due to the country's military situation, we must fill out these questionnaires or we cannot fly back. Unfortunately, we flew just like everyone else, failed to extend the holiday for free. By the way, the markup in the prices of the hotel guide is 1.5 - 2 times higher than the street price of the same tour.
On the ship we were told not to sail in the water from a certain Arab.
Who smiled at us for all thirty-two. And inadvertently did not pay attention to how we sail to watch corals on their program. Coral was a little better than our hotel, there were other varieties. There were other fish that seemed more exotic after the usual hotel. But most importantly, we saw a real sea monster, a crocodile fish. Which ominously lay at the bottom five meters from us. Vacationers on the ship were divided into several groups. The first just sat on the ship all the way in silence.
The second scuba divers, the third did not sail away from the guide, holding on to the circle. They swam far from corals, than to get injured sometimes, meeting lone corals. The last group is Dasha and I, the only ones who swam, exploring the depths of the reef. Dasha returned to the ship earlier, I swam another 40 minutes and realized that I could not determine which of our ships. There were three ships, each called Arabic. A ship whose name was not visible was floating in the distance.
Ours was called Latin. Now we will learn how local tour companies work in an emergency. Dasha spotted me in time from one of the three Arab ships. The Latin name was just the other way around. After bathing there was lunch. Delicious, but not as dense as in the hotel. There was also unlimited juice, tea and coffee the whole trip. We were satisfied that we swam. This pleasure cost $ 12.5 per person without diving (Diving + $ 10).
Royal Rojana Resort
In the evening we went for a walk to our last year's hotel Dessole Royal Rojana, which this year announced a stop in sales. From afar it was clear that the hotel was glowing. But all attempts to buy a tour in Kiev were in vain. At first it was necessary to remember how to go to it at all. The security of one of the local hotels gave us direction. Apparently the hotel is still working, since no one is surprised why we ask for directions. After 20 minutes on a desert road, we got to the taxi rank.
If there are taxi drivers, then there must be guests. Then the arch of the entrance to the territory was illuminated, behind which the hotel sign and the security point shone. The security guard was very happy to see live tourists for the last six months. The taxi driver seems to have come to visit the security guard. At our request, we were kindly allowed into the closed area. The feelings were eerie. The hotel completely imitated the work. Everything was glowing, but there were no people and the entrance was sealed.
We were like ghosts in a parallel world. A fragment from last year's anthem of the hotel "Please come back Dessole кру" was spinning in my head. We walked back down the desert road, the taxi driver looked at us in surprise.
Sharm's got a talent
The next evening we had a visit to a cultural event Charm has talent. Last year we watched a piece of the seventh season, this year we got to the second round of the eighth) In order to sit at a table in a cafe you had to order something.
We watched the show with two beautiful glasses and a one and a half liter bottle of water. It is difficult to order something in a cafe when a hotel with all inclusive is a hundred meters away. The people were full. Many times more than in the first days. It was as if a hot action had been launched. The presenter on stage seemed to decide to patrol and asked how many people from Ukraine. Almost everyone who sat shouted and clapped.
Then there was a similar question about Russia, shouted six people, probably) Funny watched the show sincerely cheering for some talents.
1001 Nights (Alfleo Falelo)
The next day, the full delegation decided to go to the Spa again. But there was no Arab who sold us at a good discount. I had to hold the auction again. While the three of us were undergoing procedures, Myshko sat with tablets in his hands and no less happily enjoyed the rest. This evening we decided to spend 1001 nights in the area.
One problem, we did not know how it sounds in Arabic, and taxi drivers how it sounds in Russian. A guide came into the lobby. Great, let's find out now. The girl not only told us the name of the hotel, but also offered a free ride. Because now he will take a free tour in that direction. Unfortunately, tourists did not come from the announced room.
The tour had to be canceled, but we figured out how to help each other. Instead of some tourists we were taken away. The bottom line was that we had to go to a sheepskin coat store for 15 minutes, which is just in the right area. We only for! Given that you need to go to the other end of Sharm. The girl as a real guide told us a lot of interesting things all the way. We were accompanied by two other guys who had about the same goal. No one was morally pressured in the store and they didn't even try to hold us for 15 minutes.
Initially, we planned to visit the show 1001 Nights. But without an expensive musical fountain, it will start in just 2 hours. The area for walks is just that.
There are Arabs clinging to and just walking local families. And everything is so cozy and native. We went for a walk to our hotel the day before yesterday.
Sunrise Diamond Beach
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I wanted to ask the security guard if I could go to the lobby to take a picture. But the guy seemed to recognize me in his face and greeted me without listening to the question. The colors of the bracelets betrayed us a little. We knew the area well, so we could easily bypass the reception and find ourselves in the most interesting areas. And how many memories of the place where Myshko left for the first time! Everything has changed a bit and a water park has been built here. It was necessary to look at it necessarily to estimate, how much it makes sense to return to the territory with the child.
Finding a water park in the hotel's mazes looked like a Pacman game. We had to walk on the tracks so as not to cross paths with the staff, otherwise it would be a pity for the security guard who missed us. Unfortunately, the water park was still hidden somewhere. On the territory of the hotel was inferior to our current Island View Resort, but when we saw the scale of the water park, the jaw dropped.
It's not just hills, but a really built water park, which we have not seen in other hotels. Sincerely happy for our favorite Sunrise, we decided to continue to recommend it to friends for the first visit to Egypt. The next task was to get out of the hotel without burning a blue bracelet, the guests had green. At the exit was a taxi, which in pre-crisis times broke unrealistic prices. I used to have to go further from the hotel and catch normal ones. But now there was almost no doubt.
The driver did not know English, his friend translated for him. A friend first broke $ 10 to Island view, which used to be a pretty fair price. But in the absence of tourists, the price could be called its own. An Arab friend used to try to bargain for our five dollars, but when he felt that we were leaving, he gladly put us in the car.
Amount to get off, for $ 5 take almost all the charm by taxi. We were really interested and in our hotel you can pass without burning bracelets. We deliberately took things so that the bracelets on our hands were hidden. The entertainer at the entrance kindly asked to show what was in the package. It was clear that the boy was not looking at the package, but for a moment at the bracelets. Cunning : )
The next day we had the last one. During the evening swim, all three species of deadly lionflies emerged to show off in front of us. That's a really good fish. It is a pity that he belongs to one of the most dangerous inhabitants of the seas.
After dinner and packing breakfast, we went to watch the evening animation of Mr. Hotel. I had a state of mild overheating. So I lay quietly on the back benches. The animators noticed Dasha and me as active from the first day.
And Dasha guessed that she would guess who would be taken on stage. I didn't even have time to say anything as the girl forcibly led me down the stage through the amphitheater. I entered the bucket on the way and almost fell. I am generally a non-dancing person. But as in all such competitions, there is something to do with dance. When I announced that I was dancing belly dance, even the leader of the audience shouted at me “Andrew, you are the best! ! ! ! ! ”. I won three of the four competitions. But the hotel will still remember my stomach for a long time. After a standing ovation, the animation girl said that even the commissioned dancer did not cause such excitement during the dance.
I won, I flew to Kyiv as "Mr. Island View Resort". It was a magical end to the trip.
Seven full days flew by quickly and very, very nice. In fact, the enchanting end was at six in the morning, when we stood under the closed door again, forgetting the keys to the room.
In general, both started and finished. Egypt, we love you very, very much, be sure to wait for us more!
On the way home we forgot Misha in the border area, but that's another story)
Travel info
Date of travel : 15.10. 2016 - 23.10. 2016
Hotel: Island View Resort. We recommend
Duration : Stayed 8 nights (Sharm el-Sheikh)
Travel agency in Kyiv: Tasty Travel
Operator: AnexTour (norm)
Tour type: Full package - insurance, flight, transfers, hotel, inclusive
Excursions: ATVs, reefs of Tirana Island
Buy a tour: In 3 weeks
Prices
Spa at the hotel - $ 15 per person
Taxi to any point - 5 $
Tube with a mask on the market - $ 5
Excursion ATVs - 10 $
Tirana Island Tour - $ 12.5
Riding a camel - $ 3 per person
