Первый раз в Египте First time in Egypt

First time in Egypt.
A week has passed since the arrival, the passions subsided and now you can write a report. Completely unaware of the specifics of entering the sea through corals and from the pier, we chose a hotel with its own lagoon and a pool bar. The lagoon turned out to be good for the first time, until we bought corals, and the bar in the pool was the most disappointing - the dream of sitting under the palm trees at night in the illuminated pool was shattered by a categorical ban on swimming after sunset.
Everything else is good. The staff is almost all Russian-speaking or at least “Russian-understanding”. The accommodation impressed with the speed of delivery of luggage to the room and pleasant treatment. The rooms, like the rest of the hotel, are not "five stars" at all - a solid four, no more. The room has two separate beds, a wardrobe, a table with a cabinet, a TV with two Russian channels, a refrigerator in the bedside table, combined with a tiny safe.

They tried to make ice in martini bags in the refrigerator - it freezes badly - you can’t turn off the power supply in the room, otherwise it melts. They unhooked the electric card from the keychain and began to leave it in the switch, the cleaners did not pull it out. Sockets are standard, our adapters are not needed. There is no kettle in the room, we brought our own. I love to drink coffee on the balcony with a cigarette! Sugar was taken at the bar on the sly.
The bathroom has a shower, sink, toilet, bidet. On the balcony there are two wicker chairs with soft cushions and a table with an ashtray. You can smoke in Egypt everywhere, even in shops! In our room, the air conditioner was centralized, with a remote control, of course, but noisy. Split is preferable. The territory and the beach are very well maintained, constantly cleaned. The staff is friendly and unobtrusive - once asking us about various entertainments, they didn’t come up to us anymore (do they remember, or what? ).
The animation on the beach is mediocre - aqua aerobics from 10 to 11 under Latin American motives got bored on the third day, on the fifth it began to annoy, the repertoire did not change for two weeks and the music still sounds in my head.
The sunbeds on the beach are wooden, with mattresses, quite comfortable. Towels are issued in exchange for cards, you can change as much as you want. There is sand in the lagoon, the entrance to the sea is on both sides of the lagoon. The entrance is quite okay, you can even without slippers, but it's better with them. The coral near the shore is dead, but there are fish. You can sail a little further, there are more of them. On the beach there is a rental of masks and flippers. A day of rental costs $5 and a $15 deposit. There is a pedal boat rental and windsurfing lessons (in the lagoon). The instructors are Russian-speaking Latin Americans, they teach very well.

The sun.
The Egyptian sun is very, very evil! For the first three days, sunbathe only under an umbrella!
The sun that will “caress” your pale shoulders while swimming will be enough to burn you! We ourselves are not prone to burning, but, anyway, we managed to burn out twice - at first and, already tanned, at the end, when we decided that everything was all right!

Bars.

The pool has an entrance from the shore and seats in the water. The central bar is large, in the evening they turn on the music channel on the big screen. Then there is another small bar where you can have a bite of croissants if you are late for breakfast. Bars at the entrance to the beach on the left and right. In the right - drinks, in the left from 12-00 you can think of a small snack - to get yourself a hamburger or a hot dog from kebabs + green salads. Another bar is behind the lagoon, at the left entrance to the sea, there are drinks. The lagoon is separated from the sea by an island with bridges, on which there is an indoor bar - it is paid. It also held discos, entrance - 5 bucks, tickets from animators.
Alcohol - in all bars (beer, vodka, whiskey, rum) + cocktails are made to your taste (there is ice in the bucket) + juices like “yuppies” +! Coca Cola. Alcoholic bottling free of charge, bottled - for the money. Beer is normal, poured from bottles (tepid) and cold from the tap. I was surprised by the glasses - they are plastic, with slots on the bottom. Made to mount one glass on another and carry a whole pyramid in one hand. The sit-down bars also offer tea and espresso coffee. Espresso is good - strong and tasty.

Dining room, proudly called the “Main Restaurant”
Large, there are tables outside - it's nice there in the evening, but you need to look for a place. Inside is cool. Six halls with tables depart from the central hall with food. There are tables for two, four or more. At the entrance to the dining room - bread and rolls on both sides, in the center - a buffet with main dishes, then - salads and snacks, then again the main dishes. At the very end - sweets and fruits.
On the walls are: fresh juices (for a fee), soda machines, a bottling table with alcohol, a table with "soups", "Pasta Station", a table where fresh vegetables of your choice are cut, and two braziers - on one pancakes are baked in the morning , on the other eggs are fried. At lunchtime and in the evening, something meat is fried there - kebabs, meatballs, meat in pita, etc. There is a toaster. But the most delicious is fried outside at the entrance to the dining room - sliced ​ ​ ​ ​ potatoes, chicken, huge tuna butchered and fried right there in front of you, and other goodies most similar to normal food.
Also at the entrance, alternating every other day, watermelons and melons are served.

You won’t leave hungry here, but you can’t say that it’s very tasty. In general, all food is unified under the average preferences of "International food" - and that says it all! Pretty bland, not spicy, boring, despite the beautiful names of the dishes. Here it is better to show imagination and, slowly, with the help of spices and sauces, stir up something on your plate to your liking.
Soups are lean broth with chopped undercooked vegetables or Hot Maggie Mug type. “Borsch” especially made me laugh! In general, the food is quite high quality, there were no stomach upsets, apart from some grumbling in the stomach at first, which we attributed to mixing everything together. There is always a choice of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes. Not enough fruit. Wine from chilled boxes is terrible - they body about one in five!
What we lacked in the dining room was black bread and normal wine!
Even in the dining room, the lack of appliances was a little annoying, especially when you come there not in the front rows, but later. It is better to come to the dining room either first or at the end - then there is less excitement, you can safely choose and bring a plate without bumping into starving compatriots running around with bulging eyes.
Breakfast from 6 to 9, lunch from 12-30 to 14-30, dinner from 18 to 21 main and from 21 to the last visitors - late, with a limited choice of dishes.
There is also an Italian restaurant - $ 15 per nose, including bottled wine. Traditional selection of Italian dishes. Didn't get to it. There is also a fish restaurant.
To the left of the dining room, in the last week of our stay, a shop was opened with souvenirs, clothes, sun creams, drinks, chips, chocolates, cookies, cigarettes, souvenirs, hookahs and tobacco. Prices are higher than outside the hotel, but you do not need to go anywhere!
Hookah tobacco costs 10 bucks a block, in a shop across the road we bought the same one for $ 3.

Fun.
Every evening in the amphitheater there is a performance according to the schedule (information is on the stands on the way to the dining room). In the second week, everything repeats. From everything you can choose “Fakir Show” and “National Dance Show”. The rest is contests, such as “Miss Hotel”, etc.

There is an indoor disco, there were parties on an island across the lagoon. All! By the way, in a nearby hotel every evening there was a live concert of rock, blues and popular music with mass singing and drive. Here - in the evenings peace and quiet.

Tours.
We immediately planned the trips and paid for them with our guide at the hotel. We took a trip to Luxor (4.5 hours one way), a quad bike safari and a boat trip with fishing. It cost us exactly $400 for two. Excursions are the same for all operators, in the city you can buy cheaper, probably, but we wanted at least some guarantees and comfort, so we took everything at the hotel.
Luxor is interesting and beautiful - it's interesting to look out the window along the way, at the ruins, a boat trip along the Nile (It's the NIL !!! ), but it's hot! It is something! At the end of the tour, I wanted only one thing - to climb under the condo and that's it! I recommend it only to fans of antiquity and people with good health.
With a headache, with ailments and with poor tolerance to heat, it is better not to drive! Very hot! Only the next day, lying down under an umbrella on the beach, you understand how good life is!

Quad safari in the desert - great! Precisely on quadrics, not on jeeps. You rush through the desert, the wind with sand cuts your hands (we just got into a strong wind, don’t be afraid! ), and back at night, the mountains are in the headlights, and above you there is a bottomless sky with stars that are not visible in the hotel, because the entire coast shining with lights! Great! The Bedouin village, of course, is a scam, but it is not really needed. Three thatched shacks with fake Bedouins, camel riding for a distance of 50 meters, a zoo with two pelicans, an ostrich and turtles - we were ready for this. At the end - dinner sitting on mattresses around the stage, watching again the fakir show (it's better in the hotel), belly dance and skirt dance (which we saw in childhood in the circus). Fine. Even very nothing.
Arafatki (checkered scarves) are a must! It helped a lot, especially when the wind is strong.

Boat trip! That's why it's worth going to Egypt! Sea! Amazing sea! Fresh wind in the face, waves and a feeling of something romantic!

On the way to Paradise Island, we anchored to fish. They gave out spools of fishing line, bait - squid. And right from the side we caught fish! Feelings are great!
Paradise Island is complete nonsense. Sand, no paradise… We swam near the coastal corals, looked at the fish. Masks and flippers are provided on the boat, but it is better to have your own. And then we went to the reserve. That's where the real beauty is! Fish - a huge number and those that have not been seen yet. ! We swam, dived just from the boat - a lot of positive emotions! Then we were fed right on the boat very well and went home.
When choosing this excursion, be sure to ask how many people will be on the boat!
There were about 30 of us and this is the maximum, otherwise it will be crowded!

Trip to the city.
Deciding to get out into the city, we took a taxi and drove off in the evening. What can be said? Terrible! Stuffy, dusty, rather dirty and uninteresting. There is NOTHING to see! The main street - shops, shops, shops, diluted with rare cafes that did not arouse our confidence and desire to go in and sit (unlike Greece, for example). We walked back and forth and went to the hotel.

Purchases.
Shopping malls are located across the road from the hotel. These are shops with absolutely the same set of goods as in all of Egypt: souvenirs, oil, cotton clothes, bags. Lots of pharmacies. When you walk along the rows, you are constantly stopped with the same type of questions (How are you, And you can ask a question, what is your name, Don't buy anything, just come look at my cheap goods). They do this very politely and gently, but very persistently, especially if you look at something with interest.
It is impossible to pass by without exchanging a few words with him! I went into the shop - everything, 15 minutes of empty chatter is provided! There are no price tags on the product. The seller calls the price and it is always very high. Gotta haggle! Until the last! If you don't like the price, go to the next shop. The price usually goes down three times.

For example: hookah tobacco in a shop in a hotel for $10 per block - in a shop for $3, arafatki in the first shop were sold for 15 - they took two for five, a metal scarab was sold one for ten - they took three for eight. Decent corals cost 35 pounds, i. e. $ 7 - at first they asked $ 15 for defective ones. A lot of high-quality cotton knitwear, towels and bedspreads. They weren't interested in jewelry. Bags - poor quality (we were looking for something like Indian with an embossed pattern). If you forgot to buy something - all the same is sold at the airport in the departure hall, more expensive, of course.

A little about the tour operator.
We bought tickets from S7-tour.
It is a subsidiary of the S7 airline. We flew from St. Petersburg via Domodedovo. At that time, S7 had convenient departures and connections between flights. Everything is during the day. The reserve for docking should be taken for four hours, no less. On the way back, the flight from Hurghada was postponed for two hours and our flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg was in jeopardy! I didn’t like the fact that the planes of VIM-Avia and Globus carried us, although when buying tickets, we hoped for the transportation of the S7 itself.
The host was the company ALS-tour. I can only say good things! Everything is very clear, without a single delay. Excursions are well organized, transport is excellent, all buses are air-conditioned, the guides are knowledgeable and interesting. And in general, the clarity of the work of this huge tourist mechanism amazed us! If it was indicated that the bus to the hotel would arrive at 13-55, then it arrived exactly at that time!

Outcome.
In general, it is worth going to Egypt only for the sake of the sea.
And most of the entertainment is planned specifically related to the sea in one form or another. Cheesecakes, bananas, surfing, snorkeling and diving, fishing, etc. This really brings the strongest and most pleasant emotions from the rest, unlike anything else!
And it is not necessary to chase the “stars” of the hotel, it is better to save a little on this, and use the funds for a variety of marine entertainment.
Our trip for 13 nights cost us 62000r. with a flight from Moscow for a ticket and about 600 dollars was spent there. Try to take the currency in small denominations, one-dollar bills are especially preferable - it is customary to tip them (everywhere, both at the hotel and on excursions).

I would recommend the hotel to couples who prefer a quiet holiday, parents with children (the lagoon is just made for them! ) and the elderly. For young people and singles, I would recommend a more cheerful place.
P. S. Sorry for the somewhat rambling story.
I hope it will be useful to somebody.
Oleg Z.