Отдыхать - не работать Rest - do not work

We rested with my family (two children 9 and 2) from July 2 to 12.2011. The hotel is not bad, but honestly, I expected more from a recently opened hotel. For a fairly large hotel, the territory is too small, and the beach too.
The beach is generally a separate conversation. The hotel's beach is a piece of a public beach, essentially not fenced by anything, that is, both hotel guests and the entire local population of Mahdia can sunbathe there, which actually happens. I even observed a local fight directly among the sunbeds, it seems like the hotel security reacted quickly, but the sediment remained. Perhaps that is why (or maybe because of the laziness of the staff) the beach is unclean - there are cigarette butts, bags and even glasses (in Egypt, for example, (were in more than one hotel) the beach is constantly cleaned with special rakes, this is not the case here). The sea is also dirty, firstly, at the entrance there is a meter strip of dry algae (which, if the staff or hotel management wants to remove it, is also not a problem), the youngest child was even afraid to enter the sea, and an adult is also not very pleasant. Secondly, packages, some scarves and personal hygiene products are floating, which, you will also agree, does not have a pleasant bathing. By the way, the pools are also not very clean, 2 days before leaving for the pool next to the children's pool, someone knocked over ice cream or something like that, so this slurry was floating there before departure.
At the beginning of our holiday, the hotel was loaded by 50-60 percent, and it was quite comfortable, you can always take the table you want in the restaurant, you don’t have to wait for the waiter in the bars, the sunbeds are always free both by the sea and by the pools. Later, the number of guests increased significantly and, for example, I had an association with the station or McDonald's, that is, a constant movement, moreover, in a confined space and with the same persons. I repeat, the territory is too small, there is no entertainment in the city, so people wander from corner to corner around the perimeter of the hotel.

About food. Everything seems to be nothing. For breakfast, the standard option is scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs, pancakes, buns, cheeses (by the way, the cheeses there are wonderful), sausages, cereals, muesli, yogurts. Freshly squeezed orange and carrot juices.
Lunches are not too varied: 2 soup options, stew or chicken, always fish, delicious liver, lots of vegetables, but almost the same every day. Dinners are more interesting, but also quite monotonous. Of the worthy - lamb and mussels. There are always fruits - plums, nectarines, apricots, apples, watermelons and melons. You won't leave hungry. . . but if you don't go to the so-called ala carte restaurant. Here is the "chip". Depending, of course, on how to relate to this, we reacted with humor, and only therefore the evening was not spoiled. Decide for yourself: an appetizer - a turret of cucumbers and tomatoes, a huge layer of raw carrots and 3 (well, honestly THREE) shrimp poured with pesto sauce (to put it mildly, not generously), then the seafood soup is delicious, but the portion slightly covered the bottom of the soup cup (for a child 2 years is normal, but for a man of 33 . . ? ), hot did not lag behind the soup - a piece (exactly a piece) of pink salmon, a piece of sole, a sprig of broccoli and one (ONE) stick of fried potatoes. The apotheosis of this celebration of the stomach was dessert - not even a cake, but a cookie, proudly lying in the center of a large plate !!!
Very nice Tunisian cafe with hookah and delicious Tunisian tea. For lack of special entertainment, having put the children to bed, they went there with their husband. Once we visited a disco - for young people, it’s probably cool, but I got the impression that lonely ladies and loving young people go there with certain goals. Maybe I'm wrong. About entertainment - there is animation. During the day sports programs - gymnastics, water aerobics, volleyball, darts, boccia. In the evening - a children's disco (a standard set of songs and dances, which with the elder 5 years ago in Egypt and Turkey, which is now here) and evening shows of the program at the level of amateur performances, however, also like everywhere else (Egypt, Turkey) - Miss and Mister of the hotel , fakir show, karaoke and cabaret. Since there was nowhere to go, we went there.
Rooms. We had a standard room with a sea view. In principle, we only spent the night in the room (well, the youngest child slept during the day), so it’s normal, two beds pushed together, a folding sofa and we ordered a crib, plasma on the wall, a large closet, a safe (by the way, free of charge), air conditioning, separate bathroom and toilet, balcony . It’s noisy during the day because of the animation in the pool, I was putting the child to bed at that time, but if she wants to sleep, she sleeps in any conditions, so it didn’t bother us, but if someone’s child is used to falling asleep in silence, then I think , will be problematic.

Cleaned to the conscience, and indeed the entire hotel staff is responsive, friendly, smiling and accommodating. Nobody speaks Russian. But if you know English, then it's not a problem, although French is preferable.
It takes about an hour to drive from the hotel to Monastir airport, and about two to Enfidha. For example, we flew to Monastir and flew out of Enfida. I won’t say anything about excursions, as we traveled with a small child. There were only one - El Jem and Kayoran. Just wanted to see their Coliseum. The tour was not impressive, it’s easier to take a taxi and drive to El Jem yourself and see everything, it will be faster (35 minutes drive) and cheaper.
The city of Mahdia itself is very dirty, one evening we walked along the embankment, and just around the city, everywhere there are heaps of garbage, a garbage dump. Were at the bazaar (on Fridays) - our Cherkizon is a glamorous boutique compared to their bazaar. Even from souvenirs there is nothing worthy and interesting. If only olive oil.
But by and large, rested well! After all, rest, as they say, does not work!