Лейла новогодняя Layla New Year's

For many, the question arises, what to do for the New Year holidays? Of course, go on vacation! Where? Sunny Egypt! Snow, ice, maybe even freezing rain at home. And in Egypt, flowers, palm trees, sand, blue sky, and, possibly, a warm sea. For me, a lover of warm water, the sea in Egypt in winter is an uncomfortable temperature. The priority was the choice of a hotel with decent food and service. So, Leila is a hotel, on the 3rd coastline. Through Tez Tour, we booked rooms, purchased tickets for a Transaero charter.
A couple of weeks before departure, I wrote to Anastasia, the hotel's Russian client manager, asking for two standard rooms. One on the 1st floor for parents, the second on the 2nd floor for the three of us, in a quiet area next to the reception. What was offered to us upon arrival at the hotel, without any additional payments and extortion.
The room was perfect for us. View of the patio with pool, in a quiet area. The room, although a bit cramped for three, but clean. Everything is not very new, but serviceable. Safe is free. Bottled water is always replenished in the minibar. TV with a couple of Russian channels. Not very comfortable, not at all pretentious. Clean, everything you need is available. There were no complaints about the cleanliness of the room. Cleaned every day in the morning. Towels changed regularly. Bed linen was changed when we took him away with strawberries. Beach towels were in the room. They were changed at 6 pm.


On the day of arrival, we went to Anastasia to book a table for New Year's dinner. All the best, nearest tables were already occupied. It was possible, by purchasing a bottle of dubious alcohol content from the hotel for 1000 ye, to get a VIP seat in the front row. But, judging that a bottle of asti martini and dutik whiskey are dearer to us, we abandoned this tempting prospect.
31th of December. There is a Christmas tree in the hall. At 6 pm striped cocktails and cookies were served. On the street, too, it was possible to "drink" cocktails under the roar of fireworks. Closer to 19-00, vacationers began to pull up to the tent, in which the New Year's action should take place. The entrance to the tent is just like in Cannes, along the red carpet. Welcome speeches are heard all around and flashes of cameras are heard. Paparazzi in the works of the righteous. You feel like a star of big and small theaters.
Well, let's sit down. On the table in a bucket are two types of dry wine, Coca Cola and Sprite. Later they give out a bottle of champagne on the table. The waiters scurrying around offer beer and, with a sly wink, stronger alcohol. We had our own alcohol, as the local wine is sour for my taste. At our request, they brought mango and guava juices. There is a buffet all around. Around the perimeter of the tent there are tables bursting with all sorts of dishes. We read the names: lobsters, shrimps, crabs, mussels, strawberries, sheep (entirely with horns), grilled chicken and so on, so on, so on. Ah, my eyes are not full, my eyes are not full. But we are not in a hurry to get anywhere. Let's dance, jump, maybe it will tamp down, something else will fit.

Liked the music program. The people danced at full speed near the stage and in the aisles. It was fun. The New Year has come according to Russian time. Everyone was shouting to the chimes! With one voice! Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians! The poor Germans and Scandinavians sitting in the other part of the tent were simply dumbfounded. I think they regretted that they came here at all.
A separate entertainment of the program was to watch how some compatriots, who looked very decently and intelligently dressed, were not satisfied with the gifts from the hotel in the form of masks and pipes, decided to make themselves additional gifts, “resting” a head of cheese the size of a soccer ball. Probably, in some cities of Russia it’s really bad with cheese, they will show the children as an exhibit.
January 1st started out as normal. Time is running out, you need to have time to sunbathe and swim. The most persistent went to the sea. There is a bus from the hotel every 10 minutes to the beach. If you walk it will take only 10-15 minutes. The wind in January on the beach is not childish. You can sunbathe only, tightly clinging to the sunbed, hiding behind the fence. After 15 minutes, tired of catching goosebumps, they gave up. I had to go to the beach bar to console myself. Whats up? Beer, french fries, vegetables, fruits. The mood got better. Once you have arrived at the sea, how can you not swim. Swimming in the muddy, rocky lagoon was somehow not inspiring. We went along the shallows at the pier to the open sea. Here the water is clear, fine sand, it seems to be warmer. We plunged, floundered a couple of times for order. Well, everything, to the hotel, to the warm pool, to warm up.
There are quite a few heated pools in the hotel, unlike the neighboring Jungle Aqua Park. They generally have only one tiny pool was warm. And in a large water park with slides, the water was just ice cold. In Leila there was a warm children's pool, an aqua aerobics area in the active pool, an inactive pool and a large pool in the German village. Almost every pool has a bar. Available beer on tap, juices from packages, soda in coolers, bottled water. By the pools you can always find free sunbeds or tents.

The German Village is a separate secluded part of the hotel with buildings of a different architectural style. Germans and Scandinavians live there. I liked it visually the most. Unfortunately, it is practically impossible for our compatriots to get into these rooms, even for money at the reception. True, some, well, very enterprising, they still settle there.
Compared to November 2011, there were much more people at the hotel on New Year's Eve, and the food service deteriorated accordingly. The range of food was significantly less than last time. There were no huge plates of shrimp and rice chips every day. But every day there was delicious fried fish, several types of fresh fried meat, whole vegetables and fruits, delicious biscuit cakes and pastries, broths and more. Strawberries in a day. In general, + 2 kg more - easy! There was very little seafood. And I was counting on them
With evening entertainment deaf. During the day you can play mini golf. There are 2 table tennis tables. In general, that's all. A couple of times during dinner, "oriental girls" danced a belly dance in the bar or a dashing lad performed a dervish dance. The animators, obviously overworked on New Year's Eve, sang karaoke to the bar in the evening. A couple of times the animators tried to hold in the evening some kind of contest like "Miss Hotel" with a group of vacationers in the "gingerbread house". The cobra show has been cancelled. It can be seen that the hotel has spent the funding limit released in January for entertainment. Yes, this is not Turkey!
It was possible to go to a disco in the local Havana club for free. But you have to drag yourself behind the territory of the hotel, late at night, in the dark, through not the most well-mannered local population on the street. I preferred to walk along the evening Leyla and Jungle. Beautiful, lanterns, paths, flowers, pool lighting, stars, airplane lights. They flew often both during the day and at night, they did not interfere with us. We are residents of the metropolis, accustomed to noise.

Separately, I will write about the show "A Thousand and One Nights. " You can watch it for free. Because there is nothing to do in the evening anyway. The music plays classical. The horses are jumping. There is even a donkey. Water in the fountain beats. Eastern dances. Unfortunately, all this is as far as the moon from the Soviet circus, the best circus in the world. And any of our more or less amateur ensembles dances a thousand times better. So what! We are free! If you don't want to, don't look! It's a pity for those who come from other hotels, who paid 20-30 bucks for it.
We walked around the territory of Dana Beach, which is on the first coastline. I was glad that I had not bought tickets for March there. Maybe in Dana the service is better, and the food is better, but somehow it is not cozy for my taste. Bald territory, without landscape frills, somehow empty. I liked to watch flocks of trout walking in schools in the river flowing on the territory of Dana.
On the way to the beach and to Dana Beach, there is a Cleopatra shop with fixed prices, for those who do not like to haggle. Near a lot of shops, for those who love. Also on the territory of the hotel, on the main alley, there is a good shop with knitwear. The owner can make a normal discount. Despite the fact that more than a year has passed, he recognized us, and, accordingly, threw off our prices as “his own”. Shops in the area are run mostly by Christian Copts. They are not as cuddly. And we (women) went shopping relatively calmly.
Service at the hotel is at the same high level for Egypt. They tear, wash, clean, serve, greet, smile. The staff, this time, somewhat lost a bit of cordiality. Perhaps this is due to the high workload of the hotel during the New Year holidays, with a large number of Russian tourists (about 70-80%) and, accordingly, with a small amount of tips.
Summing up, you can safely go to Leila for the New Year. The hotel is the best for winter holidays. Treat minor shortcomings with humor, and you will be happy!