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Rooms:
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Cleanliness:
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Food:
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Amenities:
9.0
THE PEARL OF HURGHADA
Brief information about the hotel
Hotel location
Hotel «Seagull Beach Resort» is located 10 km from the airport, in the center of Hurghada, on the seashore. It was opened in 2001. The total area of the hotel is 7.4 hectares.
Seagull Beach Resort & Club Hurghada is a luxurious 4-star hotel located 5 minutes drive from the airport and within walking distance from the center of Hurghada, Sakkala.
The hotel is located right on the white sandy shores of the Red Sea and offers a lot of entertainment. Nearby there are many restaurants, bars, shops.
In front of the hotel is…
The hotel is located in the very center of the city, which is very convenient: there are many souvenir shops, restaurants and cafes nearby.
There are also a couple of other discos not far from the hotel and there are clubs on the Promenade near the DESSOLE MARLIN INN. Near the hotel "Seagull Beach Resort & Club" - discos Calypso and Buddha.
Sheraton Street, Mosque in New Hurghada, Marina Boulevard (more details on pages 8-9).
February 21.2017.
Tuesday
Tour selection.
In any tourist trip, the most important point is the choice of a country, a resort and the selection of a tour to a specific hotel. As for me, a citizen of Ukraine, now the most acceptable country for tourism is Egypt. First of all, unlike Turkey and other countries higher in latitude, Egypt has a year-round beach season and the Red Sea is perhaps the only one in the world in terms of beauty and richness of exotic corals and colorful "aquarium" fish living in a natural marine environment. This for me is 75% determined by my preference.
Secondly, the level of prices is no less important. In terms of prices, Egypt for Ukrainians, taking into account regular charter flights and Russia's ban on air communication with Egypt, is currently the cheapest place to stay. Open Russia regular charter flights to Egypt, and prices will instantly jump significantly.
Anticipating this, I am trying to make the most of tours to the Red Sea in hotels that will not be available to me in the near future ...
By the way, thanks to the charter, we have the lowest prices, which provide tours with food and accommodation even cheaper than just flying with regular flights, which the guides warn about so that tourists do not wake up the departure time. And therefore, some enterprising people buy such cheap tours, just to fly to Egypt, they themselves do not settle in a hotel, but leave right there at their place of work. I personally met such an example at the Sand Beach Hotel 4 *, Egypt, Hurghada, (July 2016) with a woman who worked in one of the hospitals in Egypt and flew twice to Ukraine and back to extend her visa.
For myself, I have worked out the maximum level of prices for hotels in Egypt with the binding of the cost of the tour based on one day: 4 * - $ 25-30.5 * - $ 40-50.
"Troika" I'm in the current tourist Egypt, after having been in one of them, I do not consider at all. So, I was lucky enough to rest for 19 days for $500 with a little (and this is a little more than $25 per day) in January 2016. at the Poinciana Sharm Resort 4*. True, on the second coastline, which is an exception in my practice.
The main criterion for choosing a hotel for me is: all-inclusive food, the first coastline and a hotel of at least 4 *.
I select tours to hotels on my own and with a ready-made option I come to a travel agency that guarantees me a discount from 3 to 5% (depending on the price of the tour: up to $250 - 3%, $400 and more - 5%. And this despite that I am a regular customer. I use the layout of offers for tours from the information "Anex-tour", which suits me best, first of all, because the departure time and other valuable information are indicated there.
And this allows me to save a couple of days on the tour (with an early departure from Kyiv at 4-00, and a late departure from Sharm El-Sheikh (Hurghada) at 19-00). Thus, I flew on vacation to the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 *, Egypt, Hurghada, when, with the declared seven nights, I actually had eight days. In the worst case, with a late departure from Kyiv at 14:00 and an early one at 9:00 from Hurghada, I would have rested on the Red Sea for only six (! ) full days ...
If desired and sufficient perseverance, as well as when you read my article like this and similar posts and reviews on the Internet, you can choose the best hotel and at the lowest price.
I also listen to the opinion of experienced travel agents who specifically study all the reviews of tourists about hotels and form their objective ideas about a particular hotel and advise their clients.
Before going on vacation to any hotel, I read dozens, if not hundreds of reviews about this hotel on various sites. Sometimes I even refuse a seemingly decent hotel...
Now I suggest the reader to get acquainted with the Seagull Beach Resort & Club 4 * hotel - according to the correspondence information that I got from numerous reviews over the past two or three years. And after a while, compare with what is in this hotel now, which I will see with my own eyes ...
The day before departure.
My flight was successful, in terms of the rational use of the tourist period - at 3-50. Thus, my stay at the resort starts in the morning and the day is not lost, as if the departure would be in the afternoon. But due to a sleepless and, moreover, anxious night, even with some danger to one's life, the day in terms of creativity remains absolutely spoiled. This is about the tender and sensitive Soul.
And she needs a whole day, or even the next night, for complete rehabilitation.
At the same time, the mortal and sometimes vicious body immediately, in the morning, receives the maximum dose of pleasure and bliss, plunges headlong into the delights that the resort and the Red Sea open to it ...
But this will happen later, on the first day of my stay on the Red Sea. And now I see all this as a memory of the future. And I remember, for comparison, the creatively intense first evening and first night at the SunConnect SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 * hotel in Sharm El Sheikh, in January 2017, where I flew from Boryspil at 14-00 and arrived in the evening …
And now - the bag is already folded completely.
(I’ll tell you my little secret: my travel bag with the necessary minimum travel kit: shorts, T-shirts, swimming trunks, a cap, glasses, a snorkel mask, shaving and hygiene items, as well as a bag with medicines and other things (according to the list) - already prepared and worth in a secluded place in the closet from the first day of my last return from Egypt and is waiting in the wings. So, if a signal arrives that in three or four hours a flight to the resort on a last-minute tour, of course, at half price, then I, as a pioneer, “always ready! ”) Time drags on slowly and with such a delay, it seems to me: my body is still in Kyiv, and mentally I am already in Egypt and swimming in the warm Red Sea, watching corals and beautiful colorful fish. And, I no longer have the strength to endure the convergence of these two realities: imaginary and real, therefore I, as if on autopilot, have already been three hours (!
) before the start of registration (and this is at ten o'clock in the evening) I leave the house and follow the usual route from Obolon by trolleybus, metro to Kharkivskaya, and after that Sky Buss bus I go to Boryspil airport ...
February 22.2017. Wednesday
Overnight flight to Hurghada
Within twenty minutes, we, no more than ten passengers, are delivered by a comfortable bus "Sky Buss" to the airport "Borispol". (Now the fare is 50 UAH. ) By the way, when you get into this luxury bus with such a smooth and imposing ride at a rather high speed and which you don’t feel in the cabin, you already begin to feel like a VIP person, compared to other people with whom you still lived, communicated in normal everyday conditions. And even just half an hour or an hour ago I was riding the subway. You already feel like a foreign tourist, even in your own country ...
The Sky Bus runs at night every half an hour.
And I mechanically calculate that he delivers only a tenth of the passengers of our plane to the airport (there are more than two hundred passengers in the Booing-737 plane). The rest, about two hundred people, get to the airport by taxi or by their cars. And they leave their cars not in the airport parking lot (it is very expensive here), but in the parking lot in the city of Boryspil, which is nearby. And the idea of a multi-seat multi-storey car park in front of the airport itself, in the form of a huge concrete monster, depressingly impresses all arriving and departing passengers ...Well, how can one not think about politics here again? “I told myself to stop writing, but my hands are reaching out ... ”, like V. Vysotsky, I promised myself not to think and write about politics all my eight resort days, but it doesn’t work!
My logic and the realities of our corrupt reality tells me that someone close to the former thieves' power undertook to translate into reality the highly profitable idea of a multi-level parking lot near the airport, but did not have time to complete it. He only managed to swell into the ground and above the ground hundreds, if not thousands of tons of highly durable reinforced concrete in violation of building codes and regulations. And this concrete “miracle” sticks out like a thorn in the side, more precisely, a log in the eye: it’s impossible to complete the construction and it’s dangerous to blow up ...(Dark humor involuntarily creeps into my head: if Putin moves to Kyiv, then there will be a good and reliable reinforced concrete shelter for the new “cyborgs”, like in Donetsk airport…)
Driving away bad "political" thoughts, we drive up to the terminal "D" of the airport "Borispol" on the bus "Sky Buss". It's already the beginning of the next day.
So, it took two hours on the road by "passengers": the economical schedule of the capital's public transport, including the metro, is affecting, especially at night.
Immediately at the entrance to the airport, a preliminary check of passengers on a magnetic frame and on an x-ray conveyor of things, as in all airports. The next one, already more thorough with swelling, will be in front of the landing zone.
There is more than an hour left before registration. I know from the last flight that check-in will begin much earlier than two hours. I have time to check the weight of luggage so that it is no more than 20 kg and the weight of hand luggage is no more than 6 kg and pack the bag in a pre-prepared film and tape. At the same time saved 70 UAH. I rested a little, took a few pictures of the registration hall. There are many times fewer passengers compared to a year and a half earlier, when communication with Moscow was still open in full.
By the beginning of registration, I'm already at the counter and ask for a seat by the window. A pretty girl in uniform at the front desk does not refuse me.
Further, as usual, passport control, a very thorough screening of passengers and hand luggage, the seizure of any liquids, lighters and cutting and piercing products (in my case, surprisingly, one lady was allowed to take small scissors with her in a souvenir manicure set). And a long wait for boarding, brightened up by walking around the numerous duty-free shops. I didn’t buy anything, but I took a sample of the men’s French cologne I liked - a kind of “tasting”. I also updated my collection of photos of the boarding lounge and duty free. Next - landing and we are on the plane.
We take off on time. This time there was no delay, like the previous time - for an hour, in connection with the removal of two tipsy passengers from the flight.
Soft takeoff and applause from passengers to the crew. At a cruising altitude of 10.000m, a flight attendant treats us to tea, coffee with cream and some water. After that, I fall asleep - until the descent for landing. Everything happens automatically, even the flight without air pockets and special vibrations of the aircraft body. And there are no fresh impressions for inspiration and recording: the effect is that I have been flying for the fifteenth time in a year and a half ...
Three hours and forty minutes of night flight. Only and everything. And the preparation for it is twice as much. As a result - the whole night in the bustle and constant nervous tension. Outwardly, this does not manifest itself in any way, but happens deep inside. Four hours of pre-flight waiting and hidden fear that tragedy is not ruled out. After all, no matter how much we are convinced that hundreds or thousands of times more accidents occur on the roads on earth, but with your common sense you understand that in earthly conditions there is freedom of choice and avoiding what is not desired.
Here you are enclosed in a duralumin shell and are absolutely weak-willed, you are a blind guinea pig at the evil fate of fate ...And such internal tension persists all night: it constantly grows exponentially - slowly, starting from leaving the house. Then it reaches the first maximum during sharp acceleration, the aircraft is lifted off the ground, and in the next ten to fifteen seconds of the highest voltage, when the aircraft is gaining altitude and according to statistics (this harmful statistics that instills fear and panic! ) the largest number of air crashes occurs. Then three hours (sort of) of a calm flight at a constant speed and a uniform, by the way, soothing rumble of engines on both sides of the aircraft body, sometimes interrupted by "air bumps" on the sky road.
And the next peak of nervous tension is already during landing, when approaching such a dear and familiar Earth can be tragic and the last in your life. This is the biggest paradox...You temporarily went to another world, to a higher energy level, and became a stranger to your previously native Earth. There was some danger when leaving the world of the Earth (during takeoff), but it didn’t go where yet. But when the "prodigal son" returns to Earth, when landing, the Earth perceives you - a traitor, with hostility and is ready to get even with you. You feel all this with your gut, and this “inner gut” shrinks into a dense lump and sits, hiding, until the very moment the wheels of the chassis touch the Earth ...
At dawn, we land at the new Hurghada airport. From the messages on board the aircraft, we know that the air temperature in Hurghada is +13? C is relatively cold. But, compared with the Kyiv temperature 0 - -3? C is still warm.
It is a pity that they do not report the temperature of the water in the Red Sea (as we found out later, everything is +23? С! )
In the first room, a crowd of more than two hundred passengers rushed to four tables. To turn in the $27 visa fee and receive a yellow and pink passport control application form. Following the mass, more precisely, herd "psychosis" I also took one of the long lines. But soon, noticing how people obediently give $27 instead of $25, I began to look around, looking for an alternative, instead of this "scam". Surprisingly, I couldn't find it right away. And just stepping back, I saw a modestly standing, almost imperceptible kiosk with a nondescript inscription “Bank” in English, went there and without a queue received a sticker in my passport in the form of a large iridescent customs stamp for $ 25. Solid, and not a simple stamp for $27 from the Arab swindlers, who, justifying themselves, took $2 from each tourist, allegedly for a consultation that was not given to anyone.
By nine in the morning, we, five tourists (three people from Kyiv, two from Belarus) were brought by minibus to the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 * hotel.
The appearance of something is a very significant indicator and reason for judging the internal content of the owner of this “face”. And therefore, despite the wretchedness of the transfer provided by the "Anex Tour", the hotel made a good impression. Yes, it could not be otherwise. After all, this hotel is located in the very center of Hurghada (Sakkala district) with a relatively old layout, with claims to luxury, and was built at a time when the territory of the Red Sea coast was still being developed, there was no crisis and huge capital was invested in the hotel and tourism business ...
Inside there is a large vestibule with a high vault of at least ten meters. The walls and ceiling are decorated with all sorts of stained-glass windows, a chandelier, lamps, paintings on oriental themes, and so on.
The mirror-clear marble floor reflects all this rich decoration. And all tastefully, in the same style. This luxury of the usual "four" is impressive and one gets an opinion about a hotel of a higher category.
We, the newly arrived tourists, with our huge suitcases and bags on wheels, having passed through the magnetic frame, which naturally emitted an alarm signal, but the guard in uniform did not react to it in any way, and therefore we got the impression that this frame and all this check were fake, we went to the porter service (reception).
At the reception desk we were met by two young Arabs in a strict hotel uniform in black and white style and with an inalienable smile on their face. I wanted to talk about this smile in more detail.
First of all, the smile of the clerk at the reception is perceived as a benevolent business card of the hotel.
But this is a standard external form brought to automatism, behind which a lot of things are hidden and very diverse, depending on the content of the arrived object - the hotel guest. And this content is determined by an experienced hotelier instantly by appearance (clothes, shoes, face, eyes), by speech (English, German or Russian), the smell of perfume, and so on. And all this, as if behind a shield, is hidden behind this benevolent smile. Therefore, do not rejoice in advance that this smile will reveal to you all the best that this hotel has: from a room with a sea view to the best cocktails and drinks. In fact, you are just approaching the reception, and everything has already been determined for you: the quality of the room and all further services, in accordance with your capabilities and the desire to part with the money that you brought with you.
After all, to be honest, the hotel is the main part of the resort business, which is built on maximum profitability and you are the main source of this net profit, moreover, without any overhead costs, taxes, etc. - in cash! After all, most of the money out of those two or three hundred dollars that you paid for the tour in Ukraine or Belarus remained there: in a travel agency, tour operator, air carrier, taxes ...and only a tiny part of it went to the hotel, for example , as in this Sea Gull 4 * hotel, only $11 per day. And when you realize this, you even feel sorry for the Arabs to some extent, who are forced to collect these crumbs for the comfort of living, all-inclusive meals and 24-hour free service with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in hotel bars and, of course, the beaches and the Red Sea with coral and fish...
This is how I perceived in my subconscious the smile of a hotel worker behind the reception desk, what is hidden behind it and described what I perceived only superficially, without bothering the reader with a deeper analysis. And therefore, for me, this smile seemed like an automatically switched on light on the floor in the building, where I was settled a little later and which turned on only when you appeared in this zone (the principle is based on changing the capacity of space). Also for the receptionist, the smile automatically appears as soon as the tourist appears in his reach and instantly disappears when the tourist moves away.
This smile serves as a good mask for him to hide his true thoughts and intentions. And, judging from his further actions, his intentions and actions correspond to the general rules of a market economy in the service sector - to get the maximum profit with the minimum indignation of the client from such attempts.
And even better - with maximum customer satisfaction. But, since the desires of our tourist are unlimited, with limited financial opportunities, and the possibilities of the hotel are not unlimited, then a kind of “game” begins.
As usual, you are offered the worst room according to the principle: why spoil the client and lose your profit opportunities on a richer tourist, what if the client perceives this proposed number as a gift of fate? But in hotels of a lower rank, they even keep “killed” rooms on purpose in order to forcibly withdraw dollars for a better and more comfortable room. And I often met this in the reviews of tourists, of course, not in this, but in other hotels.
Approaching the reception, in response to a friendly (seemingly) smile, I answered with a greeting in Arabic: “Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah! ". (Although, usually I simplistically greet “Assalamu alaikum! ” Or even simpler: “Assalamu!
In addition, make sure that the hotel is not stolen for souvenirs: from beach towels to simple glass glasses. For example, many hotels even include a warning on their flyer about fees for lost towels and so on. And some, even a warning not to take food out of restaurants, or alcohol from bars - in the morning for a hangover until ten in the morning, when the All Inclusive system will work in bars. For example: “WARNING! For all drinks, as well as food taken from the restaurant or bar to the guest rooms, a check is provided for payment, "KINGTUT HOTEL" 4 *, (Hurghada). Fortunately, this does not specifically apply to the Seagull Beach Resort & Club.
And so in many hotels in Egypt in low (up to four) categories, especially in low-paid positions and hotel jobs, up to the porter and room cleaner, who in every possible way seeks to charge you $ 1 for cleaning the room, even if he cleaned it poorly.
I understand them, young Arab guys, because each of them wants to get married, and not a single self-respecting Arab woman will marry an Arab if he does not have a separate apartment, there is no money for “mahr” (a gift to the bride from three gold things, including with a diamond), as well as "kalyma" for parents - "shabka" ...
Unfortunately for me, until I understand this, and perhaps for all Ukrainians or Russians and other tourists from the former Soviet Union, all this is presented as a many-headed leech that sucks money from vacationers, even in those places and cases when it is beyond any logic. But even for the "civilized" West, this is considered in the order of things and as the "charter of the monastery", which should be obeyed.
But I observe that here in Egypt, especially since the autumn of 2015, when a “taboo” was established for Russian tourists and the bulk of vacationers are not very rich, compared to Europeans or even Russians, Ukrainians, the “Charter” of resort Egypt is gradually being adjusted in accordance with the concepts and mentality of our fellow citizens. And where should the Egyptians go: now we are, perhaps, the only source of financial “investment” in the tourism sector, and they must take this into account, adapt to us for the time being, until richer tourists pour in ...
Continuing the theme of greetings in Arabic with reference to business conditions in resort areas, I want to note that not only the appearance of a tourist, but also his first words are already decisive for any Arab - how much money can be withdrawn from a tourist for a product or service.
The Russian speech causes in the Arab hard-hidden despondency and wrinkledness, to the point of a sour expression, on the face and the feeling of uselessness to crumble with beads in front of such a client in order to get not only a solid jackpot for tea, but even at least a cent. At the same time, when an Arab hears English or German speech, he immediately transforms and goes out of his way to fulfill the will of the client, almost always earlier for this, as a thank you, receiving a positive financial result, in the form of a tip. And therefore the appropriate response to any request of such a tourist. At the same time, the smile on duty in both cases is invariably present. Unfortunately, many of our people who know English use this kind of “trick” without confirming it with a dollar, which causes confusion and gradually corrects the Arab’s conditioned reflex to English speech.
At the same time, when an Arab hears his native language, take the same greeting “Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah! ”, he already from the very beginning perceives you as his countryman, with all sympathy for you, as well as for all his compatriots who find themselves in a country of economic crisis, and not as a source of income. I even noticed that Arabs treat Ukrainians in the same way, and sometimes you even hear their reaction with notes of sympathy: “Ukraine? Yes ...Crisis ...War ..."And the last word even inspires pity for us, as for the inhabitants of a country with such horror that the Arabs experienced fifty years ago, and even recently, a dozen years ago during a coup d'é tat ...
Here at the Sea Gull Beach Hotel, I was initially offered a quite decent room, with excellent repair and comfort, room 1153, but with a view of the courtyard, however, with a small pool at the bottom of this “well”, on four sides of which there were high walls of red brick. If I weren’t a poet, I would live with closed curtains on the windows and rejoice in the happiness and comfort that has subsided me. But, alas, I did not come alone, but with a fastidious woman - my Muse, and she, capricious, protested. For her life, and for my creativity, I need inspiration from contemplating the widest possible space, which I told the clerk at the reception about. He, with an even more friendly smile, seemed to understand me and suggested another number ...I looked at it. Yes, a little better. And then only if you go out onto the balcony, you will even see a piece of the sea from the side.
And from the window you can still see, ten meters away, the same red brick wall ...I was disappointed in the friendliness of the clerk at the reception desk and in his deceptive smile and sat down at the guest-relation table, which was supposed to prepare the appropriate room for me. After all, I’m in advance, in accordance with the information obtained from the Internet: “The procedure for working with the wishes of guests about the room is as follows: 2-3 days before arrival, you need to send a letter to the guest relation girls with a voucher, and according to this voucher they prepare the room for your arrival . …we always try to help our guests, and if possible we change the room to a better one, ” sent an email to info@hurghadaseagull. com with a wish for a number convenient for creativity.
Unfortunately, I did not wait for the guest-relationship, although I waited for about half an hour. At this time, I was called to the reception and offered room 197 on the second floor overlooking the large pool.
But they asked to wait as the room is being cleaned. I looked at the number and agreed. I changed and went to the beach. During this time, I managed to have breakfast, lunch and take more than a dozen pictures of the views of the hotel. More than five hours have passed since the arrival. All the tourists who arrived at the hotel with me after breakfast sat in their rooms and unpacked their suitcases and bags. But I was in no hurry, I didn’t swear for the provided rooms, which did not suit me, but patiently waited, even deliberately taking long breaks between examining the rooms, trying to take the reception workers “to starve”. No wonder I had five institutes behind me and rich experience in passing exams. Things all these five hours stood in the field of view of the reception workers and I did not worry about them. And the most valuable thing: I took a movie camera and documents with money with me. Let, I think, things stand like a thorn in the eye - for not immediately giving a normal number.
By the way, and in support of my well-founded claims to a room with a more or less attractive view from the window, I left at the reception from the very beginning my book about the resorts of Egypt: “Resort. Love…”, which, as it turned out, had no significant significance for the settlement. And my persistence in getting the best room was also based on the fact that many hotels in Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh, judging by their information on the Internet, from March 1 guarantee the provision of rooms in a category higher than purchased.
Thus began my first of eight days on the Red Sea at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 * with a long, well past noon check-in with short breaks for breakfast, lunch, beach, sea, and familiarization with a vast area.
Rooms
The hotel consists of 5 and 3-storey buildings: a total of 710 rooms (594 standart rooms, 104 family rooms, 4 suites, 8 connected rooms).
Only its external infrastructure is significantly inferior to the Old "Sea Gull". Only one pool with heated water up to +27? C attracts no more than ten to fifteen vacationers. Moreover, beer is the only place where it is bottled, in other places it is bottled and, as for me, it is less tasty.
I have been to the Buddha Bar of the Sea Gull Club hotel well after midnight - it works here around the clock. It's nice to sit in comfort. But, alas, everywhere, from the lobby to the very roof (I also visited there to photograph the views of the hotel and Hurghada from a twenty-meter height), it is deserted to the point of horror. As if everything had died out after some terrible epidemic. Despite the fact that I understood and knew the name of this epidemic - the "economic crisis", nevertheless, eerie seized all my consciousness.
And I rushed to my territory in the Old "Sea Gull" - noisy and crowded, with waterfalls, water slides, exclamations and laughter of children, and even, sometimes, with drunken courage of tipsy vacationers ...
Sea Gull Club is a building in the form of an open book, and therefore half of its rooms are all with sea views, which is a big plus, which cannot be said about the Old Sea Gull. And so I plucked up the courage and sketched the most spectacular numbers of the Old Sea Gull, which will be useful to know for newly visiting tourists.
There are only a few rooms with a frontal view of the sea in the Old "Sea Gull": these are 257-260.171-187.377-385, as well as: 120.220, 320.420, 140.240, 340.440 (this is in 5-storey buildings to the left and right of the reception, 453-460.423 -441 (odd) - on the fourth floor above the Cleopatra restaurant.
Overlooking the large pool:
89-99 - 1st floor of the building near the round restaurant, 189-199 - 2nd floor, 289-299 - 3rd floor.
Perpendicular to it is a building with a direct view of the water park:
71 - 87 - 1st floor, 171 - 187 - 2nd floor, 271-287 - 3rd floor.
Good also rooms with side sea view in the main building: 118.218, 318.418; 138.238, 338.438.
But definitely the worst rooms are the ones facing the construction site to the right of the hotel: 103-119.203-219.303-319.403-419 (odd and even numbers overlooking the patio with a side sea view).
The rooms are equipped with a panoramic balcony or window, satellite TV, air conditioning, mini-fridge, digital safe, direct dial telephone, hair dryer, bathtub or shower, shower cap, soap bars and shampoo. Room cleaning and linen change - daily.
Hotel area
The territory of the hotel "Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club", consisting of two hotels "Sea Gull Beach Resort" (Old "Sea Gull") and "Sea Gull Beach Club" (New "Sea Gull") is 7.4 hectares - pretty decent, as for the center of Hurghada, especially in the area of the famous Sharaton street.
Since the two hotels are merged (again, due to the crisis), everything on the territory of the hotel is at least double, from the main restaurants (Cleopatra and Nefertiti) to the beaches (Dolphin Beach and Oasis Beach).
The entire infrastructure of these two hotels, presented as one hotel "Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club" 4 *, is shown on the map-scheme, which you can get at the reception if you ask. This map-scheme is not included in the mandatory set of documents for vacationers.
The territory of the Old "Sea Gull" hotel is more landscaped and, as it were, already inhabited than the territory of the recently built, but not yet fully put in order, New "Sea Gull". Apparently, here, too, the economic crisis in the resort sector of Egypt has said its negative word.
About each of the object depicted on the map-scheme - separately in the corresponding section of my story ...
Plan-scheme of the hotel "Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club" 4 *
Restaurants and bars. Nutrition
Hotel "Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club" 4 * pleasantly surprised me with a variety of dishes and their excellent taste. And that's just four! Believe me, having experienced the usual 3 * and 4 * in Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, and after some I even wonder how I survived...Resort" 5*, and in August last year - in "Royal Grand Sharm" 5*, (both in Sharm El Sheikh). So believe me, my "gluttonous" nature: this "four" in Hurghada is in no way inferior to those two "five" in Sharm El Sheikh! And this despite the loading of the hotel at 65%! I remember in some of my past hotels 3 * and 4 * the food was pretty monotonous and meager until hundreds of local Arabs with numerous children stopped by for the weekend. Then, and only then, does the “holiday of the belly” begin. And on weekdays, even thoughts about it are not there ...
And in this hotel - "Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club" 4 * food, surprisingly, is stable and at the highest level!
And this mystery at the level of a miracle still remains unsolved for me. It’s even somehow uncomfortable: everywhere there is a crisis, but here there is prosperity. And from the outside it may seem like a “feast during the plague” ...But I assume that the owner of this hotel (owner) is some kind of rich oil sheikh who has the ability to withstand any economic crisis, or even someone from the entourage of the President of Egypt, and maybe people just work...
Early breakfast
An amazingly rare occurrence at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club is an early breakfast from 5 am and a late dinner until 2 am. And here in the topic you can describe what an early breakfast is, which I decided not because I was tormented by hunger at such an early hour, but simply to experience it myself and state what I felt in my Diary. And at the same time meet the sunrise and make a photo session of this significant event on the Red Sea.
And another benefit of getting up early: check how the free wake-up call advertised works. Everything is clear: exactly at 5-00 I was awakened by a phone call from the reception. I quickly got up, put myself in order and, grabbing a camera, was in a restaurant in half an hour.
My impression of an early breakfast. Compared to a regular breakfast from 7-00 to 10-00, there is a very limited range of dishes. There are no hot meals. Dishes from two counters are offered: salads and cheeses with vegetables, as well as bakery products and hot drinks: tea, coffee, milk…
Breakfast
In order not to be unfounded, I will describe in detail my usual breakfast at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 * hotel. (I will describe an early breakfast from 5 am a little later).
So, at 7 am, the hotel slowly starts to wake up. And slowly, one by two, they begin to go to the Cleopatra restaurant, which is in the main building, on the left, immediately behind the lobby bar.
By the way, it is very convenient, especially for lovers of espresso coffee - in the lobby bar around the clock.
Reading reviews, including for this hotel, most note the lack of a variety of breakfast dishes: scrambled eggs / scrambled eggs, pancakes, boiled eggs, butter, and then their memory stops. I, in order not to rely on my “senile” memory, photographed every dish that the chefs prepared for us for breakfast. And there were only a few dozen of them. For myself, I chose, as for my taste, the most delicious and everything I chose could hardly fit on the table. And, imagine, he swallowed everything ...And, while devouring, he remembered his own aphorism: there is never too much tasty, but eat something that is not tasty, eat, and the dogs are left ...So all the dishes for breakfast were fresh and tasty.
Especially fresh, straight from the fire - it's an omelet or scrambled eggs, or both, if you wish. Because the chef prepares these dishes for everyone by order and in front of you.
You even wonder at his professional skills, how well he does it, especially if he cooks about seven omelettes at the same time ...It even dazzles in your eyes when you watch the flashing of omelet discs in the air, when he turns them over in the air - you can’t say anything a juggler! And this is for three hours at a hot furnace, like a steelworker ...It even became interesting to me whether he retires earlier, like ours, at 55 years old - according to the hot grid or not? But I did not ask - I was ashamed!
When there are no people, he rests, waits. He does not prepare anything in advance: everything must be from the fire and hot - such is the special service here. When a lot of people come at once, then a queue is created - the only one for the whole restaurant. To speed up the process in such cases, his assistant is connected and they, like on a piano, work in four hands ...
Omelet and scrambled eggs, as in all hotels in Egypt, are the main mandatory dish for breakfast.
Moreover, in various versions, only everything must be ordered so that the chef does not ask again: if scrambled eggs, then fried eggs (“know chenzh”) or with a coup (“chenzh”); if an omelette, then with cheese, tomatoes, onions and other things (“mix”), or without them (“know mix”). This two-word vocabulary and negation is enough to get the dish done by the chef to your liking.
Mandatory for breakfast in Egyptian restaurants are milk porridge, boiled eggs and pancakes. Pancakes are very tasty too. But there is never a queue for them: the chef cooks them in unlimited quantities and puts them in a heated stainless steel container.
High-quality hard cheese is cut in portions every morning. But you can take it several times - no one will mind. Everything is democratic! There are no meat dishes for breakfast, with the exception of two types of sausages: fried and boiled. But to taste - medium and a couple of pieces for scrambled eggs, I always took.
Various yoghurts, muesli, fruit mixtures are also served for breakfast...And, of course, tea, coffee, hot and cold milk, and jam, marmalade, jam, light and dark honey for pancakes. I will not list the rest of the dishes of stewed, fried and fresh vegetables, and various sauces and seasonings - there are so many of them, including butter - in unlimited quantities.
But what I especially liked was lightly salted cucumbers - and five times a day, including an early breakfast and a late dinner! And during the whole holiday, without a single break! Unfortunately, they are cooked without dill, but fresh dill is always there - in a deep bowl, like all vegetables and salads. I would also like to note the excellent taste of marinated eggplants and especially fried ones in narrow strips. So if you are in Sea Gull, be sure to try it. And once you try it, you'll always get it.
Unfortunately, with delicious cucumbers, tomatoes are inferior - this is because I am spoiled by our Kherson tomatoes, I have never tried such fragrant and tasty ones anywhere - neither in Turkey, nor in Egypt.
If you had breakfast at seven in the morning, then by ten you might be hungry ...And therefore no one will say a word to you if you repeat the breakfast procedure at half past nine in the same style as at seven in the morning. Just know that from 11 all the bars of the hotel, and there are at least three of them, in which I am a regular customer, also offer a light breakfast in the form of grilled wings, liver or hot dog with a choice of several salads. And all this, of course, to beer. Strong liquor at such an early hour, well, does not go in any way ...So a place in the stomach for all this should be reserved!
Snacks at the bar
Every day, so that vacationers do not get emaciated, from 11:00 to 13:00, different goodies are provided at each pool: pancakes, hamburgers, grilled chicken wings.
Tuna sandwiches, potatoes, sausages - every day a different choice. And all this with beer or strong liquor. You can drink hot tea, coffee or cool soft drinks. And for dessert - fruit and cream ice cream.
Dinner
While swimming, diving, sunbathing and even slept for an hour, and then look and the time for lunch arrived. There are already two options here: either dine at the main Cleopatra restaurant or in the food court near the beach on the territory of the Sea Gull Club. Both of these restaurants offer dishes from various cuisines of the world on a buffet basis.
On the food court are compactly located: the Italian corner, the eastern corner, the Indian corner, the Chinese corner - in the form of round, mushroom-shaped, five meters in diameter kitchens with distribution in a circle.
There are so many different and delicious dishes here that they are not inferior to the dishes of the main restaurant "Cleopatra" and, moreover, there are always dishes here that are not in the main restaurant - this is delicious pizza and grilled meat. And, of course, there is a bar nearby with all kinds of local drinks: alcoholic drinks (vodka, whiskey, rum, gin, brandy, tequila, Bacardi, wine, beer, Ouzo) and soft drinks (cola, sprite, fanta, soda, tonic, draft juice, tea, coffee). This outdoor restaurant is convenient because you do not have to change clothes and walk far, but is located right there, near the beach. Half an hour for lunch - and again you sunbathe or swim. After all, the winter day in Egypt is very short: before you have time to dine in the main restaurant (before 15-00), the sun begins to set and at 16-00 there is already no one on the beach - as it comes quite fresh, to put it mildly, discomfort.
So, if you go to lunch at the main restaurant (“Cleopatra”), then after lunch it’s useless to go to the beach.
But still, the restaurant "Cleopatra" attracts with its chic. And that's why you still want to dine like a white man ...And there is every reason for this. One day, I was not too lazy and filmed all the dishes prepared for us by the diligent and talented chefs of the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club. And just like during breakfast, he set himself a table for one person, while everything barely fit on one table.
For lunch, chefs constantly prepare two types of first courses - soups, but sometimes there is even red borscht, but, unfortunately, it is far from Ukrainian in taste (maybe without bacon - a taboo in Egypt? ). For main courses - fish, chicken, beef, and in different versions of dishes and every day they try to update so as not to get bored.
Of the side dishes, rice of two or three types and methods of preparation, boiled lightly fried potatoes, vegetables, pasta with various seasonings - a separate Italian block at the distribution, where you are cooked to order. The choice of fresh vegetables is incredibly large and varied: at least twelve items daily, including parsley, dill, green onions.
Confectionery products delight the eye with their exquisite look, like art products, even sometimes it is a pity to violate this beauty. Three or four types of cakes and many types of local sweets such as honey noodles, honey nut paste and various biscuits and jellies…
Dinner
Dinner at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club starts at 19:00 and lasts three hours until 22:00.
Seven o'clock in the evening - in the winter in Egypt we are sucking dark: The sun has already set for two hours. And it's cold. And therefore, there are many vacationers at this time in the far part of the hall of the main building, in the area of u200bu200bRamses Bar (lobby bar).
It is warm, light, there are many cozy sofas and armchairs, and, most importantly, a bar with a wide range of drinks, including espresso coffee for lovers. And at exactly seven in the evening, this whole crowd is heading to the restaurant. Sometimes, watching how this avalanche of people moves to the restaurant, I have a question: “Are they really so hungry after such a plentiful meal in a row, practically without a break, from seven in the morning to seven in the evening, that they again sit down at the table with such excitement, to eat more food? » Indeed, an insatiable crowd. And how it becomes a pity for the numerous cooks seeking to feed this insatiable Arava ...But, to be honest, including myself ...
When you get to the restaurant "Cleopatra", you forget about being overweight and your fat, already more than 100 kg figure, about the dangers of overeating and the sin of gluttony ...Yes, how can you resist the variety of delicious dishes that the hotel chefs so diligently prepared and invested in them your soul? This is beyond human power. And another action begins for the sake of the mortal body. And the Soul, like a stepdaughter, modestly huddled in the very corner of human essence and is waiting in the wings. Will it wait? ..
In terms of the variety of dishes, dinner is not inferior to lunch, and even more: there are dishes cooked on the grill more often. And the same number of various delicious desserts: cakes, pastries, rolls, muffins, fried dates and various buns. And from fruits: dates, bananas in chocolate, guava, tangerines, oranges, apples...
I take out my camera again and capture everything that enters the eye, without exception.
And not only to report on my "creative" business trip to the Red Sea, but also in order to be in Kyiv, in half-starved Ukraine, looking through these photos, again and again to resume in my memory the pictures of a corner of the earthly Paradise...
late dinner
Late dinner - well, this is a complete "mockery" of a man who, going to the Red Sea, decided to keep his slim figure. Especially women's. In addition, if you sit late at the bar and already after midnight you have taken a sufficient number of glasses of strong drinks and you want to eat them with something. And then, what a miracle! The restaurant is open from 11pm to 2am! True, there are only a few people like me - assiduous, or rather stable. In my spare time, I calculated that in the evening after dinner (regular) in the lobby in the lobby bar area, a little over a hundred people gather every evening. In addition, within an hour, the animators are preparing some kind of entertainment program and there is something to see.
And it starts an hour after the end of the usual dinner - at 23-00 and lasts three hours. That's how it was.
After sitting in the lobby bar until the beginning of the first night, on the last day of my stay at the resort, I still wanted to find out what kind of curiosity this is for an ordinary "four" - a late dinner? I was already familiar with the early breakfast (see description above). And now, for a complete set of impressions, one should also know a late dinner, and, moreover, inform hundreds of my readers so that they also learn about such a "curiosity". True, I had a certain amount of embarrassment and inconvenience with the alleged opinion of the restaurant workers of the type: “What, haven’t eaten all day, stuck in and eat in the middle of the night? »But this is so in my interpretation and, of course, on the part of restaurateurs, given their hospitality, this could not have been in their thoughts.
Even the tables were under oblique lighting, but this did not prevent us from picking up what we needed with a spoon or fork and bringing it where it was needed, that is, from a plate into our own mouth.
The range of dishes at a late dinner somewhat reminds me of an early breakfast - the same limited number of dishes compared to a regular dinner. But it's still better than nothing. In addition, other hotels do not have this. And if there is, then only sandwiches, muffins, buns are offered, and then only from 22:00 to 00:00, and only for late arrivals or guests after late excursions, as is the case at the Mina Mark Beach Resort HUR 4 * (Hurghada).
The bar in the restaurant is closed during late dinner, but this is not a problem. Right next to it, through the wall, there is a lobby bar and you can bring any drink from there, which I did. And on my table, in addition to the dishes I chose, there were also two glasses of beer.
I enjoyed a late dinner and not only delicious dishes, but also the atmosphere itself, which even had some element of nighttime mystery ...And I thought: “Life is good and life is good ... ”
A la carte restaurants
In the hotel according to the All Inclusive system, upon arrival of five or more nights, it is allowed, upon prior reservation, free access to the Fisherman fish restaurant. I took advantage of this opportunity. And did not regret.
Seafood milk soup - for the first, king prawns with herbs on a brazier, served to the table - for the second, and the very atmosphere of the restaurant, high service and friendliness of the restaurant staff are such that there is a desire to visit this restaurant again, even for a fee.
The Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club has three more special restaurants "for VIP clients", that is, for a fee.
These are the Chinese a la carte restaurant, which has a panoramic view of the Red Sea coast, the Italian restaurant - a la carte menu: spaghetti, pasta, pizza and other dishes and the Egyptian restaurant "30 Tent", Captain Nemo Pub.
However, I cannot write anything about them, since I have not visited them.
Restaurants and bars on the day of arrival / departure
Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club is characterized by a very loyal and friendly attitude towards guests in terms of food on the day of arrival until a single check-out time (12-00) and on the last day with a late check-out after 14-00. Upon arrival, absolutely everyone is already hung up with bracelets before 12-00 and is allowed to use the All Inclusive system in full: from eating to any drinks in the hotel bars. With a late check-out at the level of the restaurant manager, you can solve the issue of lunch (my example), or extending the room (with the main manager of the hotel) - this is how my acquaintances, two ladies from Brovary, with whom I rested at this hotel, solved this problem.
In other hotels, the check-in/check-out times are very controlled. For example, at the Sand Beach Hotel 4 *, Egypt, Hurghada, (July 2016) I was warned upon arrival that if I use breakfast on the first day, then on the last day I will have to pay for breakfast. And at the Spinx Resort Hotel 5 * (Hurghada) there is a rule that “the check-out time on the day of departure is 12:00 noon (regardless of the time of departure). Extension of the room until 17:00 for an additional fee ($20 without meals). And at the Lillyland Beach Club 4 * hotel (Hurghada), lunch on the last day is provided only to guests who did not use lunch on the day of arrival due to late arrival at the hotel. In other hotels in Egypt, there are stricter rules regarding drinks, even for the All Inclusive food system. For example, in the hotel "LABRANDA CLUB MAKADI" (ex "CLUB AZUR MAKADY BAY") 4 * (Makadi) the lobby bar is open 24 hours, local alcoholic drinks from 00:00 to 10:00 are provided for an additional fee.
And at the hotel "JASMINE PALACE RESORT" 5 * (Hurghada) all drinks in bars and restaurants are served in portions in glasses (filling bottles from a dispenser for an additional fee).
bars
Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club's bars are located throughout the hotel, so for those who swim in the sea and sunbathe on the beach, or near one of the five pools, there will always be a nearby bar to drink something, including beer and spirits drinks, as well as a light “snack”: grilled chicken wings, liver, hot dog and various salads…
I will give the names and locations of the bars, more precisely where each bar is located, you can see on the attached plan diagram or on a map taken from the satellite: Ramses bar (lobby bar) is located in the lobby of the main building and has a large screen TV. Alcoholic drinks and local beer, all kinds of cocktails, espresso coffee, soft drinks are provided.
The bar is open around the clock; Buddha Bar is located in the Sea Gull Club Hotel at (24 hours); Pool bar Marc Anthony, open from 10:00 to 17:00, offers a variety of drinks and a small menu; Dolphin - bar-restaurant on the beach (10:00-17:00); Scooby Doo pool bar (10:00-17:00); Oasis - bar-restaurant on the beach, open until sunset, serving drinks and light snacks (10:00-17:00); Disco bar Captain Nemo (panorama tower): a panorama of the coast of Hurghada is contemplated from a height of 18 m. The disco bar rotates around its axis; Disco "King Toot" - playing international music, various cocktails are provided, open from 21:30 to 2:00.
Ice cream is served at the bars: Marc Anthony Pool Bar, Dolphin Bar, Oasis Beach Bar from 12:00 to 13:00 and from 15:00 to 17:00.
Ramses Bar is located in the main building of the old "Sea Gull" and it is always crowded, especially in the evenings, until late at night.
For example, one evening at about eleven o'clock in the evening in the bar and near the bar in the hall, I counted more than a hundred vacationers who drank, walked, had fun and even reminded me of an anthill. Closer to midnight, their number was reduced by a factor of three, and after midnight there were only one or two drinking companies, with a total number of no more than a dozen people: disco with a glass of beer, was unsuccessful).
Buddha Bar is located in the "Sea Gull Club", however, despite its increased comfort and work around the clock, it is always empty: I went into it twice well after midnight to taste beer, and was the only visitor ...
The drinks
Alcoholic drinks in the bars in sufficient quantities (never ran out even after midnight, as in other hotels) and always in a large assortment: Uoso (anisim vodka, 45 degrees), whiskey, gin, tequila, rum, vodka, red wine and white, dry and semi-dry, beer in kegs or bottled "Stela" (by the pool "Sea Gull Club"). The bartender can prepare cocktails on request: mojito, gin and tonic, daiquiri and others ...From non-alcoholic: fanta, pepsi, sprite - from plastic bottles or powder like "UPI" from dispensers. And all this in two bars 24 hours a day!
Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club provides 3 small bottles of mineral water daily in the room.
Early morning at Sea Gull Beach Resort
Life at the resort does not stop for a second, only its activity either decreases, approaching zero, or goes off scale and continues all twenty-four hours a day.
Especially when the lobby bar, and not just one, also functions properly, with all its assortment all 24 hours a day. Do not think that I am a “bitter drunkard” and for me this comes first. But at least one constantly “live” point in the hotel during the day should still be and not necessarily with alcohol, but it can also be with coffee, tea or just beer ...And the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club hotel fully complies with these conditions.
The activity of the hotel resumes somewhere at four in the morning, when on the floors, on average, one or two doors begin to slam the doors with fury! And imagine this, in the midst of the silence of the night, when the last resort "revelers" return to comfortable rooms and try to sleep ...By God, I would beat my hands with such "slammers" with doors!
After these door slams, like mini-cannon shots, bringing people who are just falling asleep (like me) and suddenly waking up to hiccup from fright, queues are heard around the hotel ...- no, not machine guns, in addition to cannons, but clicking the wheels of huge suitcases at the junctions of paving slabs . But you soon calm down: this is not an ISIS terrorist act (pah, pah, don’t remember by night! ), but those leaving in this way, either out of envy, or out of indignation, express their “fe” to everyone staying at the resort ...
Half an hour later, as soon as you start to fall asleep and watch a sweet dream, as a continuation of an equally sweet resort life, through the open balcony door you hear a drawn-out “Ala-aaa, aaa-laaa ... ” Is this the mueji’s voice amplified by thousands of watts?
na - the servant of the mosque, originating in several minarets, spreads in waves throughout Hurghada, calling all the faithful to the obligatory prayer - morning prayer ...And so five times during the day, the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer through a loudspeaker.
My first desire is to jump up and pay tribute to Allah for having created Egypt and the Red Sea on earth - this little Paradise and settled Muslim Arabs in it, who greet you so hospitably, treat you with delicious dishes and drinks, and see you off with a wish to meet again ...But then you remember that you are Orthodox and that your God may be offended for this. And so you pacify your spiritual religious impulse and again try to fall asleep ...
I began to visit Egypt so often (just imagine, for the last three months from November 2016 to February 2017 for the third time! ), that I have already begun to live according to the traditions of Muslims.
This is not surprising, since the environment in which you live will sooner or later begin to leave its imprints on you. Here is today. It was just about to dawn, and not only on earth, but also in the sky, night still dominated, and I was already awake. And all because I was awakened by the lingering voice of the mullah, calling for the morning prayer. Of course, I did not begin to perform the morning prayer, but as a true pagan, I jumped out of bed to pay tribute to the appearance of the Sun in this world, to partake of the morning grace of the sea, to experience the breath of a fresh breeze ... , and with all my essence to be embodied in virgin morning Nature. And in order to remember it longer and remember it more often, I took a movie / camera with me.
But at such an early hour, and even after a sleepless holiday night, one so wants to sleep and see sweet dreams ...But what kind of sleep is there!
Dawn at five in the morning and the first rays of the Sun, not at the physical level, but at the level of subtle energy, excite your spiritual essence, when the mortal body tries to captivate you all into oblivion of sleep. Especially since you remember how for three days you have been trying to meet the sunrise on the Red Sea. And so you quickly jumped up and, grabbing a pre-stored beach towel, jump out of the room (I especially note: quietly, without knocking on the door and not even slapping your feet along the corridor) ...
And here is the morning Red Sea in front of you. And you are alone on the shore. (And even at the royal villas there is a security guard who does not count - he is at work). The camera is ready, turned on and you catch exclusive moments that can appear only once in your life and only now ...And you rejoice at such happiness, pitying those hundreds and even thousands of spa guests who chose a different alternative - the benefit of sleep for the body, instead of charm for the Soul ...
Dawn on the Red Sea in Hurghada
. And so I will go again to the sea, where I rush immediately after breakfast. After all, morning grace is the most pleasant and useful not only for the body, but also for the Soul.
To plunge into the cool freshness of the sea and look at the corals and fish, greeting them with the advent of a new day - this is a sacred thing! And, surprisingly, they all recognize you and are glad to see you: they themselves are the first to play with you. And you reciprocate them...
But you are not in the water for long: the winter coolness of the sea (+21? C) makes itself felt and you soon jump out onto the shore, wrap yourself in a beach towel from the wind and the morning coolness preserved from the night (up to +18?
C) and you fall asleep on a sunbed like a baby - snoring quietly and peacefully ...And you sleep, compensating for a sleepless night until the moment when the neighbors on the sunbeds start sipping beer and, smacking their lips, absorb second breakfast dishes: grilled chicken wings, sandwiches with tuna or the like, brought here on tables under umbrellas from the beach bar Oasis Bar. You note to yourself that the bars are already open (10 am) or even eleven o'clock when light snacks are served. And, overcoming sleep, you head to the nearest beach bar ...
The holiday day has come into its full rights ...
New "Sea Gull" ("Sea Gull Club")
At about one in the morning, after sitting for a couple of hours in the lobby bar of the Old "Sea Gull", called with the addition of "Resort", I decided not to put it off and in order to have time to learn everything in this hotel, I went to the reception and asked for a hotel plan, to continue the “beer” evening in the second round-the-clock lobby bar, which, according to my preliminary information, was located in the New “Sea Gull”. Such a scheme was kindly provided to me. Although, as in other hotels (for example, at the SunConnect SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 * Hotel, Sharm El Sheikh (January 2017), for faster adaptation, such a plan of the territory, even in color, is handed to everyone when checking into the hotel. So the management of this hotel has interesting information for reflection and innovation.
If you want to get late in the evening or at night to the 24-hour lobby bar of the New "Sea Gull", which is called the "Buddha Bar", then it is better not to go through the dark, dimly lit labyrinths of the hotel territory, but to walk along the well-lit Shmaraton Street, a hundred meters to the right of The old Sea Gull.
Egyptian night
I, a little drunk in the Ramses bar of the Sea Gull Beach Resort, slowly wander along this deserted dead street to the next hotel - the same Sea Gull, but with the prefix "Club". It would be possible to overcome this distance on the territory of the hotel, but it is already dark and gloomy there, and even somehow creepy, and from the saturated shadows, it seems to me, various kikimors look out and strive to jump out and scare you ...And therefore I chose the civilized path along night Hurghada and at the same time to know it at this late hour.
And with the same purpose, I “moved” into this dead of night to the Buddan bar of the Sea Gull Beach Club hotel, not just to “buzz” and relax, enjoying the All Inclusive system, but with the sole purpose of learning all the subtleties of a night hotel and checking Is there really a second 24-hour bar in this hotel, where at such a late time a tourist can get drunk for a “freebie”? A crest is a crest: if you don't feel it, you won't believe it!
A dead Egyptian night, when even all the shops on the noisy and gambling shopping street Sharaton are closed and their numerous Arab merchants calmed their ardor and retired to their havens to rest - until the evening of the next day. The night street is unusually deserted and quiet. And this does not fit into the usual idea of Hurghada at night, when as soon as the sun sets over the horizon, Hurghada wakes up and its life is in full swing. And here and now it is suddenly quiet and empty, as if the city had died out.
It’s even a little creepy… The only thing that breaks the night silence with sharp, sharp dagger-sounds is the signals of passing taxis, insistently inviting you to use their services. Moreover, they stop and persistently wait until you give the go-ahead. And the taxi quickly leaves, looking for the next “victim” in the night ...And the next taxi honks or waits for you ...Really, you are tired of such obsession and you go to the opposite side of the street, where there is an oncoming traffic of a car and no one hurts you, does not bother ...This , perhaps the only way to get rid of persistent obsession. And I advise you to do so. But, at the same time, I understand them (taxi drivers) - they also need to earn money.
With this conclusion, I remembered an Arab taxi driver - a friend of my friend from St. Petersburg ("Sand Beach Hotel" 4 *, Hurghada, (July 2016.
), who left his two unprofitable shops in the center of Hurghada and took a taxi ...He also remembered his “rooking” in the night city in the mid-80s of the last century ...
All these pictures popped up in my memory. And now I was standing in front of what seemed to me to be the grandiose building of the semicircular shape of the Sea Gull Beach Club Hotel. A grandiose view in its architectural design. And this arched shape of the building reminded me of our Cabinet of Ministers in Kyiv on Hrushevsky Street. Only without a crowd of protesters with placards and thumps of rebar on empty barrels, as it happens with us. It was especially common during the Euromaidan days. And it's quiet here...
There is a large circular area in front of the hotel.
And I thought with my pragmatic mind, why would it be so irrational to use such expensive land of hundreds of square meters in the city center, and, on the first coastline, to remove it to the street - outside the hotel, instead of making the most of it aesthetically or commercially inside the hotel? But then I remembered that I was not in Sharm El Sheikh, where I had a rest last month, but in Hurghada (inertia of thinking) and there are completely different tariffs. To tell the truth, unlike Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada also has a more barbaric use of land by the sea - a landfill for construction and even household waste. I remembered how a year and a half ago, while relaxing at the hotel (“El Samaka Beach” 3 *, Hurghada, (July - August 2015), I decided to walk along the main street towards Duty-free.
And I boldly, as if at home, go into this building ...As always and everywhere in hotels, immediately at the entrance there is a metal detector frame and a security guard nearby, then the lobby, shining with a mirror of polished granite, then to the left a dull empty shaded reception and behind him - the cherished place that I aspired to at such a late hour - the round-the-clock working Buddha Bar. I want to immediately dot the i’s: I didn’t come to have fun and get drunk, but purely for educational and excursion reasons and, most importantly, to reflect everything I saw in my Diary.
So, Buddha Bar. A typical bar counter with bottles of all kinds of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. True, all drinks are a little lower and it is not always clear what and from what the bartender pours. (By the way, at the SunConnect SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 *, Egypt, Sharm El-Sheikh, (January 2017.
) I even caught the bartender pouring beer out of two glasses for me... ) Quiet music, a large plasma TV on the wall, and in the hall - emptiness and twilight, as if it were a continuation of the emptiness that accompanied me along street, went into the lobby of the hotel, and then - together with me and into this bar ...
What distinguishes "Buddha Bar" from the lobby bar ("Ramsis Bar") in the Old "Sea Gull" is the bar hall with a modern design, in line with the design style of the lobby and the whole hotel in general. Apparently, during the design and construction of the Sea Gull Club hotel, its level was assumed to be at least 5 *, with corresponding prices for tours and for the category of tourists with money - mainly from Europe.
I, the night guest, was kindly met by the bartender Said - a tall, handsome, athletically built young Arab, about thirty years old, with a somewhat sad expression in his eyes. And his sadness was a consequence of the lack of customers and, of course, earnings.
My standard greeting "Assalam alaikum" dispelled the bartender's sadness a little. And we got talking.
As I understood from a conversation with Said (and he knows Russian well), he is always on the night shift and starts at twelve at night). I ordered a glass of beer, talked a little with him and retired to the dimly lit hall of the bar on a sofa with a table nearby, in order to calmly look around alone and get used to the atmosphere, naturally, hoping for the impressions so necessary for my work.
But, unfortunately, it didn’t work out for me, because I was impressed by those few minutes of communication with the bartender Said, during which, in the heat of revelation, he told a lot about himself…
Bartender Said
In life, we often meet people who in a concentrated form reflect a whole layer of the population of one or another part of the planet Earth or a country.
This is not surprising, since the external environment leaves its mark on everyone (albeit to a different extent) and even forms a personality, if a person has the prerequisites for this. It was in Said, the bartender at the Sea Gull Club, that I saw a generalized image of most young unmarried Egyptians. And in their gases - sadness and desperate hopelessness. This is understandable. After all, for most of them, family and children - such a sacred thing for every Muslim, as for any other peoples of the world, become an unrealizable dream.
In the process of easy, unobtrusive communication with the bartender Said, I introduced myself as a writer (writer) and, having told how often I visit Egypt, and that I can’t help myself not to write about the hotels where I visit and how I saw and , in fact, participated in five Arab weddings (“Sand Beach Hotel” 4 *, Hurghada, (July 2016), and even wrote and published a book about it (“Resort. Love. Wedding.
Divorce”), I intuitively caught a sore topic for a young Egyptian - the topic of marriage, family, children. I hit the spot. And when I gave him one of my books about marriage and the family (“How to get married, get married”), our communication became almost friendly and trusting ...revealed his essence, for the most part characteristic of many young Arabs of Egypt.
In the first place for everyone, of course, is marriage and the creation of a family. But in the conditions of Egypt, and, perhaps, of the entire East, this is not so easy to implement. Traditionally, women in the Egyptian family do not work: they bring up numerous (again according to the Eastern tradition) children, and run the household. And therefore, the whole burden of the material support of the family falls on the only working man - the father of the family.
And if this is not a burden, but just an easy pleasure, then the Egyptian, according to Shariah, is allowed to have four (no more) wives and at least five or more children each! This is not China, and such a numerous offspring is only welcomed not only by the public opinion of the East, but also by the laws of the country. And all this is guaranteed by the wealth of the groom: gifts to the bride “makhra”, relatives of the bride “shabka”, separate housing, etc. That is why the Arabs of the average service personnel in the hotel so zealously collect a dollar from vacationers for any reason. And, in all likelihood, this is their main, tax-free income, which, in about ten years, can form his well-being, so necessary for marriage.
After all, if they have salaries, they are purely symbolic: is it possible to carve out anything significant from those eleven dollars that each tourist leaves at the hotel for the entire range of services, including All Inclusive meals and accommodation? ..
In the process of sincere communication, the bartender Said told about himself: he is thirty years old and he is the youngest of three sons in the family. His brothers are already married and he helped them financially when there was a problem with wedding gifts for the bride and gifts for her parents. But he himself is still without a pair ...
I listened attentively to the young Egyptian, and my thoughts were on topics that summarize what Said was talking about: Nature, in order to prolong the family, and by and large - to prolong life, charged a person with the obligation to marry, start a family, give birth to children, which for Arabs are holy. But before creating a family, a young Egyptian must be financially and housing provided.
Financially, it is, first of all, to give the bride a wedding gift - "mahr" in the form of three gold jewelry, one of which is a diamond ring, and her parents and relatives - gifts called "shabka". The groom must have separate accommodation.
Regarding housing, I have an interesting observation. In large cities, for example, in Cairo, in residential areas, I saw multi-storey buildings with an unfinished top floor. This is a "preparation" of a future apartment for a growing son. And if there are many sons, then such a “family” building is constantly growing like a mushroom. And for the "mahr" and gifts to the parents and relatives of the bride ("shabka"), the groom must earn himself to prove that he can continue to provide for his family.
And the easiest way is to get money where they are found in large quantities - this is in tourist areas, working as the same bartender or even a cleaner and collecting a dollar from each vacationer ...Therefore, when I presented all this, it was completely different, and even with a share of pity, began to relate to the same housekeeper, waiter in a restaurant or bartender, and the hand itself began to reach out to give a dollar as a tip or gratitude for their work.
But there is also a simple way for an Egyptian to solve his family problem - this is to marry a non-Muslim girl who does not have such material claims to the groom. And so many do. I know a happy married couple from Kiev with an Egyptian who already has four children - the boys who were given to the Arab by my countrywoman. And they live in Kyiv.
My second friend from Russia flew to Hurghada on purpose, through Belarus, to meet her lover and later take him to her place in St. already mentioned above.
Realizing all this, you begin to wonder: what is the reason for such life injustice towards young Egyptians and you ask a natural question for such cases: “Who is to blame? And not only the Egyptian, but the entire world community, mired in greed and pragmatism, is to blame. And, moreover, the most unprincipled with a low level of moral and ethical standards of behavior, thanks to this, reach the maximum level of material security and therefore become at the head of the management of the world - Power.
The way he told me about this in a fit of spiritual revelation, repeating twice about the cost of living in such a royal villa and, apparently, comparing that amount with his earnings along with tips, I realized how high and unattainable for himself the bar he set ...And I felt sorry for him. After all, then they used him, they enjoyed him, it is possible that they paid or gave him expensive gifts, then they parted and forgot ...And he was left with an open spiritual wound and an obsessive dream of a pipe. Only one thing he repeated twice: he would marry a girl who would love him passionately and crazy. At the same time, I remembered the Eastern proverb: "Marry not the beloved, but the loving. " Everything is true from a worldly and pragmatic point of view: the implementation of such a wise decision will help you to control the situation, and not you! Especially in the situation with Said, when he is young and handsome, but poor, and she is rich.
Unfortunately, there are no rich, especially women, and at the same time stupid. There is no crazy love, when feelings completely depress the manifestations of the mind ...And therefore, Said's chances are reduced to zero. But I did not disappoint him: let him live and enjoy his bright dream. After all, a person should have something bright in life, especially in dark periods to illuminate and delight the Soul.
Said loved many girls and women, but his goal is to marry a girl who will truly love him. Naturally, from among the rich and wealthy. And those in his life have not yet met. And it is unlikely to meet such a naive person. After all, with Said, even without eyepieces, it is not love and feelings that protrude outward, but mercantile calculations ...
Thus, the resorts of Egypt, although they make a significant contribution to the country's budget (the second most important after the Suez Canal), still make their negative amendment to the personal life of young Arabs and even to the moral degradation of some of them. The resort is a place of rest and fulfillment of desires. But desires are different. But if you have money, any desire can be realized. Such a rule of the service sector, which is a resort. But desires are different. For example, older ladies often come to the resort for lovemaking with young Egyptians. In some hotels in Hurghada, according to my friend from Donetsk (we rested together in the “Sand Beach Hotel” 4 *, Hurghada (July 2016), well-versed in these matters, almost a conveyor of this pleasure has been set up. In her understanding, even the translation " Hurghada, "like a goddamn city. And physically and morally exhausted on this assembly line, " Said "- who needs him?
Compliment from the hotel on your birthday.
But, as it seemed to me, and for good reason, the restaurant staff diligently tried not only because the curator of this hotel, Pani Mila, was sitting at our table, but also because ...(and this will already be the topic of a special essay - see below)
"We are poor, but proud" or the language of misunderstanding
Celebrating your birthday on the Red Sea among Ukrainians has become fashionable and even in the order of things. Yes, and every hotel in Egypt meets halfway, even this is stipulated in their advertising. And therefore, almost a day later, you notice festively set tables at dinner, a birthday cake "from the institution" and often holiday greetings with songs and dances. Over the past six months, I have participated in three birthdays, including one of them was the birthday boy himself (Mirage New Hawaii Hotel 4 *, Hurghada, (November 2016).
And in February of this year, we decided to celebrate the birthday of our friend Irina on the Red Sea at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club. Decided - done.
We took a tour for eight days and flew to Hurghada. In order not to immediately "from the ship to the ball", the birthday fell on the seventh day of rest - enough time to settle down and prepare for the celebration. Stocks of collectible Armenian cognac, French cheeses, red caviar, dry-cured horse sausages "sujuk" and other similar "food" the birthday girl grabbed in advance from Kyiv (fortunately, her son, the chief psychiatrist of the Russian Federation, who lives in Moscow, provided everything necessary). With such an assortment of drinks and snacks, it was not a shame to invite the top management of the hotel. And invited.
And here I realized that the hotel security service works at the highest level.
Before the indicated booze and “food” was put on the table, it was asked to be presented to the hotel workers - nutrition specialists who most carefully checked each product, looked at the packaging, seals and corks on the bottles, sniffed, almost on the tooth they tried it, and only after they gave the go-ahead was it allowed to put it all on the table. Naturally, the concern was not so much about our health and safety, but about the same, only in relation to the “top management”.
One moment remained behind the scenes. That middle-level restaurant manager, who announced a tariff of 400 pounds for congratulatory songs with a drum, saw a bottle of collectible Armenian cognac and asked the birthday girl: “Give me a bottle! ” She, without thinking twice, said: “Okay, come to an end! ".
Was it really a pity for a good person to give away a beautiful and original empty bottle, even with a cork, if he would try so hard to sing in her health and dance ...
A couple of hours later, towards the end of the meal, when the top curator of the hotel left, and everything was drunk and eaten, this leader of the acapella of folk songs and dances showed up for the promised bottle. By the way, I felt a little sorry for her, since I myself initially applied for her - she was very original! But what can you do, the man tried ...
The birthday girl, with her royal gesture, takes out a brandy bottle from under the table in an equally beautiful box and gives it to the Arab, who smiles all over his face. How happy we were to look at his immeasurable happiness...However, his happiness was until he took the gift of the "queen" in his hands. And then - it was only necessary to see, It is impossible to describe in words. But I will try to convey at least approximately.
More precisely, I had a flash of consciousness, from the suddenness and sensitivity of which, tears came to my eyes ...
And that's what happened. Imagine a four-star hotel restaurant, which, by the way, pulls up to all five. Around nine o'clock. Dinner, which began at 19-00, is almost over. I'm going to the food distribution area. But I don’t focus my attention, like most tourists, on the variety of delicious dishes that immediately cause an abundant secretion of gastric juice and bestial appetite, but I turn my attention to three Arabs in the impeccable, almost full dress uniform of restaurant workers who stand in each of their restaurant area and monitor the general order and the availability of certain dishes and all kinds of salads, vegetables or fruits at the food distribution counters: be it cucumbers, tomatoes or tangerines, dates.
And then I had a flash of consciousness, the spark of which was laid earlier and I mentioned this in passing in one of my previous essays. And the reason was that I turned my close attention to the appearance, face, and in general the proud camp of one of these Arabs. His thoroughbred face, figure bore the imprint of the centuries-old ancient Egyptian high culture, the beginning of which was laid by the pharaohs and the Egyptian nobility. The genes of those pharaohs were felt in this Arab. And I, subverting the factor of time, and thanks to my imagination, saw in front of me one of those ancient personalities who laid the foundations of the high culture of our world ...
And now, standing in front of me and the other two hundred tourists from Europe in the role of a servant, and, it's a shame even to think, in the role of a lackey.
And, moreover, I imagined that this “History” of world civilization and all mankind is in the service of several hundred Europeans, who, by their historical essence, are not worthy of a fingernail on the little toe of this Arab’s left foot. And this “History” must endure the antics, sometimes the swaggering behavior of tipsy nouveaux riches from their gangster or semi-gangster “history” of the 90s of the last century, who stuffed their pockets with dollars, by no means, by righteous methods. And now this "low culture" is trying to control the "high world culture", imagining itself as the elite of society. And not only here, at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club hotel in Hurghada, but also in the whole world, including in Ukraine (the example of the same former President, a former prisoner - Yanukovych), or in Russia (using the example of infinite prowess abroad of the “new Russians”, about whom hundreds of jokes are composed).
From such a truly lofty humiliation, from this vital injustice of our time, my nose began to tingle, tears came out in my eyes and flowed down my cheeks in a continuous stream ...I sobbed soundlessly ...All this flurry of a sensual storm took place inside me, outwardly manifesting itself as a barely noticeable stream of tears . With that fury of inner passions, what could I do to change outside? Except how to lay out your reasoned conclusions in this essay and try to bring them to the masses? What's the use? The world is heading towards the abyss! And I'm powerless to change anything...
I sat at a table full of delicious dishes and could not overcome myself to eat at least a piece of fragrant grilled kebab, drink cooked Ouzo or a sip of beer.
Corals and fish complemented each other and made up a single whole of this small, about 10-20 square meters of Red Sea biocenosis. And my joy knew no bounds! I am back in the real Red Sea and it has again opened its best treasures to me! And it doesn't matter that the water is not +26? C, how was it in the summer in Sharm El Sheikh, but only +21? However, I did not feel its coolness - I was warmed, oddly enough, by the beauty of the underwater world of the Red Sea. And I noticed this every time I just entered its cool waters, having previously put on a mask with a snorkel. Everyone felt this sensation of a sharp contrast between the temperature of water and air. But as soon as you go down into the water and see the underwater world, you immediately forget this difference of contrasts: some kind of switch is triggered and you are completely at the mercy of a new world for a person. You are completely in it and it is in you, and there is nothing around!
A little later, having matured, they themselves, each individually, can ensure their safety among predators in this cruel underwater world, despite their external beauty, and therefore they already arrange their lives alone or in pairs, mating with the same fish of the opposite sex.
Having made this conclusion about all sorts of dangers in the underwater world, I imagined the Red Sea in a completely different way. The ostentatious beauty of the Red Sea, which we see when diving into it or when we watch films made about it, is just its external beautiful surroundings: fish of various colors and colors, bizarre formations of coral forests, turquoise and blue color transparent, tens of meters thick water and the glare of sunlight on a sandy clean bottom ...
At the same time, the cruel truth of life of the Red Sea, which can no longer be called "red", in the sense of "beautiful", remains behind the scenes.
And therefore, to some extent, warnings of local aboriginal Arabs about a serious danger to health, sometimes even life, direct contact with the inhabitants of the underwater world of the Red Sea are perceived as savagery. I, like most people - the inhabitants of the land, do not fit in my mind at all: how this little charm in the form of an outwardly peaceful colored "aquarium" fish can be fraught with such great evil and danger to my life. And I can hardly restrain myself so as not to tenderly stroke this beautiful creation of Nature with tenderness.
Or put your hand into the forest bowls of corals and fondly touch them, as I would do on land in the thickets of grass ...Apparently, I would have a different idea of the Red Sea, as the habitat of the most wonderful in the world and at the same time peaceful creatures, if he could plunge into the night sea, when, according to the same natives, a numerous, life-threatening creature comes out of its hiding places. And therefore, for security reasons, night swimming is strictly prohibited on the beaches of all hotels in Egypt ...
But I, for research purposes, in order to know all sides of the Red Sea: both positive and negative, nevertheless somehow decide on a night dive, for example, in a bathyscaphe or in a protective and safe suit. For now, for now, I will be content with the daytime beauty of this miracle created by Mother Nature.
And this is an example of the fact that no matter how much you know Nature and discover something new in it, it will still remain completely unknown and inexhaustible ...
I was under water for only half an hour, on the strength - forty minutes, no more, but the Red Sea left deep impressions of itself - so much so that today, March 7, when I write my memoirs on the events of those days, and it has passed since then It's been two weeks since I did that micro-immersion, but the impressions, and even the sensations of the body and, especially, of the Soul, are as if everything happened today, five minutes ago. These moments of joy in communicating with the underwater world are a drop in the ocean of my life - in duration, but not in content. In my Soul, this drop occupies a huge part of it. And this despite the fact that I looked into the underwater world of the Red Sea with just a cursory, superficial glance and felt, and then, slightly, only the fish, playing with them. What about corals? - Remained completely unknown and mysterious.
Perhaps that is why corals throughout their multi-million-year history have preserved themselves as a unique marine creature, and continue to live and develop up to the present day. And, mainly, because they live in themselves, not revealing all the secrets of their existence, not allowing anyone into their inner world. Take, for example, the relationship between Red Sea fish and humans: they become so close to us, especially if they are regularly fed, and this is often what tourists do, they open up completely to humans, become almost tame. And I felt this while playing with the Surgeon fish.
With corals, it's different. I see only the external form of the coral, their different colors and the external features of each of their species. Not more.
At the same time, behind the barrier that the corals put up before themselves and the outside world, including before humans, I am sure that there is boundless beauty - and not only external visual, but also internal spiritual, sensual perception of them.
Corals are not a public creature, as it happens, a woman of easy virtue. And in order to win over the corals, after which they can reveal their secrets of their innermost being, it is necessary to have a long communication with them, by all means try to win over the corals to friendship. And for ten years, since I first saw them, having visited the Red Sea in Sharm El-Sheikh, and for nine subsequent visits, I finally began to get closer to corals, to get to know them. This is my long journey into the coral world.
All seven times of my visits to Egypt and the Red Sea, I perceived corals as something abstract, although beautiful and original, but nothing expressing a monumental creation in the world of the sea. And only on my previous, eighth visit to the Red Sea, I began to penetrate the secret of corals. And then only extinct ones, the trace of which remained on the seashore in the form of frozen limestone formations of bizarre shapes - so small in size that I could see and evaluate them only on multiply enlarged photographs. And these dead historical rarities gave me a reason to describe their fate in a lyrical form, so sensual that when describing them and later when reading them again, tears came to my eyes.
Yes, and not quite the season now for a beach holiday - tea is not summer!
Immediately in front of the main building, in the immediate vicinity, as a logical continuation of the territory of the Old "Sea Gull", there is Dolphin Beach, which means "Dolphin Beach" - a rather poetic name. Behind several rows of umbrellas with tables at their base (by the way, very convenient for drinkers and chewers), as well as comfortable sun loungers with soft mattresses, is the sea. More precisely, a long lagoon, artificially created between two bulk areas on both sides of it, far away, about a hundred meters out to sea. Luxurious two-story villas with territories closed to outsiders have been built on these bulk plots for VIPs. The lagoon is also covered with sand, and therefore, along the entire hundred-meter length, the sea here is shallow - no more than two meters. But at the end of the lagoon, at the mooring place for pleasure boats, the depth of the sea sharply increases to ten or more meters.
And on the border of the shallows and great depths, barrier buoys for swimming are installed.
The only bad thing is that for the sake of a person and his comfort, it is covered with sand, and maybe construction debris during the construction of the hotel buildings, the living world of the Red Sea and therefore in this place, as elsewhere on the coast near Hurghada, the Red Sea in its true sense , ceased to exist here ...Nevertheless, having sailed along the entire lagoon deep into the mask with a snorkel, I saw needle fish at the bottom, small flocks of translucent whitish, the color of the sand, and therefore barely noticeable, fish, and near the boats - a huge, almost half a meter flat fish and schools of larger fish, which, apparently, feed on food waste from pleasure boats, which attracts them here, despite the negative ecology of the artificial seabed for them.
revelation by the sea
In the evening.
On the very first day of my arrival at the hotel, an obligatory tribute to the Sea is my respect for him. I am sitting by the sea. Oasis Beach, on the territory of the Sea Gull Beach Club, is deserted. The sea here, unlike the Old "Sea Gull", where I was this morning, is more natural and alive ...The sea is noisy - just like in the Crimea. And this noise of the sea excites in me a burning, to the point where “tears in the eyes and tickle in the nose”, nostalgia of an emigrant for his native lands.
And not only the sound of the surf reminded me of Alushta, but also the color of the sea, and also, in part, its smell. Only here is a special, barely perceptible smell of the sea, and in the Crimea - a pronounced iodine from sea grass, which the sea throws ashore in whole heaps. And the wind picks up this smell and carries it far inland ...
Such a sea here, in Egypt, happens only in winter - from November to March. In summer, it is completely different and in no way similar to our Black: the heat is below +50?
C and calm oppress the Red Sea so much that in a sluggish and outwardly lifeless hibernation, it is too lazy to even move a wave along its surface, let alone play the appearance of a real storm.
It's been about four o'clock in the afternoon. The sun is setting. But it still warms strongly enough for the naked body to feel its fading heat. And on the other hand, in the shade, the evening coolness is already creeping up and pinching the bare areas of the body, predicting that in an hour it will already be hosting all over the body. But I don’t think about it yet, but I make the most of the good that the sea, the Sun, the rocky coast clings to me.
I relaxed, as if I had entered the stream of sensations that the Nature of the Red Sea brings to me. I am inert and passive. As an individual who turned into zero, he surrendered himself completely to the elements of the sea.
And only my mind is trying to take a mold from those inner impressions and visions that pop up out of nowhere and surprise me with their insight essence.
First of all, I feel the Sun, its warmth. And it seems to me that it tries so hard - with all its might, trying to bestow its warmth on me. So the Sun warms in our latitude in late autumn, somewhere in October in Indian summer. And he tries to warm, like the last time - before the long cold winter. Does it keep you warm in winter? Only dazzling, until the pain in the eyes, shines, reflecting from the whiteness of the snow. And here, in Egypt, in the African winter - the same periodicity of solar thermal activity, only daily: during the day it is hot, like our summer, and in the evening - exhausted, like we have in autumn.
Or these tears will shine on the monitor screen, reading from it digitally printed by me. And until the moment when my line cries, I will be silent !!!
Sea
Red sea. Egypt.
It would seem that it is the same everywhere: everywhere and always, even in winter, warm and healing, colorful fish, corals, etc. Yes, there are common signs of the Red Sea and it seems the same for all resorts in Egypt only to beginners who only fly here a couple of times. But, surprisingly, even in each hotel the Red Sea is different, moreover, it has significant differences. And I say this not unfounded, but with knowledge of the matter. Indeed, for me, the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club hotel is already the fourth in Hurghada (and five more hotels in Sharm El Sheikh are behind it). And what is most surprising, this time in this hotel the Red Sea exceeded all my expectations, both for Hurghada (I emphasize) and especially for the center of Hurghada - the Sharaton street area.
Unlike other hotels in Hurghada where I have been, in the sea of the Sea Gull Beach Club there are a lot of live corals and even three small underwater reefs, 3-5 meters in diameter at a depth of 1.5-2.0 meters and not far, twenty meters thirty, from the coast - on the sea of the Sea Gull Club Hotel, and in the lagoon of the Sea Gull Beach Resort Hotel, where the sea is covered with sand and is convenient for swimming, especially with children, not only corals, even few fish. In my opinion, these corals are preserved here only because this hotel is new and recently rebuilt, and before that this beach and the sea area were wild.
The depth of the sea here, as well as on the entire coast of Hurghada, is excellent and comfortable for swimming. In Sharm El Sheikh, almost everywhere from the shore and at a distance of up to a hundred meters - solid corals and the depth of the sea - ankle-deep - makes it impossible to even splash, especially at low tide, but it is compensated by a wonderful reef, a variety of live corals and colorful fish ...
By the way, such an acceptable depth of the sea and entry into it from the shore in Hurghada, and not from a pontoon, as in Sharm El Sheikh, attracts many tourists to use the benefits of the Red Sea for medicinal purposes. My good friend, a well-known children's writer from Moscow, thus, after sitting in the sea for hours, brought stones out of the kidneys (“El Samaka Beach” 3 *, Hurghada, (July - August 2015) But in my opinion, the healing of the sea is directly proportional to the riot of life in its depths, the Dead Sea will not be able to heal as well as the Red Sea. After all, Life gives Life, and not Death gives Life! This is logical and no one will argue with this. And the more violent life in any segment of the planet on earth or in the water, the more probable are the conditions for new types of life and the improvement of existing ones. And therefore the Red Sea has much more chances for this than any other, especially the Dead Sea.
In February, the Red Sea is relatively cool, but this year it is below +21? C was not.
You go knee-deep into the water and put on a mask and snorkel in advance, go even deeper, with difficulty perceiving the coolness of the water with your body higher and higher. As always in such cases, doubts arise: is it worth climbing into such a “chill”? But the goal to see the sea from the inside takes over and you dive, having decided to dramatically overcome the body's rejection of the discomfort of the cool water of the sea: the water is fifteen degrees cooler than the body (+21? and +36? )! For a fraction of a second, the body perceives this impact of the temperature difference, but you no longer pay attention to it. You forgot about everything in the world and with both eyes you observe a different world, a different life, different from the real one on land in which you constantly live. When you dive into cold water without a mask with your eyes closed, of course, all your attention for a few seconds, if not minutes, is focused on the sensations of the body, the body's perception of the coldness of the water.
But when you are wearing a mask, other landmarks of your attention and preferences instantly arise. The mask allows you to instantly switch to the perception of visual images of the extraordinary underwater world of the Red Sea after diving. Through the glass of the mask, as through the porthole of an underwater submersible with a wide field of view, you can see all the beauty of the underwater world. And you begin to live in this world. And you perceive it no longer with the body, but mainly with the feelings of the Soul. And not only the Red Sea. As I remember my previous dives into the underwater environment, whether it be the Black Sea or even the Dnieper, there is an irresistible interest and desire to know the unknown world, different from our ordinary one on land. The main thing is that the water is transparent, and there is always something to observe.
Here, on the Red Sea, if there are enough living corals, then there will definitely be their fellow travelers - colorful fish.
Comparing the weather conditions in January last year (“Poinciana Sharm Resort” 4 *), I can say with all responsibility that now the weather is much more favorable for the beach and sea bathing and, most importantly, there are no such brutal windstorms as then. By the way, in order for the reader to have an idea of what the January wind is in Egypt on the Red Sea, I then wrote a short story "The Old Man and the Sea Wind", similar to E. Hemingway's story "The Old Man and the Sea".
Compared to summer, when there is no wind for whole weeks and there is complete calm, now the wind blows, although small, but constantly. And even during the day it changes direction. Moreover, I noticed that the temperature of the water depends on the direction of the wind, which jumps by 1-2? C and also the air temperature, but within a wider range. So, if the wind blows from the sea, then the water and air will be warmer than when it blows from the land. And all because the Red Sea is constantly warm, and the wind drives the surface layers of water to the shore.
And this is not because I do not want to be with the sea, but simply the sea does not let me near it, it is rejected for reasons unknown to me.
So on this trip to Hurghada at the end of February 2017 - the same thing: things distract me from the sea, there are reasonable ones, but for the most part they are insignificant. For example, a restaurant - a vital necessity for my physical body, a bar - to stimulate creative activity, sleep - to restore physical and mental energy - all this takes a maximum of 12 hours ...And the remaining twelve hours? Of these twelve hours, I am only 2-3 hours daily by the sea, and only a few minutes - with the sea! After all, as they say in Odessa, there are “two big differences”: to be by the sea and to be with the sea.
You can be physically close to the sea, lie on the beach, even splash in it, but with your thought and all your essence you can be far away - thousands of kilometers, somewhere beyond the Arctic Circle in the permafrost ...And therefore, in fact, you will not here by the sea, where is your physical body, and where are your thoughts, where is your Soul. And what is the use of the fact that you flew thousands of kilometers to Egypt on the Red Sea? After all, the true essence of a person is not in the physical form, but in the inner content and in its manifestation. By the way, only then do I feel that I live as a person (more precisely, as “Ozarwek” - my new definition of a person of the future, from the word “enlightenment”), when I perceive my surroundings so deeply that tears of the sensitivity of the Soul come to my eyes.
For example, now, I am in Kyiv, three thousand kilometers from the Red Sea, but now, thinking about the sea and perceiving it very sensitively, and therefore much closer to it than when I was in Hurghada, I was sitting in a bar on disco a hundred meters from the sea and admired the dancing of young curvy girls. Then the thoughts were completely different, and I was clearly not with the sea ...
The sea, like a woman, requires attention. And without attention - it becomes a stranger and therefore will never be revealed to you.
The hotel has two beaches (although there are actually three, but the third small beach to the right of the Old "Sea Gull" is now closed and I did not manage to visit it - there is construction and capital renewal of residential buildings). The first lagoon beach is located right in front of the main building of the Old "Sea Gull" - between two artificial dams, on which prestigious two-story royal villas are built with swimming pools, external barbecue and grill ovens, gazebos and other amenities for recreation not only for the local elite, but also foreign millionaires. Their privacy zone is fenced with such a thick wall of well-groomed and trimmed two-meter bushes that it is impossible to even peep that there are nutrias. And the 24-hour security even forbids taking pictures. Therefore, I will not be able to describe these mansions in more detail.
But when I become a millionaire, and this will definitely happen, I will definitely reveal all the charm of being and relaxing in these royal villas ...
And now, without being distracted by the villas, I will continue the description of the beaches of the hotel. Sandy beach near the Old "Sea Gull", very comfortable for swimming. The depth gradually, over a hundred meters, increases to two meters. And at the exit, at the right pier, where several pleasure boats stand on the pier, the depth increases sharply to ten or more meters. The beach is clean. In the water - not a single coral - everything is covered with sand. On the one hand, this is good for the benefit of the bathers, but on the other hand, the fauna of the sea in this area is practically destroyed. I swam these hundred meters in a mask and snorkel and saw very few fish.
Only closer to the boats, where some vegetation in the form of sea grass appears at the bottom and, apparently, fish are fed with food waste from the boats, flocks of fish appear, and once even I noticed a huge fish, half a meter or more long, at a depth ...Here again I remembered about the detrimental impact of man on Nature, when a man tries to adjust everything around for his own good and pleasure, regardless of anything ...
In general, this beach is comfortable for relaxing. There are umbrella shade houses made of densely and neatly stacked bundles of dried stems, such as our reeds, without gaps, as is the case on other beaches. Sun loungers are serviceable and with comfortable mattresses - there are enough of them and choosing a comfortable place by the sea is no problem. And, importantly, everything is close.
Sometimes even this "comfort" infuriates me, as it is aimed at destroying my "pagan" essence and Nature as a whole. And that's why I preferred the beach of the Sea Gull Club hotel for my vacation. The Sea Gull Club Hotel, which is located to the left of the Old Sea Gull, was built recently and therefore the Nature of this site still bears some elements of its virginity. Especially the sea, where I discovered three coral underwater islands, about which and their inhabitants, I wrote above in the section “Sea. Fish. Corals.
The beach is also well-kept and comfortable for relaxing, like the Old "Sea Gull". What is better here, because, in addition to the elements of the virgin Red Sea, there are many restaurants of various cuisines nearby, the so-called food court, on which are compactly located: Italian, Oriental, Indian and Chinese corner.
A very interesting architectural and design solution that brings an element of life and some freedom into this closed space. But, to be honest, perhaps because of prejudice, but I did not like this pool. But it's personal. And all because, at my request to give me a room with an impressive view from the window for creativity, I was initially given room 1153 at the reception desk in the “well” of four walls, at the bottom of which there was this pool ...But for the first floor with access to the pool, as for pensioners who love peace and comfort, you can’t imagine better!
In total, the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club has five pools: a three-level pool, two pools for adults heated in winter and two children's pools - also heated in winter.
Animation
The Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club has an amphitheater for animation, but, fortunately, at the time of my visit to the hotel, it was closed for repairs.
Why “fortunately”, because from the experience of the SunConnect SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 * hotel, where I was in January, I know what kind of torture it is to sit outside in the cold wind, turned blue from the cold, for one and a half to two hours and watch the performances of animators or guest artists. Here, at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club, everything is arranged with maximum comfort: as in a variety show, you sit in the lobby at a table with a glass of whiskey, rum or, at worst, beer and watch the performance in warmth and comfort. The beauty!! ! And the fact that the hotel lobby is not an amphitheater and is not quite adapted for such events, you do not notice at all. It's just that the hotel administration found an original way of spending leisure time for vacationers in the most favorable conditions of the winter period. And the area of the lobby allows you to do this. She is huge.
In the first half with a high arch, under ten meters, as I described earlier, there is a reception, a table - the workplace of the Russian-speaking Guest Relations and tables of hotel guides, and in the second half with a low, slightly more than three meters high ceiling - a lobby bar with numerous sofas, armchairs and tables, in the center - a podium for animation. The hall is decorated in light, festive tones of beige. The columns in several rows are made in an original form and are backlit, which creates a festive mood. The low ceiling does not press, thanks to the use of various interior solutions that distract attention and create the impression of dynamics in seemingly statistical forms: here everything is in motion and pleases the eye. And the lobby bar with its round-the-clock drinks only contributes to this.
This is despite the fact that the hotel was mostly guests invited to the wedding and came from remote villages in Egypt, where not every day, as in Hurghada on the Promenade, you can see a belly dance. Just these were representatives of that part of the Egyptians who have not yet been spoiled by the current civilization. And therefore, in my opinion, a belly dance with a frank, as for Muslims, showing the bare areas of the female body, is a kind of challenge to the Koran and Sharia law - among Muslim women wrapped like dolls, from the very heels to the head in black robes of Muslim women, who have only the eyes remain alive and bright. By the way, sometimes the eyes of an Arab woman speak about much more than the naked, frank parts of the body of any other woman, including a masterfully performing belly dance.
I am convinced that it is impossible to comprehend this dance to the very depths, since with each new viewing of it, it opens up new facets that were previously hidden from me. And now, when I look at a belly dance, I, against my will, switch to its perception by the feelings of the Soul, completely disconnect from the outside world and see only the dancer and hear the music, which as one whole and alternately pass into each other. Every movement of the dancer is the music of life. And each sound of music becomes a part of its incredibly mobile and plastic body. She does not just listen to music, but listens to it in herself and the whole body plays: each part of it moves to the beat of the music and according to its own scenario. I look at the dance of an Egyptian woman and ...Oh, a miracle! I see how every cell of her body dances to the beat of the music! ..
No one will argue that a business trip to a resort is one of the most enjoyable events in life. Outwardly, a business trip to a resort is no different from a regular tour: the same selection of a country and a hotel, booking a tour through a travel agency, flight, transfer to a hotel, accommodation and ordinary life in an All inclusive hotel with three meals a day and obligatory visits to bars, the beach, the sea and fire. And even if you're lucky, which is not excluded, then with an impressive holiday romance ...
And the only difference is that with a regular tour you pay for it yourself, and with a creative business trip someone pays for it. From this moment is the most interesting in this whole process. After reading this article, each of you can organize a business trip to the resort. But there is only one small condition: the business trip must be creative, and you must be a creator or, what is the same, a creative person.
And about what really needs to be done to make everything work out, I will share from my many years of experience and the last eight creative business trips to the resorts of Egypt: to Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada.
So, if you are a creative person, then you need to find a sponsor who will finance your creative business trip. It can be any philanthropist, including ...yourself! For example. As Sergei Yesenin wrote, there is a certain “Black Man” sitting in me, who is very far from any kind of creativity and, moreover, has the opposite moral and ethical standards of behavior, compared to my creative personality. Paradoxical as it may seem, but everything is true, in accordance with the dualism of our world, when in one whole there should be both plus and minus, Good and Evil, ying and yang ...And if you cannot do without even a share of Evil in yourself, then let this The share of Evil works for Good - it pays me for a creative business trip to a resort in Egypt! No sooner said than done.
And this is the eighth time I have been going on business trips to Egypt using this system!
I want you to do the same!
Resort and creativity
I have already been at the resort for four days - half of the entire period. And I realize with horror that all my plans for the creative saturation of my current stay on the Red Sea have collapsed. I remember my January arrival in Sharm El-Sheikh (SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 * hotel) - for only five days and on the fourth day, as now, I filled with my impressions almost all the blank sheets of paper prepared back in Kyiv. And in the end, after typing on the computer, there were about a hundred pages of printed text! What now? A whole pack of sheets of paper prepared for this trip remained untouched. And therefore it contains potentially significant content, which cannot be realized until the end of my stay on the Red Sea.
All my plans for the realization of my creative potential are collapsing, which is incredibly activated in the Red Sea. And all because I relaxed and thought that eight days of the tour was too much and enough for everything: for “communication” with the female sex, and for sitting in the lobby bar at night almost until morning, sipping beer, and for aimless walking along the Sharaton street in Hurghada...Perhaps our whole life is wasted, like in the sand, leaving no trace. And we, even in our declining years, think that our whole life is ahead ...
Realizing this, I decided to spur myself on and start writing at a double pace, writing twice as many sheets for each remaining day as I had planned. And bring to Kyiv a weighty pack of sheets, covered in small handwriting. Moreover, as I know for myself, the main thing is to start the topic, and then everything will flow smoothly and non-stop, like a babbling stream. And those here, on the Red Sea, more than enough!
(Looking ahead, I will say that by the last day of my stay in the Red Sea I had written all the prepared paper.
But this is not the main thing. After this trip to the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club, I lived by the Red Sea for more than one week - this tour was so impressive for me. And I drew a lot of themes from my memories and promoted them thanks to the fact that I presented the pictures so realistically, as if I were not in Kyiv, but on the shores of the Red Sea. And, interestingly, even a couple of lines, written and interrupted on the Red Sea, gave such a capacious and significant continuation and promotion that I myself was surprised. Just as the embryo stores all the genetic information, so these couple of lines contained the full text of the finished work. This is what happens in art.
As a result, in addition to the previous entries about Egypt, I had enough material and a real opportunity to publish another book: "The Red Sea: A Corner of the Earthly Paradise"). Although there were four more hotels ahead, including three - elite ...
February 27.2017. Monday
How do I make money at the resort
I spent more than one year in Crimea, if we sum up all the weeks and months of my stay on the Black Sea, on the South Coast. He used to call on May 25, on the eve of the holiday season, and leave in September - at the height of the "velvet" season - during the summer children's holidays, as he worked on the beach (in two days) of the Cascade pioneer camp. In Crimea, by the way, he began to write seriously. “Seriously” means that you can publish what you write. And published, with a circulation of 100 to 1000 copies. Then there was the problem of selling books.
But he decided on a third tourist trip, and took a dozen of his books on a resort theme for sale. And it was a success! Especially among young people on collections of aphorisms. I understood that the hotel in which I was vacationing had a monopoly on the business on its territory, and therefore I sold my books with some apprehension. Although, by and large, I did not have any business, and I was in the role of a philanthropist - I gave away my work for nothing. Taking payment only for paper and printing services, that is, he sold his book at the cost of printing. And, even more so, on a topic close to the theme of the hotel and tourism in Egypt, with the prospect of describing the features of recreation in this hotel and publishing a book on this topic, highlighting the positive aspects and, if possible, obscuring the negative ones.
And so with the middle management of the hotel, with whom I had to deal every day, I developed a special relationship of mutual trust and respect.
But selling your own books is child's play in terms of business. Who does not know about the oriental bazaars and the art of trading on them by local residents! And therefore, as a seller/buyer of the Ukrainian market (the capital's bookstore "Petrovka"), it is not without benefit for me to learn from their experience. To do this, on my last trips, I arrange a trading mini-business for myself: I take with me the permitted in quantity and assortment, and therefore not contraband goods, and I go out with it to the oriental bazaar. And I sell, not even with the aim of earning $1-$2, but to learn from the Arabs - street vendors the art of trading with an individual client. You know it works.
And at my place, in the book market in Kyiv, where I have two outlets, I use this experience for the benefit of my entrepreneurial business. Here the subtleties of this process are not in the topic, and therefore I will not disclose, but will transfer them to the corresponding Facebook page.
February 28.2017. Tuesday
Last days on the Red Sea
The last full day on the Red Sea. For me (yes, probably for everyone), even the first late evening in the Red Sea resorts is more valuable than the last three quarters of the day. Just imagine: you just checked into the hotel, settled in and stay with you until midnight, while the All inclusive bars are open for two whole hours!
And there is still at least seven days and only one night ahead - rest on the Red Sea ...And the last day, even if the flight is late, is still crumpled and not very pleasant for rest, this is check-out at 12:00, and the problem with lunch (after bracelets are no longer fed), where to change clothes ...And in general, if the body is still near the Red Sea, then all thoughts and completely Soul are already there - at home thousands of kilometers from the Red Sea. And what about rest? ..
So, morning. I'm still at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club. Beach. Sea. I, of course, choose a beach with open sea, and not an artificial closed elongated lagoon. There is such a choice at the Sea Gull Beach Hotel. But in general, in Hurghada there is such a tradition - to make lagoons of 100-200 meters or more into the open sea by lengthening bulk piers on both edges (borders) of the hotel. And the territory of the hotel can be enlarged by arranging a beach with umbrellas and sun loungers on these wide piers (as in the El Samaka Beach 3 * hotel) or even luxury villas, as in this hotel.
Although, how else to say, the greatest impression is made on the contrast ...But the contrast is still significant, even compared to those hotels in Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh, where I previously visited. And this is with the declared “four” of the Sea Gull hotel. And, what is even more surprising, at the lowest price, which is very significant for us, Ukrainians, in our crisis, war, galloping rise in price of everything. (By the way, for eight full days with All Inclusive in a single room, I paid $240, and my friends two ladies from Brovary - only $190! one hundred dollars).
The day before I was at the SunConnect SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 * in Sharm El Sheikh (see above), and I must say that the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 * is not much inferior to this elite "five ". Even, moreover, in some moments, for example, the round-the-clock work of two bars according to the All Inclusive system, even surpasses.
And the chic lobby, with a huge area for recreation and animation in the winter, when evenings (and especially nights - my friends and I often sat out until three in the morning) are several orders of magnitude higher! This hotel is much higher than the 4 * Le Mirage New Tower hotel in Sharm El Sheikh, where I was in the summer of 2015.
It turns out that you can comfortably and cheaply relax for a week not only in 5 * in Sharm El Sheikh, but even in 4 * in Hurghada and swim every day in winter and admire corals and fish. Moreover, the sea at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 * hotel is truly "beach", and not only for its contemplation from the beach, as in all hotels in Sharm El Sheikh: the depth is constantly increasing, the bottom is sandy and at a greater there are no dangerous corals and hedgehogs on the bottom area. And the beaches are low, near the water and sandy!
In the second half of February, the weather was perfect: the water temperature was 22-23? C, the air temperature during the day reached 27? S. Only in the evening and at night could it drop to 13-16? WITH.
And after, for the same reason of distrust written on paper, in between beer-whiskey-coffee, at half past one in the night I wandered into a restaurant and had dinner (late dinner from 23-00 to 2-00), I was surprised at the efficiency of the restaurant chefs and sleep are they at all for the sake of satisfying the thirsty belly of the vacationer?
But that's not all. After all, the variety of external design of dishes (this is a whole art! ) And, most importantly, the incredible taste of dishes - you will lick your fingers - are surpassed even by many of the "five" of Egypt.
In January this year, I was surprised by the oriental restaurant on the seashore at the SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 * hotel in Sharm El Sheikh, but here, at the Furd Kort restaurant at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 * royal shrimps on a hot brazier, from which the smoke rose to the very ceiling, and the seafood soup served to the table exceeded all my expectations ...
There are two zoos on the territory of the hotel - I have never seen such a variety of animals anywhere, in any hotel!
And all this in the center of Hurghada! Left the hotel in the evening - and you are on the main Sharaton street with all the delights of oriental exoticism, all kinds of souvenir shops, restaurants, shops of southern vegetables and fruits ...You find yourself in the living world of seething Egypt ...
In abbreviation. Full text: "Holidays in Egypt"
https://www. facebook. com/sashasim. Egypt/
And in the book: Sasha Sim. Red Sea: Corner of the earthly Paradise. Travel notes from Egypt. - Kyiv: SIM & HAM Publishing House, - 2017. - 535 p. , illus. ISBN 966-8802-17-9
© Sasha Sim (Alexander Golovko), 2017
Brief information about the hotel
Hotel location
Hotel «Seagull Beach Resort» is located 10 km from the airport, in the center of Hurghada, on the seashore. It was opened in 2001. The total area of the hotel is 7.4 hectares.
Seagull Beach Resort & Club Hurghada is a luxurious 4-star hotel located 5 minutes drive from the airport and within walking distance from the center of Hurghada, Sakkala.
The hotel is located right on the white sandy shores of the Red Sea and offers a lot of entertainment. Nearby there are many restaurants, bars, shops.
In front of the hotel is…
The hotel is located in the very center of the city, which is very convenient: there are many souvenir shops, restaurants and cafes nearby.
There are also a couple of other discos not far from the hotel and there are clubs on the Promenade near the DESSOLE MARLIN INN. Near the hotel "Seagull Beach Resort & Club" - discos Calypso and Buddha.
Sheraton Street, Mosque in New Hurghada, Marina Boulevard (more details on pages 8-9).
February 21.2017.
Tuesday
Tour selection.
In any tourist trip, the most important point is the choice of a country, a resort and the selection of a tour to a specific hotel. As for me, a citizen of Ukraine, now the most acceptable country for tourism is Egypt. First of all, unlike Turkey and other countries higher in latitude, Egypt has a year-round beach season and the Red Sea is perhaps the only one in the world in terms of beauty and richness of exotic corals and colorful "aquarium" fish living in a natural marine environment. This for me is 75% determined by my preference.
Secondly, the level of prices is no less important. In terms of prices, Egypt for Ukrainians, taking into account regular charter flights and Russia's ban on air communication with Egypt, is currently the cheapest place to stay. Open Russia regular charter flights to Egypt, and prices will instantly jump significantly.
Anticipating this, I am trying to make the most of tours to the Red Sea in hotels that will not be available to me in the near future ...
By the way, thanks to the charter, we have the lowest prices, which provide tours with food and accommodation even cheaper than just flying with regular flights, which the guides warn about so that tourists do not wake up the departure time. And therefore, some enterprising people buy such cheap tours, just to fly to Egypt, they themselves do not settle in a hotel, but leave right there at their place of work. I personally met such an example at the Sand Beach Hotel 4 *, Egypt, Hurghada, (July 2016) with a woman who worked in one of the hospitals in Egypt and flew twice to Ukraine and back to extend her visa.
For myself, I have worked out the maximum level of prices for hotels in Egypt with the binding of the cost of the tour based on one day: 4 * - $ 25-30.5 * - $ 40-50.
"Troika" I'm in the current tourist Egypt, after having been in one of them, I do not consider at all. So, I was lucky enough to rest for 19 days for $500 with a little (and this is a little more than $25 per day) in January 2016. at the Poinciana Sharm Resort 4*. True, on the second coastline, which is an exception in my practice.
The main criterion for choosing a hotel for me is: all-inclusive food, the first coastline and a hotel of at least 4 *.
I select tours to hotels on my own and with a ready-made option I come to a travel agency that guarantees me a discount from 3 to 5% (depending on the price of the tour: up to $250 - 3%, $400 and more - 5%. And this despite that I am a regular customer. I use the layout of offers for tours from the information "Anex-tour", which suits me best, first of all, because the departure time and other valuable information are indicated there.
And this allows me to save a couple of days on the tour (with an early departure from Kyiv at 4-00, and a late departure from Sharm El-Sheikh (Hurghada) at 19-00). Thus, I flew on vacation to the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 *, Egypt, Hurghada, when, with the declared seven nights, I actually had eight days. In the worst case, with a late departure from Kyiv at 14:00 and an early one at 9:00 from Hurghada, I would have rested on the Red Sea for only six (! ) full days ...
If desired and sufficient perseverance, as well as when you read my article like this and similar posts and reviews on the Internet, you can choose the best hotel and at the lowest price.
I also listen to the opinion of experienced travel agents who specifically study all the reviews of tourists about hotels and form their objective ideas about a particular hotel and advise their clients.
Before going on vacation to any hotel, I read dozens, if not hundreds of reviews about this hotel on various sites. Sometimes I even refuse a seemingly decent hotel...
Now I suggest the reader to get acquainted with the Seagull Beach Resort & Club 4 * hotel - according to the correspondence information that I got from numerous reviews over the past two or three years. And after a while, compare with what is in this hotel now, which I will see with my own eyes ...
The day before departure.
My flight was successful, in terms of the rational use of the tourist period - at 3-50. Thus, my stay at the resort starts in the morning and the day is not lost, as if the departure would be in the afternoon. But due to a sleepless and, moreover, anxious night, even with some danger to one's life, the day in terms of creativity remains absolutely spoiled. This is about the tender and sensitive Soul.
And she needs a whole day, or even the next night, for complete rehabilitation.
At the same time, the mortal and sometimes vicious body immediately, in the morning, receives the maximum dose of pleasure and bliss, plunges headlong into the delights that the resort and the Red Sea open to it ...
But this will happen later, on the first day of my stay on the Red Sea. And now I see all this as a memory of the future. And I remember, for comparison, the creatively intense first evening and first night at the SunConnect SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 * hotel in Sharm El Sheikh, in January 2017, where I flew from Boryspil at 14-00 and arrived in the evening …
And now - the bag is already folded completely.
(I’ll tell you my little secret: my travel bag with the necessary minimum travel kit: shorts, T-shirts, swimming trunks, a cap, glasses, a snorkel mask, shaving and hygiene items, as well as a bag with medicines and other things (according to the list) - already prepared and worth in a secluded place in the closet from the first day of my last return from Egypt and is waiting in the wings. So, if a signal arrives that in three or four hours a flight to the resort on a last-minute tour, of course, at half price, then I, as a pioneer, “always ready! ”) Time drags on slowly and with such a delay, it seems to me: my body is still in Kyiv, and mentally I am already in Egypt and swimming in the warm Red Sea, watching corals and beautiful colorful fish. And, I no longer have the strength to endure the convergence of these two realities: imaginary and real, therefore I, as if on autopilot, have already been three hours (!
) before the start of registration (and this is at ten o'clock in the evening) I leave the house and follow the usual route from Obolon by trolleybus, metro to Kharkivskaya, and after that Sky Buss bus I go to Boryspil airport ...
February 22.2017. Wednesday
Overnight flight to Hurghada
Within twenty minutes, we, no more than ten passengers, are delivered by a comfortable bus "Sky Buss" to the airport "Borispol". (Now the fare is 50 UAH. ) By the way, when you get into this luxury bus with such a smooth and imposing ride at a rather high speed and which you don’t feel in the cabin, you already begin to feel like a VIP person, compared to other people with whom you still lived, communicated in normal everyday conditions. And even just half an hour or an hour ago I was riding the subway. You already feel like a foreign tourist, even in your own country ...
The Sky Bus runs at night every half an hour.
And I mechanically calculate that he delivers only a tenth of the passengers of our plane to the airport (there are more than two hundred passengers in the Booing-737 plane). The rest, about two hundred people, get to the airport by taxi or by their cars. And they leave their cars not in the airport parking lot (it is very expensive here), but in the parking lot in the city of Boryspil, which is nearby. And the idea of a multi-seat multi-storey car park in front of the airport itself, in the form of a huge concrete monster, depressingly impresses all arriving and departing passengers ...Well, how can one not think about politics here again? “I told myself to stop writing, but my hands are reaching out ... ”, like V. Vysotsky, I promised myself not to think and write about politics all my eight resort days, but it doesn’t work!
My logic and the realities of our corrupt reality tells me that someone close to the former thieves' power undertook to translate into reality the highly profitable idea of a multi-level parking lot near the airport, but did not have time to complete it. He only managed to swell into the ground and above the ground hundreds, if not thousands of tons of highly durable reinforced concrete in violation of building codes and regulations. And this concrete “miracle” sticks out like a thorn in the side, more precisely, a log in the eye: it’s impossible to complete the construction and it’s dangerous to blow up ...(Dark humor involuntarily creeps into my head: if Putin moves to Kyiv, then there will be a good and reliable reinforced concrete shelter for the new “cyborgs”, like in Donetsk airport…)
Driving away bad "political" thoughts, we drive up to the terminal "D" of the airport "Borispol" on the bus "Sky Buss". It's already the beginning of the next day.
So, it took two hours on the road by "passengers": the economical schedule of the capital's public transport, including the metro, is affecting, especially at night.
Immediately at the entrance to the airport, a preliminary check of passengers on a magnetic frame and on an x-ray conveyor of things, as in all airports. The next one, already more thorough with swelling, will be in front of the landing zone.
There is more than an hour left before registration. I know from the last flight that check-in will begin much earlier than two hours. I have time to check the weight of luggage so that it is no more than 20 kg and the weight of hand luggage is no more than 6 kg and pack the bag in a pre-prepared film and tape. At the same time saved 70 UAH. I rested a little, took a few pictures of the registration hall. There are many times fewer passengers compared to a year and a half earlier, when communication with Moscow was still open in full.
By the beginning of registration, I'm already at the counter and ask for a seat by the window. A pretty girl in uniform at the front desk does not refuse me.
Further, as usual, passport control, a very thorough screening of passengers and hand luggage, the seizure of any liquids, lighters and cutting and piercing products (in my case, surprisingly, one lady was allowed to take small scissors with her in a souvenir manicure set). And a long wait for boarding, brightened up by walking around the numerous duty-free shops. I didn’t buy anything, but I took a sample of the men’s French cologne I liked - a kind of “tasting”. I also updated my collection of photos of the boarding lounge and duty free. Next - landing and we are on the plane.
We take off on time. This time there was no delay, like the previous time - for an hour, in connection with the removal of two tipsy passengers from the flight.
Soft takeoff and applause from passengers to the crew. At a cruising altitude of 10.000m, a flight attendant treats us to tea, coffee with cream and some water. After that, I fall asleep - until the descent for landing. Everything happens automatically, even the flight without air pockets and special vibrations of the aircraft body. And there are no fresh impressions for inspiration and recording: the effect is that I have been flying for the fifteenth time in a year and a half ...
Three hours and forty minutes of night flight. Only and everything. And the preparation for it is twice as much. As a result - the whole night in the bustle and constant nervous tension. Outwardly, this does not manifest itself in any way, but happens deep inside. Four hours of pre-flight waiting and hidden fear that tragedy is not ruled out. After all, no matter how much we are convinced that hundreds or thousands of times more accidents occur on the roads on earth, but with your common sense you understand that in earthly conditions there is freedom of choice and avoiding what is not desired.
Here you are enclosed in a duralumin shell and are absolutely weak-willed, you are a blind guinea pig at the evil fate of fate ...And such internal tension persists all night: it constantly grows exponentially - slowly, starting from leaving the house. Then it reaches the first maximum during sharp acceleration, the aircraft is lifted off the ground, and in the next ten to fifteen seconds of the highest voltage, when the aircraft is gaining altitude and according to statistics (this harmful statistics that instills fear and panic! ) the largest number of air crashes occurs. Then three hours (sort of) of a calm flight at a constant speed and a uniform, by the way, soothing rumble of engines on both sides of the aircraft body, sometimes interrupted by "air bumps" on the sky road.
And the next peak of nervous tension is already during landing, when approaching such a dear and familiar Earth can be tragic and the last in your life. This is the biggest paradox...You temporarily went to another world, to a higher energy level, and became a stranger to your previously native Earth. There was some danger when leaving the world of the Earth (during takeoff), but it didn’t go where yet. But when the "prodigal son" returns to Earth, when landing, the Earth perceives you - a traitor, with hostility and is ready to get even with you. You feel all this with your gut, and this “inner gut” shrinks into a dense lump and sits, hiding, until the very moment the wheels of the chassis touch the Earth ...
At dawn, we land at the new Hurghada airport. From the messages on board the aircraft, we know that the air temperature in Hurghada is +13? C is relatively cold. But, compared with the Kyiv temperature 0 - -3? C is still warm.
It is a pity that they do not report the temperature of the water in the Red Sea (as we found out later, everything is +23? С! )
In the first room, a crowd of more than two hundred passengers rushed to four tables. To turn in the $27 visa fee and receive a yellow and pink passport control application form. Following the mass, more precisely, herd "psychosis" I also took one of the long lines. But soon, noticing how people obediently give $27 instead of $25, I began to look around, looking for an alternative, instead of this "scam". Surprisingly, I couldn't find it right away. And just stepping back, I saw a modestly standing, almost imperceptible kiosk with a nondescript inscription “Bank” in English, went there and without a queue received a sticker in my passport in the form of a large iridescent customs stamp for $ 25. Solid, and not a simple stamp for $27 from the Arab swindlers, who, justifying themselves, took $2 from each tourist, allegedly for a consultation that was not given to anyone.
By nine in the morning, we, five tourists (three people from Kyiv, two from Belarus) were brought by minibus to the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 * hotel.
The appearance of something is a very significant indicator and reason for judging the internal content of the owner of this “face”. And therefore, despite the wretchedness of the transfer provided by the "Anex Tour", the hotel made a good impression. Yes, it could not be otherwise. After all, this hotel is located in the very center of Hurghada (Sakkala district) with a relatively old layout, with claims to luxury, and was built at a time when the territory of the Red Sea coast was still being developed, there was no crisis and huge capital was invested in the hotel and tourism business ...
Inside there is a large vestibule with a high vault of at least ten meters. The walls and ceiling are decorated with all sorts of stained-glass windows, a chandelier, lamps, paintings on oriental themes, and so on.
The mirror-clear marble floor reflects all this rich decoration. And all tastefully, in the same style. This luxury of the usual "four" is impressive and one gets an opinion about a hotel of a higher category.
We, the newly arrived tourists, with our huge suitcases and bags on wheels, having passed through the magnetic frame, which naturally emitted an alarm signal, but the guard in uniform did not react to it in any way, and therefore we got the impression that this frame and all this check were fake, we went to the porter service (reception).
At the reception desk we were met by two young Arabs in a strict hotel uniform in black and white style and with an inalienable smile on their face. I wanted to talk about this smile in more detail.
First of all, the smile of the clerk at the reception is perceived as a benevolent business card of the hotel.
But this is a standard external form brought to automatism, behind which a lot of things are hidden and very diverse, depending on the content of the arrived object - the hotel guest. And this content is determined by an experienced hotelier instantly by appearance (clothes, shoes, face, eyes), by speech (English, German or Russian), the smell of perfume, and so on. And all this, as if behind a shield, is hidden behind this benevolent smile. Therefore, do not rejoice in advance that this smile will reveal to you all the best that this hotel has: from a room with a sea view to the best cocktails and drinks. In fact, you are just approaching the reception, and everything has already been determined for you: the quality of the room and all further services, in accordance with your capabilities and the desire to part with the money that you brought with you.
After all, to be honest, the hotel is the main part of the resort business, which is built on maximum profitability and you are the main source of this net profit, moreover, without any overhead costs, taxes, etc. - in cash! After all, most of the money out of those two or three hundred dollars that you paid for the tour in Ukraine or Belarus remained there: in a travel agency, tour operator, air carrier, taxes ...and only a tiny part of it went to the hotel, for example , as in this Sea Gull 4 * hotel, only $11 per day. And when you realize this, you even feel sorry for the Arabs to some extent, who are forced to collect these crumbs for the comfort of living, all-inclusive meals and 24-hour free service with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks in hotel bars and, of course, the beaches and the Red Sea with coral and fish...
This is how I perceived in my subconscious the smile of a hotel worker behind the reception desk, what is hidden behind it and described what I perceived only superficially, without bothering the reader with a deeper analysis. And therefore, for me, this smile seemed like an automatically switched on light on the floor in the building, where I was settled a little later and which turned on only when you appeared in this zone (the principle is based on changing the capacity of space). Also for the receptionist, the smile automatically appears as soon as the tourist appears in his reach and instantly disappears when the tourist moves away.
This smile serves as a good mask for him to hide his true thoughts and intentions. And, judging from his further actions, his intentions and actions correspond to the general rules of a market economy in the service sector - to get the maximum profit with the minimum indignation of the client from such attempts.
And even better - with maximum customer satisfaction. But, since the desires of our tourist are unlimited, with limited financial opportunities, and the possibilities of the hotel are not unlimited, then a kind of “game” begins.
As usual, you are offered the worst room according to the principle: why spoil the client and lose your profit opportunities on a richer tourist, what if the client perceives this proposed number as a gift of fate? But in hotels of a lower rank, they even keep “killed” rooms on purpose in order to forcibly withdraw dollars for a better and more comfortable room. And I often met this in the reviews of tourists, of course, not in this, but in other hotels.
Approaching the reception, in response to a friendly (seemingly) smile, I answered with a greeting in Arabic: “Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah! ". (Although, usually I simplistically greet “Assalamu alaikum! ” Or even simpler: “Assalamu!
In addition, make sure that the hotel is not stolen for souvenirs: from beach towels to simple glass glasses. For example, many hotels even include a warning on their flyer about fees for lost towels and so on. And some, even a warning not to take food out of restaurants, or alcohol from bars - in the morning for a hangover until ten in the morning, when the All Inclusive system will work in bars. For example: “WARNING! For all drinks, as well as food taken from the restaurant or bar to the guest rooms, a check is provided for payment, "KINGTUT HOTEL" 4 *, (Hurghada). Fortunately, this does not specifically apply to the Seagull Beach Resort & Club.
And so in many hotels in Egypt in low (up to four) categories, especially in low-paid positions and hotel jobs, up to the porter and room cleaner, who in every possible way seeks to charge you $ 1 for cleaning the room, even if he cleaned it poorly.
I understand them, young Arab guys, because each of them wants to get married, and not a single self-respecting Arab woman will marry an Arab if he does not have a separate apartment, there is no money for “mahr” (a gift to the bride from three gold things, including with a diamond), as well as "kalyma" for parents - "shabka" ...
Unfortunately for me, until I understand this, and perhaps for all Ukrainians or Russians and other tourists from the former Soviet Union, all this is presented as a many-headed leech that sucks money from vacationers, even in those places and cases when it is beyond any logic. But even for the "civilized" West, this is considered in the order of things and as the "charter of the monastery", which should be obeyed.
But I observe that here in Egypt, especially since the autumn of 2015, when a “taboo” was established for Russian tourists and the bulk of vacationers are not very rich, compared to Europeans or even Russians, Ukrainians, the “Charter” of resort Egypt is gradually being adjusted in accordance with the concepts and mentality of our fellow citizens. And where should the Egyptians go: now we are, perhaps, the only source of financial “investment” in the tourism sector, and they must take this into account, adapt to us for the time being, until richer tourists pour in ...
Continuing the theme of greetings in Arabic with reference to business conditions in resort areas, I want to note that not only the appearance of a tourist, but also his first words are already decisive for any Arab - how much money can be withdrawn from a tourist for a product or service.
The Russian speech causes in the Arab hard-hidden despondency and wrinkledness, to the point of a sour expression, on the face and the feeling of uselessness to crumble with beads in front of such a client in order to get not only a solid jackpot for tea, but even at least a cent. At the same time, when an Arab hears English or German speech, he immediately transforms and goes out of his way to fulfill the will of the client, almost always earlier for this, as a thank you, receiving a positive financial result, in the form of a tip. And therefore the appropriate response to any request of such a tourist. At the same time, the smile on duty in both cases is invariably present. Unfortunately, many of our people who know English use this kind of “trick” without confirming it with a dollar, which causes confusion and gradually corrects the Arab’s conditioned reflex to English speech.
At the same time, when an Arab hears his native language, take the same greeting “Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah! ”, he already from the very beginning perceives you as his countryman, with all sympathy for you, as well as for all his compatriots who find themselves in a country of economic crisis, and not as a source of income. I even noticed that Arabs treat Ukrainians in the same way, and sometimes you even hear their reaction with notes of sympathy: “Ukraine? Yes ...Crisis ...War ..."And the last word even inspires pity for us, as for the inhabitants of a country with such horror that the Arabs experienced fifty years ago, and even recently, a dozen years ago during a coup d'é tat ...
Here at the Sea Gull Beach Hotel, I was initially offered a quite decent room, with excellent repair and comfort, room 1153, but with a view of the courtyard, however, with a small pool at the bottom of this “well”, on four sides of which there were high walls of red brick. If I weren’t a poet, I would live with closed curtains on the windows and rejoice in the happiness and comfort that has subsided me. But, alas, I did not come alone, but with a fastidious woman - my Muse, and she, capricious, protested. For her life, and for my creativity, I need inspiration from contemplating the widest possible space, which I told the clerk at the reception about. He, with an even more friendly smile, seemed to understand me and suggested another number ...I looked at it. Yes, a little better. And then only if you go out onto the balcony, you will even see a piece of the sea from the side.
And from the window you can still see, ten meters away, the same red brick wall ...I was disappointed in the friendliness of the clerk at the reception desk and in his deceptive smile and sat down at the guest-relation table, which was supposed to prepare the appropriate room for me. After all, I’m in advance, in accordance with the information obtained from the Internet: “The procedure for working with the wishes of guests about the room is as follows: 2-3 days before arrival, you need to send a letter to the guest relation girls with a voucher, and according to this voucher they prepare the room for your arrival . …we always try to help our guests, and if possible we change the room to a better one, ” sent an email to info@hurghadaseagull. com with a wish for a number convenient for creativity.
Unfortunately, I did not wait for the guest-relationship, although I waited for about half an hour. At this time, I was called to the reception and offered room 197 on the second floor overlooking the large pool.
But they asked to wait as the room is being cleaned. I looked at the number and agreed. I changed and went to the beach. During this time, I managed to have breakfast, lunch and take more than a dozen pictures of the views of the hotel. More than five hours have passed since the arrival. All the tourists who arrived at the hotel with me after breakfast sat in their rooms and unpacked their suitcases and bags. But I was in no hurry, I didn’t swear for the provided rooms, which did not suit me, but patiently waited, even deliberately taking long breaks between examining the rooms, trying to take the reception workers “to starve”. No wonder I had five institutes behind me and rich experience in passing exams. Things all these five hours stood in the field of view of the reception workers and I did not worry about them. And the most valuable thing: I took a movie camera and documents with money with me. Let, I think, things stand like a thorn in the eye - for not immediately giving a normal number.
By the way, and in support of my well-founded claims to a room with a more or less attractive view from the window, I left at the reception from the very beginning my book about the resorts of Egypt: “Resort. Love…”, which, as it turned out, had no significant significance for the settlement. And my persistence in getting the best room was also based on the fact that many hotels in Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh, judging by their information on the Internet, from March 1 guarantee the provision of rooms in a category higher than purchased.
Thus began my first of eight days on the Red Sea at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 * with a long, well past noon check-in with short breaks for breakfast, lunch, beach, sea, and familiarization with a vast area.
Rooms
The hotel consists of 5 and 3-storey buildings: a total of 710 rooms (594 standart rooms, 104 family rooms, 4 suites, 8 connected rooms).
Only its external infrastructure is significantly inferior to the Old "Sea Gull". Only one pool with heated water up to +27? C attracts no more than ten to fifteen vacationers. Moreover, beer is the only place where it is bottled, in other places it is bottled and, as for me, it is less tasty.
I have been to the Buddha Bar of the Sea Gull Club hotel well after midnight - it works here around the clock. It's nice to sit in comfort. But, alas, everywhere, from the lobby to the very roof (I also visited there to photograph the views of the hotel and Hurghada from a twenty-meter height), it is deserted to the point of horror. As if everything had died out after some terrible epidemic. Despite the fact that I understood and knew the name of this epidemic - the "economic crisis", nevertheless, eerie seized all my consciousness.
And I rushed to my territory in the Old "Sea Gull" - noisy and crowded, with waterfalls, water slides, exclamations and laughter of children, and even, sometimes, with drunken courage of tipsy vacationers ...
Sea Gull Club is a building in the form of an open book, and therefore half of its rooms are all with sea views, which is a big plus, which cannot be said about the Old Sea Gull. And so I plucked up the courage and sketched the most spectacular numbers of the Old Sea Gull, which will be useful to know for newly visiting tourists.
There are only a few rooms with a frontal view of the sea in the Old "Sea Gull": these are 257-260.171-187.377-385, as well as: 120.220, 320.420, 140.240, 340.440 (this is in 5-storey buildings to the left and right of the reception, 453-460.423 -441 (odd) - on the fourth floor above the Cleopatra restaurant.
Overlooking the large pool:
89-99 - 1st floor of the building near the round restaurant, 189-199 - 2nd floor, 289-299 - 3rd floor.
Perpendicular to it is a building with a direct view of the water park:
71 - 87 - 1st floor, 171 - 187 - 2nd floor, 271-287 - 3rd floor.
Good also rooms with side sea view in the main building: 118.218, 318.418; 138.238, 338.438.
But definitely the worst rooms are the ones facing the construction site to the right of the hotel: 103-119.203-219.303-319.403-419 (odd and even numbers overlooking the patio with a side sea view).
The rooms are equipped with a panoramic balcony or window, satellite TV, air conditioning, mini-fridge, digital safe, direct dial telephone, hair dryer, bathtub or shower, shower cap, soap bars and shampoo. Room cleaning and linen change - daily.
Hotel area
The territory of the hotel "Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club", consisting of two hotels "Sea Gull Beach Resort" (Old "Sea Gull") and "Sea Gull Beach Club" (New "Sea Gull") is 7.4 hectares - pretty decent, as for the center of Hurghada, especially in the area of the famous Sharaton street.
Since the two hotels are merged (again, due to the crisis), everything on the territory of the hotel is at least double, from the main restaurants (Cleopatra and Nefertiti) to the beaches (Dolphin Beach and Oasis Beach).
The entire infrastructure of these two hotels, presented as one hotel "Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club" 4 *, is shown on the map-scheme, which you can get at the reception if you ask. This map-scheme is not included in the mandatory set of documents for vacationers.
The territory of the Old "Sea Gull" hotel is more landscaped and, as it were, already inhabited than the territory of the recently built, but not yet fully put in order, New "Sea Gull". Apparently, here, too, the economic crisis in the resort sector of Egypt has said its negative word.
About each of the object depicted on the map-scheme - separately in the corresponding section of my story ...
Plan-scheme of the hotel "Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club" 4 *
Restaurants and bars. Nutrition
Hotel "Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club" 4 * pleasantly surprised me with a variety of dishes and their excellent taste. And that's just four! Believe me, having experienced the usual 3 * and 4 * in Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, and after some I even wonder how I survived...Resort" 5*, and in August last year - in "Royal Grand Sharm" 5*, (both in Sharm El Sheikh). So believe me, my "gluttonous" nature: this "four" in Hurghada is in no way inferior to those two "five" in Sharm El Sheikh! And this despite the loading of the hotel at 65%! I remember in some of my past hotels 3 * and 4 * the food was pretty monotonous and meager until hundreds of local Arabs with numerous children stopped by for the weekend. Then, and only then, does the “holiday of the belly” begin. And on weekdays, even thoughts about it are not there ...
And in this hotel - "Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club" 4 * food, surprisingly, is stable and at the highest level!
And this mystery at the level of a miracle still remains unsolved for me. It’s even somehow uncomfortable: everywhere there is a crisis, but here there is prosperity. And from the outside it may seem like a “feast during the plague” ...But I assume that the owner of this hotel (owner) is some kind of rich oil sheikh who has the ability to withstand any economic crisis, or even someone from the entourage of the President of Egypt, and maybe people just work...
Early breakfast
An amazingly rare occurrence at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club is an early breakfast from 5 am and a late dinner until 2 am. And here in the topic you can describe what an early breakfast is, which I decided not because I was tormented by hunger at such an early hour, but simply to experience it myself and state what I felt in my Diary. And at the same time meet the sunrise and make a photo session of this significant event on the Red Sea.
And another benefit of getting up early: check how the free wake-up call advertised works. Everything is clear: exactly at 5-00 I was awakened by a phone call from the reception. I quickly got up, put myself in order and, grabbing a camera, was in a restaurant in half an hour.
My impression of an early breakfast. Compared to a regular breakfast from 7-00 to 10-00, there is a very limited range of dishes. There are no hot meals. Dishes from two counters are offered: salads and cheeses with vegetables, as well as bakery products and hot drinks: tea, coffee, milk…
Breakfast
In order not to be unfounded, I will describe in detail my usual breakfast at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 * hotel. (I will describe an early breakfast from 5 am a little later).
So, at 7 am, the hotel slowly starts to wake up. And slowly, one by two, they begin to go to the Cleopatra restaurant, which is in the main building, on the left, immediately behind the lobby bar.
By the way, it is very convenient, especially for lovers of espresso coffee - in the lobby bar around the clock.
Reading reviews, including for this hotel, most note the lack of a variety of breakfast dishes: scrambled eggs / scrambled eggs, pancakes, boiled eggs, butter, and then their memory stops. I, in order not to rely on my “senile” memory, photographed every dish that the chefs prepared for us for breakfast. And there were only a few dozen of them. For myself, I chose, as for my taste, the most delicious and everything I chose could hardly fit on the table. And, imagine, he swallowed everything ...And, while devouring, he remembered his own aphorism: there is never too much tasty, but eat something that is not tasty, eat, and the dogs are left ...So all the dishes for breakfast were fresh and tasty.
Especially fresh, straight from the fire - it's an omelet or scrambled eggs, or both, if you wish. Because the chef prepares these dishes for everyone by order and in front of you.
You even wonder at his professional skills, how well he does it, especially if he cooks about seven omelettes at the same time ...It even dazzles in your eyes when you watch the flashing of omelet discs in the air, when he turns them over in the air - you can’t say anything a juggler! And this is for three hours at a hot furnace, like a steelworker ...It even became interesting to me whether he retires earlier, like ours, at 55 years old - according to the hot grid or not? But I did not ask - I was ashamed!
When there are no people, he rests, waits. He does not prepare anything in advance: everything must be from the fire and hot - such is the special service here. When a lot of people come at once, then a queue is created - the only one for the whole restaurant. To speed up the process in such cases, his assistant is connected and they, like on a piano, work in four hands ...
Omelet and scrambled eggs, as in all hotels in Egypt, are the main mandatory dish for breakfast.
Moreover, in various versions, only everything must be ordered so that the chef does not ask again: if scrambled eggs, then fried eggs (“know chenzh”) or with a coup (“chenzh”); if an omelette, then with cheese, tomatoes, onions and other things (“mix”), or without them (“know mix”). This two-word vocabulary and negation is enough to get the dish done by the chef to your liking.
Mandatory for breakfast in Egyptian restaurants are milk porridge, boiled eggs and pancakes. Pancakes are very tasty too. But there is never a queue for them: the chef cooks them in unlimited quantities and puts them in a heated stainless steel container.
High-quality hard cheese is cut in portions every morning. But you can take it several times - no one will mind. Everything is democratic! There are no meat dishes for breakfast, with the exception of two types of sausages: fried and boiled. But to taste - medium and a couple of pieces for scrambled eggs, I always took.
Various yoghurts, muesli, fruit mixtures are also served for breakfast...And, of course, tea, coffee, hot and cold milk, and jam, marmalade, jam, light and dark honey for pancakes. I will not list the rest of the dishes of stewed, fried and fresh vegetables, and various sauces and seasonings - there are so many of them, including butter - in unlimited quantities.
But what I especially liked was lightly salted cucumbers - and five times a day, including an early breakfast and a late dinner! And during the whole holiday, without a single break! Unfortunately, they are cooked without dill, but fresh dill is always there - in a deep bowl, like all vegetables and salads. I would also like to note the excellent taste of marinated eggplants and especially fried ones in narrow strips. So if you are in Sea Gull, be sure to try it. And once you try it, you'll always get it.
Unfortunately, with delicious cucumbers, tomatoes are inferior - this is because I am spoiled by our Kherson tomatoes, I have never tried such fragrant and tasty ones anywhere - neither in Turkey, nor in Egypt.
If you had breakfast at seven in the morning, then by ten you might be hungry ...And therefore no one will say a word to you if you repeat the breakfast procedure at half past nine in the same style as at seven in the morning. Just know that from 11 all the bars of the hotel, and there are at least three of them, in which I am a regular customer, also offer a light breakfast in the form of grilled wings, liver or hot dog with a choice of several salads. And all this, of course, to beer. Strong liquor at such an early hour, well, does not go in any way ...So a place in the stomach for all this should be reserved!
Snacks at the bar
Every day, so that vacationers do not get emaciated, from 11:00 to 13:00, different goodies are provided at each pool: pancakes, hamburgers, grilled chicken wings.
Tuna sandwiches, potatoes, sausages - every day a different choice. And all this with beer or strong liquor. You can drink hot tea, coffee or cool soft drinks. And for dessert - fruit and cream ice cream.
Dinner
While swimming, diving, sunbathing and even slept for an hour, and then look and the time for lunch arrived. There are already two options here: either dine at the main Cleopatra restaurant or in the food court near the beach on the territory of the Sea Gull Club. Both of these restaurants offer dishes from various cuisines of the world on a buffet basis.
On the food court are compactly located: the Italian corner, the eastern corner, the Indian corner, the Chinese corner - in the form of round, mushroom-shaped, five meters in diameter kitchens with distribution in a circle.
There are so many different and delicious dishes here that they are not inferior to the dishes of the main restaurant "Cleopatra" and, moreover, there are always dishes here that are not in the main restaurant - this is delicious pizza and grilled meat. And, of course, there is a bar nearby with all kinds of local drinks: alcoholic drinks (vodka, whiskey, rum, gin, brandy, tequila, Bacardi, wine, beer, Ouzo) and soft drinks (cola, sprite, fanta, soda, tonic, draft juice, tea, coffee). This outdoor restaurant is convenient because you do not have to change clothes and walk far, but is located right there, near the beach. Half an hour for lunch - and again you sunbathe or swim. After all, the winter day in Egypt is very short: before you have time to dine in the main restaurant (before 15-00), the sun begins to set and at 16-00 there is already no one on the beach - as it comes quite fresh, to put it mildly, discomfort.
So, if you go to lunch at the main restaurant (“Cleopatra”), then after lunch it’s useless to go to the beach.
But still, the restaurant "Cleopatra" attracts with its chic. And that's why you still want to dine like a white man ...And there is every reason for this. One day, I was not too lazy and filmed all the dishes prepared for us by the diligent and talented chefs of the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club. And just like during breakfast, he set himself a table for one person, while everything barely fit on one table.
For lunch, chefs constantly prepare two types of first courses - soups, but sometimes there is even red borscht, but, unfortunately, it is far from Ukrainian in taste (maybe without bacon - a taboo in Egypt? ). For main courses - fish, chicken, beef, and in different versions of dishes and every day they try to update so as not to get bored.
Of the side dishes, rice of two or three types and methods of preparation, boiled lightly fried potatoes, vegetables, pasta with various seasonings - a separate Italian block at the distribution, where you are cooked to order. The choice of fresh vegetables is incredibly large and varied: at least twelve items daily, including parsley, dill, green onions.
Confectionery products delight the eye with their exquisite look, like art products, even sometimes it is a pity to violate this beauty. Three or four types of cakes and many types of local sweets such as honey noodles, honey nut paste and various biscuits and jellies…
Dinner
Dinner at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club starts at 19:00 and lasts three hours until 22:00.
Seven o'clock in the evening - in the winter in Egypt we are sucking dark: The sun has already set for two hours. And it's cold. And therefore, there are many vacationers at this time in the far part of the hall of the main building, in the area of u200bu200bRamses Bar (lobby bar).
It is warm, light, there are many cozy sofas and armchairs, and, most importantly, a bar with a wide range of drinks, including espresso coffee for lovers. And at exactly seven in the evening, this whole crowd is heading to the restaurant. Sometimes, watching how this avalanche of people moves to the restaurant, I have a question: “Are they really so hungry after such a plentiful meal in a row, practically without a break, from seven in the morning to seven in the evening, that they again sit down at the table with such excitement, to eat more food? » Indeed, an insatiable crowd. And how it becomes a pity for the numerous cooks seeking to feed this insatiable Arava ...But, to be honest, including myself ...
When you get to the restaurant "Cleopatra", you forget about being overweight and your fat, already more than 100 kg figure, about the dangers of overeating and the sin of gluttony ...Yes, how can you resist the variety of delicious dishes that the hotel chefs so diligently prepared and invested in them your soul? This is beyond human power. And another action begins for the sake of the mortal body. And the Soul, like a stepdaughter, modestly huddled in the very corner of human essence and is waiting in the wings. Will it wait? ..
In terms of the variety of dishes, dinner is not inferior to lunch, and even more: there are dishes cooked on the grill more often. And the same number of various delicious desserts: cakes, pastries, rolls, muffins, fried dates and various buns. And from fruits: dates, bananas in chocolate, guava, tangerines, oranges, apples...
I take out my camera again and capture everything that enters the eye, without exception.
And not only to report on my "creative" business trip to the Red Sea, but also in order to be in Kyiv, in half-starved Ukraine, looking through these photos, again and again to resume in my memory the pictures of a corner of the earthly Paradise...
late dinner
Late dinner - well, this is a complete "mockery" of a man who, going to the Red Sea, decided to keep his slim figure. Especially women's. In addition, if you sit late at the bar and already after midnight you have taken a sufficient number of glasses of strong drinks and you want to eat them with something. And then, what a miracle! The restaurant is open from 11pm to 2am! True, there are only a few people like me - assiduous, or rather stable. In my spare time, I calculated that in the evening after dinner (regular) in the lobby in the lobby bar area, a little over a hundred people gather every evening. In addition, within an hour, the animators are preparing some kind of entertainment program and there is something to see.
And it starts an hour after the end of the usual dinner - at 23-00 and lasts three hours. That's how it was.
After sitting in the lobby bar until the beginning of the first night, on the last day of my stay at the resort, I still wanted to find out what kind of curiosity this is for an ordinary "four" - a late dinner? I was already familiar with the early breakfast (see description above). And now, for a complete set of impressions, one should also know a late dinner, and, moreover, inform hundreds of my readers so that they also learn about such a "curiosity". True, I had a certain amount of embarrassment and inconvenience with the alleged opinion of the restaurant workers of the type: “What, haven’t eaten all day, stuck in and eat in the middle of the night? »But this is so in my interpretation and, of course, on the part of restaurateurs, given their hospitality, this could not have been in their thoughts.
Even the tables were under oblique lighting, but this did not prevent us from picking up what we needed with a spoon or fork and bringing it where it was needed, that is, from a plate into our own mouth.
The range of dishes at a late dinner somewhat reminds me of an early breakfast - the same limited number of dishes compared to a regular dinner. But it's still better than nothing. In addition, other hotels do not have this. And if there is, then only sandwiches, muffins, buns are offered, and then only from 22:00 to 00:00, and only for late arrivals or guests after late excursions, as is the case at the Mina Mark Beach Resort HUR 4 * (Hurghada).
The bar in the restaurant is closed during late dinner, but this is not a problem. Right next to it, through the wall, there is a lobby bar and you can bring any drink from there, which I did. And on my table, in addition to the dishes I chose, there were also two glasses of beer.
I enjoyed a late dinner and not only delicious dishes, but also the atmosphere itself, which even had some element of nighttime mystery ...And I thought: “Life is good and life is good ... ”
A la carte restaurants
In the hotel according to the All Inclusive system, upon arrival of five or more nights, it is allowed, upon prior reservation, free access to the Fisherman fish restaurant. I took advantage of this opportunity. And did not regret.
Seafood milk soup - for the first, king prawns with herbs on a brazier, served to the table - for the second, and the very atmosphere of the restaurant, high service and friendliness of the restaurant staff are such that there is a desire to visit this restaurant again, even for a fee.
The Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club has three more special restaurants "for VIP clients", that is, for a fee.
These are the Chinese a la carte restaurant, which has a panoramic view of the Red Sea coast, the Italian restaurant - a la carte menu: spaghetti, pasta, pizza and other dishes and the Egyptian restaurant "30 Tent", Captain Nemo Pub.
However, I cannot write anything about them, since I have not visited them.
Restaurants and bars on the day of arrival / departure
Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club is characterized by a very loyal and friendly attitude towards guests in terms of food on the day of arrival until a single check-out time (12-00) and on the last day with a late check-out after 14-00. Upon arrival, absolutely everyone is already hung up with bracelets before 12-00 and is allowed to use the All Inclusive system in full: from eating to any drinks in the hotel bars. With a late check-out at the level of the restaurant manager, you can solve the issue of lunch (my example), or extending the room (with the main manager of the hotel) - this is how my acquaintances, two ladies from Brovary, with whom I rested at this hotel, solved this problem.
In other hotels, the check-in/check-out times are very controlled. For example, at the Sand Beach Hotel 4 *, Egypt, Hurghada, (July 2016) I was warned upon arrival that if I use breakfast on the first day, then on the last day I will have to pay for breakfast. And at the Spinx Resort Hotel 5 * (Hurghada) there is a rule that “the check-out time on the day of departure is 12:00 noon (regardless of the time of departure). Extension of the room until 17:00 for an additional fee ($20 without meals). And at the Lillyland Beach Club 4 * hotel (Hurghada), lunch on the last day is provided only to guests who did not use lunch on the day of arrival due to late arrival at the hotel. In other hotels in Egypt, there are stricter rules regarding drinks, even for the All Inclusive food system. For example, in the hotel "LABRANDA CLUB MAKADI" (ex "CLUB AZUR MAKADY BAY") 4 * (Makadi) the lobby bar is open 24 hours, local alcoholic drinks from 00:00 to 10:00 are provided for an additional fee.
And at the hotel "JASMINE PALACE RESORT" 5 * (Hurghada) all drinks in bars and restaurants are served in portions in glasses (filling bottles from a dispenser for an additional fee).
bars
Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club's bars are located throughout the hotel, so for those who swim in the sea and sunbathe on the beach, or near one of the five pools, there will always be a nearby bar to drink something, including beer and spirits drinks, as well as a light “snack”: grilled chicken wings, liver, hot dog and various salads…
I will give the names and locations of the bars, more precisely where each bar is located, you can see on the attached plan diagram or on a map taken from the satellite: Ramses bar (lobby bar) is located in the lobby of the main building and has a large screen TV. Alcoholic drinks and local beer, all kinds of cocktails, espresso coffee, soft drinks are provided.
The bar is open around the clock; Buddha Bar is located in the Sea Gull Club Hotel at (24 hours); Pool bar Marc Anthony, open from 10:00 to 17:00, offers a variety of drinks and a small menu; Dolphin - bar-restaurant on the beach (10:00-17:00); Scooby Doo pool bar (10:00-17:00); Oasis - bar-restaurant on the beach, open until sunset, serving drinks and light snacks (10:00-17:00); Disco bar Captain Nemo (panorama tower): a panorama of the coast of Hurghada is contemplated from a height of 18 m. The disco bar rotates around its axis; Disco "King Toot" - playing international music, various cocktails are provided, open from 21:30 to 2:00.
Ice cream is served at the bars: Marc Anthony Pool Bar, Dolphin Bar, Oasis Beach Bar from 12:00 to 13:00 and from 15:00 to 17:00.
Ramses Bar is located in the main building of the old "Sea Gull" and it is always crowded, especially in the evenings, until late at night.
For example, one evening at about eleven o'clock in the evening in the bar and near the bar in the hall, I counted more than a hundred vacationers who drank, walked, had fun and even reminded me of an anthill. Closer to midnight, their number was reduced by a factor of three, and after midnight there were only one or two drinking companies, with a total number of no more than a dozen people: disco with a glass of beer, was unsuccessful).
Buddha Bar is located in the "Sea Gull Club", however, despite its increased comfort and work around the clock, it is always empty: I went into it twice well after midnight to taste beer, and was the only visitor ...
The drinks
Alcoholic drinks in the bars in sufficient quantities (never ran out even after midnight, as in other hotels) and always in a large assortment: Uoso (anisim vodka, 45 degrees), whiskey, gin, tequila, rum, vodka, red wine and white, dry and semi-dry, beer in kegs or bottled "Stela" (by the pool "Sea Gull Club"). The bartender can prepare cocktails on request: mojito, gin and tonic, daiquiri and others ...From non-alcoholic: fanta, pepsi, sprite - from plastic bottles or powder like "UPI" from dispensers. And all this in two bars 24 hours a day!
Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club provides 3 small bottles of mineral water daily in the room.
Early morning at Sea Gull Beach Resort
Life at the resort does not stop for a second, only its activity either decreases, approaching zero, or goes off scale and continues all twenty-four hours a day.
Especially when the lobby bar, and not just one, also functions properly, with all its assortment all 24 hours a day. Do not think that I am a “bitter drunkard” and for me this comes first. But at least one constantly “live” point in the hotel during the day should still be and not necessarily with alcohol, but it can also be with coffee, tea or just beer ...And the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club hotel fully complies with these conditions.
The activity of the hotel resumes somewhere at four in the morning, when on the floors, on average, one or two doors begin to slam the doors with fury! And imagine this, in the midst of the silence of the night, when the last resort "revelers" return to comfortable rooms and try to sleep ...By God, I would beat my hands with such "slammers" with doors!
After these door slams, like mini-cannon shots, bringing people who are just falling asleep (like me) and suddenly waking up to hiccup from fright, queues are heard around the hotel ...- no, not machine guns, in addition to cannons, but clicking the wheels of huge suitcases at the junctions of paving slabs . But you soon calm down: this is not an ISIS terrorist act (pah, pah, don’t remember by night! ), but those leaving in this way, either out of envy, or out of indignation, express their “fe” to everyone staying at the resort ...
Half an hour later, as soon as you start to fall asleep and watch a sweet dream, as a continuation of an equally sweet resort life, through the open balcony door you hear a drawn-out “Ala-aaa, aaa-laaa ... ” Is this the mueji’s voice amplified by thousands of watts?
na - the servant of the mosque, originating in several minarets, spreads in waves throughout Hurghada, calling all the faithful to the obligatory prayer - morning prayer ...And so five times during the day, the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer through a loudspeaker.
My first desire is to jump up and pay tribute to Allah for having created Egypt and the Red Sea on earth - this little Paradise and settled Muslim Arabs in it, who greet you so hospitably, treat you with delicious dishes and drinks, and see you off with a wish to meet again ...But then you remember that you are Orthodox and that your God may be offended for this. And so you pacify your spiritual religious impulse and again try to fall asleep ...
I began to visit Egypt so often (just imagine, for the last three months from November 2016 to February 2017 for the third time! ), that I have already begun to live according to the traditions of Muslims.
This is not surprising, since the environment in which you live will sooner or later begin to leave its imprints on you. Here is today. It was just about to dawn, and not only on earth, but also in the sky, night still dominated, and I was already awake. And all because I was awakened by the lingering voice of the mullah, calling for the morning prayer. Of course, I did not begin to perform the morning prayer, but as a true pagan, I jumped out of bed to pay tribute to the appearance of the Sun in this world, to partake of the morning grace of the sea, to experience the breath of a fresh breeze ... , and with all my essence to be embodied in virgin morning Nature. And in order to remember it longer and remember it more often, I took a movie / camera with me.
But at such an early hour, and even after a sleepless holiday night, one so wants to sleep and see sweet dreams ...But what kind of sleep is there!
Dawn at five in the morning and the first rays of the Sun, not at the physical level, but at the level of subtle energy, excite your spiritual essence, when the mortal body tries to captivate you all into oblivion of sleep. Especially since you remember how for three days you have been trying to meet the sunrise on the Red Sea. And so you quickly jumped up and, grabbing a pre-stored beach towel, jump out of the room (I especially note: quietly, without knocking on the door and not even slapping your feet along the corridor) ...
And here is the morning Red Sea in front of you. And you are alone on the shore. (And even at the royal villas there is a security guard who does not count - he is at work). The camera is ready, turned on and you catch exclusive moments that can appear only once in your life and only now ...And you rejoice at such happiness, pitying those hundreds and even thousands of spa guests who chose a different alternative - the benefit of sleep for the body, instead of charm for the Soul ...
Dawn on the Red Sea in Hurghada
. And so I will go again to the sea, where I rush immediately after breakfast. After all, morning grace is the most pleasant and useful not only for the body, but also for the Soul.
To plunge into the cool freshness of the sea and look at the corals and fish, greeting them with the advent of a new day - this is a sacred thing! And, surprisingly, they all recognize you and are glad to see you: they themselves are the first to play with you. And you reciprocate them...
But you are not in the water for long: the winter coolness of the sea (+21? C) makes itself felt and you soon jump out onto the shore, wrap yourself in a beach towel from the wind and the morning coolness preserved from the night (up to +18?
C) and you fall asleep on a sunbed like a baby - snoring quietly and peacefully ...And you sleep, compensating for a sleepless night until the moment when the neighbors on the sunbeds start sipping beer and, smacking their lips, absorb second breakfast dishes: grilled chicken wings, sandwiches with tuna or the like, brought here on tables under umbrellas from the beach bar Oasis Bar. You note to yourself that the bars are already open (10 am) or even eleven o'clock when light snacks are served. And, overcoming sleep, you head to the nearest beach bar ...
The holiday day has come into its full rights ...
New "Sea Gull" ("Sea Gull Club")
At about one in the morning, after sitting for a couple of hours in the lobby bar of the Old "Sea Gull", called with the addition of "Resort", I decided not to put it off and in order to have time to learn everything in this hotel, I went to the reception and asked for a hotel plan, to continue the “beer” evening in the second round-the-clock lobby bar, which, according to my preliminary information, was located in the New “Sea Gull”. Such a scheme was kindly provided to me. Although, as in other hotels (for example, at the SunConnect SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 * Hotel, Sharm El Sheikh (January 2017), for faster adaptation, such a plan of the territory, even in color, is handed to everyone when checking into the hotel. So the management of this hotel has interesting information for reflection and innovation.
If you want to get late in the evening or at night to the 24-hour lobby bar of the New "Sea Gull", which is called the "Buddha Bar", then it is better not to go through the dark, dimly lit labyrinths of the hotel territory, but to walk along the well-lit Shmaraton Street, a hundred meters to the right of The old Sea Gull.
Egyptian night
I, a little drunk in the Ramses bar of the Sea Gull Beach Resort, slowly wander along this deserted dead street to the next hotel - the same Sea Gull, but with the prefix "Club". It would be possible to overcome this distance on the territory of the hotel, but it is already dark and gloomy there, and even somehow creepy, and from the saturated shadows, it seems to me, various kikimors look out and strive to jump out and scare you ...And therefore I chose the civilized path along night Hurghada and at the same time to know it at this late hour.
And with the same purpose, I “moved” into this dead of night to the Buddan bar of the Sea Gull Beach Club hotel, not just to “buzz” and relax, enjoying the All Inclusive system, but with the sole purpose of learning all the subtleties of a night hotel and checking Is there really a second 24-hour bar in this hotel, where at such a late time a tourist can get drunk for a “freebie”? A crest is a crest: if you don't feel it, you won't believe it!
A dead Egyptian night, when even all the shops on the noisy and gambling shopping street Sharaton are closed and their numerous Arab merchants calmed their ardor and retired to their havens to rest - until the evening of the next day. The night street is unusually deserted and quiet. And this does not fit into the usual idea of Hurghada at night, when as soon as the sun sets over the horizon, Hurghada wakes up and its life is in full swing. And here and now it is suddenly quiet and empty, as if the city had died out.
It’s even a little creepy… The only thing that breaks the night silence with sharp, sharp dagger-sounds is the signals of passing taxis, insistently inviting you to use their services. Moreover, they stop and persistently wait until you give the go-ahead. And the taxi quickly leaves, looking for the next “victim” in the night ...And the next taxi honks or waits for you ...Really, you are tired of such obsession and you go to the opposite side of the street, where there is an oncoming traffic of a car and no one hurts you, does not bother ...This , perhaps the only way to get rid of persistent obsession. And I advise you to do so. But, at the same time, I understand them (taxi drivers) - they also need to earn money.
With this conclusion, I remembered an Arab taxi driver - a friend of my friend from St. Petersburg ("Sand Beach Hotel" 4 *, Hurghada, (July 2016.
), who left his two unprofitable shops in the center of Hurghada and took a taxi ...He also remembered his “rooking” in the night city in the mid-80s of the last century ...
All these pictures popped up in my memory. And now I was standing in front of what seemed to me to be the grandiose building of the semicircular shape of the Sea Gull Beach Club Hotel. A grandiose view in its architectural design. And this arched shape of the building reminded me of our Cabinet of Ministers in Kyiv on Hrushevsky Street. Only without a crowd of protesters with placards and thumps of rebar on empty barrels, as it happens with us. It was especially common during the Euromaidan days. And it's quiet here...
There is a large circular area in front of the hotel.
And I thought with my pragmatic mind, why would it be so irrational to use such expensive land of hundreds of square meters in the city center, and, on the first coastline, to remove it to the street - outside the hotel, instead of making the most of it aesthetically or commercially inside the hotel? But then I remembered that I was not in Sharm El Sheikh, where I had a rest last month, but in Hurghada (inertia of thinking) and there are completely different tariffs. To tell the truth, unlike Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada also has a more barbaric use of land by the sea - a landfill for construction and even household waste. I remembered how a year and a half ago, while relaxing at the hotel (“El Samaka Beach” 3 *, Hurghada, (July - August 2015), I decided to walk along the main street towards Duty-free.
And I boldly, as if at home, go into this building ...As always and everywhere in hotels, immediately at the entrance there is a metal detector frame and a security guard nearby, then the lobby, shining with a mirror of polished granite, then to the left a dull empty shaded reception and behind him - the cherished place that I aspired to at such a late hour - the round-the-clock working Buddha Bar. I want to immediately dot the i’s: I didn’t come to have fun and get drunk, but purely for educational and excursion reasons and, most importantly, to reflect everything I saw in my Diary.
So, Buddha Bar. A typical bar counter with bottles of all kinds of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. True, all drinks are a little lower and it is not always clear what and from what the bartender pours. (By the way, at the SunConnect SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 *, Egypt, Sharm El-Sheikh, (January 2017.
) I even caught the bartender pouring beer out of two glasses for me... ) Quiet music, a large plasma TV on the wall, and in the hall - emptiness and twilight, as if it were a continuation of the emptiness that accompanied me along street, went into the lobby of the hotel, and then - together with me and into this bar ...
What distinguishes "Buddha Bar" from the lobby bar ("Ramsis Bar") in the Old "Sea Gull" is the bar hall with a modern design, in line with the design style of the lobby and the whole hotel in general. Apparently, during the design and construction of the Sea Gull Club hotel, its level was assumed to be at least 5 *, with corresponding prices for tours and for the category of tourists with money - mainly from Europe.
I, the night guest, was kindly met by the bartender Said - a tall, handsome, athletically built young Arab, about thirty years old, with a somewhat sad expression in his eyes. And his sadness was a consequence of the lack of customers and, of course, earnings.
My standard greeting "Assalam alaikum" dispelled the bartender's sadness a little. And we got talking.
As I understood from a conversation with Said (and he knows Russian well), he is always on the night shift and starts at twelve at night). I ordered a glass of beer, talked a little with him and retired to the dimly lit hall of the bar on a sofa with a table nearby, in order to calmly look around alone and get used to the atmosphere, naturally, hoping for the impressions so necessary for my work.
But, unfortunately, it didn’t work out for me, because I was impressed by those few minutes of communication with the bartender Said, during which, in the heat of revelation, he told a lot about himself…
Bartender Said
In life, we often meet people who in a concentrated form reflect a whole layer of the population of one or another part of the planet Earth or a country.
This is not surprising, since the external environment leaves its mark on everyone (albeit to a different extent) and even forms a personality, if a person has the prerequisites for this. It was in Said, the bartender at the Sea Gull Club, that I saw a generalized image of most young unmarried Egyptians. And in their gases - sadness and desperate hopelessness. This is understandable. After all, for most of them, family and children - such a sacred thing for every Muslim, as for any other peoples of the world, become an unrealizable dream.
In the process of easy, unobtrusive communication with the bartender Said, I introduced myself as a writer (writer) and, having told how often I visit Egypt, and that I can’t help myself not to write about the hotels where I visit and how I saw and , in fact, participated in five Arab weddings (“Sand Beach Hotel” 4 *, Hurghada, (July 2016), and even wrote and published a book about it (“Resort. Love. Wedding.
Divorce”), I intuitively caught a sore topic for a young Egyptian - the topic of marriage, family, children. I hit the spot. And when I gave him one of my books about marriage and the family (“How to get married, get married”), our communication became almost friendly and trusting ...revealed his essence, for the most part characteristic of many young Arabs of Egypt.
In the first place for everyone, of course, is marriage and the creation of a family. But in the conditions of Egypt, and, perhaps, of the entire East, this is not so easy to implement. Traditionally, women in the Egyptian family do not work: they bring up numerous (again according to the Eastern tradition) children, and run the household. And therefore, the whole burden of the material support of the family falls on the only working man - the father of the family.
And if this is not a burden, but just an easy pleasure, then the Egyptian, according to Shariah, is allowed to have four (no more) wives and at least five or more children each! This is not China, and such a numerous offspring is only welcomed not only by the public opinion of the East, but also by the laws of the country. And all this is guaranteed by the wealth of the groom: gifts to the bride “makhra”, relatives of the bride “shabka”, separate housing, etc. That is why the Arabs of the average service personnel in the hotel so zealously collect a dollar from vacationers for any reason. And, in all likelihood, this is their main, tax-free income, which, in about ten years, can form his well-being, so necessary for marriage.
After all, if they have salaries, they are purely symbolic: is it possible to carve out anything significant from those eleven dollars that each tourist leaves at the hotel for the entire range of services, including All Inclusive meals and accommodation? ..
In the process of sincere communication, the bartender Said told about himself: he is thirty years old and he is the youngest of three sons in the family. His brothers are already married and he helped them financially when there was a problem with wedding gifts for the bride and gifts for her parents. But he himself is still without a pair ...
I listened attentively to the young Egyptian, and my thoughts were on topics that summarize what Said was talking about: Nature, in order to prolong the family, and by and large - to prolong life, charged a person with the obligation to marry, start a family, give birth to children, which for Arabs are holy. But before creating a family, a young Egyptian must be financially and housing provided.
Financially, it is, first of all, to give the bride a wedding gift - "mahr" in the form of three gold jewelry, one of which is a diamond ring, and her parents and relatives - gifts called "shabka". The groom must have separate accommodation.
Regarding housing, I have an interesting observation. In large cities, for example, in Cairo, in residential areas, I saw multi-storey buildings with an unfinished top floor. This is a "preparation" of a future apartment for a growing son. And if there are many sons, then such a “family” building is constantly growing like a mushroom. And for the "mahr" and gifts to the parents and relatives of the bride ("shabka"), the groom must earn himself to prove that he can continue to provide for his family.
And the easiest way is to get money where they are found in large quantities - this is in tourist areas, working as the same bartender or even a cleaner and collecting a dollar from each vacationer ...Therefore, when I presented all this, it was completely different, and even with a share of pity, began to relate to the same housekeeper, waiter in a restaurant or bartender, and the hand itself began to reach out to give a dollar as a tip or gratitude for their work.
But there is also a simple way for an Egyptian to solve his family problem - this is to marry a non-Muslim girl who does not have such material claims to the groom. And so many do. I know a happy married couple from Kiev with an Egyptian who already has four children - the boys who were given to the Arab by my countrywoman. And they live in Kyiv.
My second friend from Russia flew to Hurghada on purpose, through Belarus, to meet her lover and later take him to her place in St. already mentioned above.
Realizing all this, you begin to wonder: what is the reason for such life injustice towards young Egyptians and you ask a natural question for such cases: “Who is to blame? And not only the Egyptian, but the entire world community, mired in greed and pragmatism, is to blame. And, moreover, the most unprincipled with a low level of moral and ethical standards of behavior, thanks to this, reach the maximum level of material security and therefore become at the head of the management of the world - Power.
The way he told me about this in a fit of spiritual revelation, repeating twice about the cost of living in such a royal villa and, apparently, comparing that amount with his earnings along with tips, I realized how high and unattainable for himself the bar he set ...And I felt sorry for him. After all, then they used him, they enjoyed him, it is possible that they paid or gave him expensive gifts, then they parted and forgot ...And he was left with an open spiritual wound and an obsessive dream of a pipe. Only one thing he repeated twice: he would marry a girl who would love him passionately and crazy. At the same time, I remembered the Eastern proverb: "Marry not the beloved, but the loving. " Everything is true from a worldly and pragmatic point of view: the implementation of such a wise decision will help you to control the situation, and not you! Especially in the situation with Said, when he is young and handsome, but poor, and she is rich.
Unfortunately, there are no rich, especially women, and at the same time stupid. There is no crazy love, when feelings completely depress the manifestations of the mind ...And therefore, Said's chances are reduced to zero. But I did not disappoint him: let him live and enjoy his bright dream. After all, a person should have something bright in life, especially in dark periods to illuminate and delight the Soul.
Said loved many girls and women, but his goal is to marry a girl who will truly love him. Naturally, from among the rich and wealthy. And those in his life have not yet met. And it is unlikely to meet such a naive person. After all, with Said, even without eyepieces, it is not love and feelings that protrude outward, but mercantile calculations ...
Thus, the resorts of Egypt, although they make a significant contribution to the country's budget (the second most important after the Suez Canal), still make their negative amendment to the personal life of young Arabs and even to the moral degradation of some of them. The resort is a place of rest and fulfillment of desires. But desires are different. But if you have money, any desire can be realized. Such a rule of the service sector, which is a resort. But desires are different. For example, older ladies often come to the resort for lovemaking with young Egyptians. In some hotels in Hurghada, according to my friend from Donetsk (we rested together in the “Sand Beach Hotel” 4 *, Hurghada (July 2016), well-versed in these matters, almost a conveyor of this pleasure has been set up. In her understanding, even the translation " Hurghada, "like a goddamn city. And physically and morally exhausted on this assembly line, " Said "- who needs him?
Compliment from the hotel on your birthday.
But, as it seemed to me, and for good reason, the restaurant staff diligently tried not only because the curator of this hotel, Pani Mila, was sitting at our table, but also because ...(and this will already be the topic of a special essay - see below)
"We are poor, but proud" or the language of misunderstanding
Celebrating your birthday on the Red Sea among Ukrainians has become fashionable and even in the order of things. Yes, and every hotel in Egypt meets halfway, even this is stipulated in their advertising. And therefore, almost a day later, you notice festively set tables at dinner, a birthday cake "from the institution" and often holiday greetings with songs and dances. Over the past six months, I have participated in three birthdays, including one of them was the birthday boy himself (Mirage New Hawaii Hotel 4 *, Hurghada, (November 2016).
And in February of this year, we decided to celebrate the birthday of our friend Irina on the Red Sea at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club. Decided - done.
We took a tour for eight days and flew to Hurghada. In order not to immediately "from the ship to the ball", the birthday fell on the seventh day of rest - enough time to settle down and prepare for the celebration. Stocks of collectible Armenian cognac, French cheeses, red caviar, dry-cured horse sausages "sujuk" and other similar "food" the birthday girl grabbed in advance from Kyiv (fortunately, her son, the chief psychiatrist of the Russian Federation, who lives in Moscow, provided everything necessary). With such an assortment of drinks and snacks, it was not a shame to invite the top management of the hotel. And invited.
And here I realized that the hotel security service works at the highest level.
Before the indicated booze and “food” was put on the table, it was asked to be presented to the hotel workers - nutrition specialists who most carefully checked each product, looked at the packaging, seals and corks on the bottles, sniffed, almost on the tooth they tried it, and only after they gave the go-ahead was it allowed to put it all on the table. Naturally, the concern was not so much about our health and safety, but about the same, only in relation to the “top management”.
One moment remained behind the scenes. That middle-level restaurant manager, who announced a tariff of 400 pounds for congratulatory songs with a drum, saw a bottle of collectible Armenian cognac and asked the birthday girl: “Give me a bottle! ” She, without thinking twice, said: “Okay, come to an end! ".
Was it really a pity for a good person to give away a beautiful and original empty bottle, even with a cork, if he would try so hard to sing in her health and dance ...
A couple of hours later, towards the end of the meal, when the top curator of the hotel left, and everything was drunk and eaten, this leader of the acapella of folk songs and dances showed up for the promised bottle. By the way, I felt a little sorry for her, since I myself initially applied for her - she was very original! But what can you do, the man tried ...
The birthday girl, with her royal gesture, takes out a brandy bottle from under the table in an equally beautiful box and gives it to the Arab, who smiles all over his face. How happy we were to look at his immeasurable happiness...However, his happiness was until he took the gift of the "queen" in his hands. And then - it was only necessary to see, It is impossible to describe in words. But I will try to convey at least approximately.
More precisely, I had a flash of consciousness, from the suddenness and sensitivity of which, tears came to my eyes ...
And that's what happened. Imagine a four-star hotel restaurant, which, by the way, pulls up to all five. Around nine o'clock. Dinner, which began at 19-00, is almost over. I'm going to the food distribution area. But I don’t focus my attention, like most tourists, on the variety of delicious dishes that immediately cause an abundant secretion of gastric juice and bestial appetite, but I turn my attention to three Arabs in the impeccable, almost full dress uniform of restaurant workers who stand in each of their restaurant area and monitor the general order and the availability of certain dishes and all kinds of salads, vegetables or fruits at the food distribution counters: be it cucumbers, tomatoes or tangerines, dates.
And then I had a flash of consciousness, the spark of which was laid earlier and I mentioned this in passing in one of my previous essays. And the reason was that I turned my close attention to the appearance, face, and in general the proud camp of one of these Arabs. His thoroughbred face, figure bore the imprint of the centuries-old ancient Egyptian high culture, the beginning of which was laid by the pharaohs and the Egyptian nobility. The genes of those pharaohs were felt in this Arab. And I, subverting the factor of time, and thanks to my imagination, saw in front of me one of those ancient personalities who laid the foundations of the high culture of our world ...
And now, standing in front of me and the other two hundred tourists from Europe in the role of a servant, and, it's a shame even to think, in the role of a lackey.
And, moreover, I imagined that this “History” of world civilization and all mankind is in the service of several hundred Europeans, who, by their historical essence, are not worthy of a fingernail on the little toe of this Arab’s left foot. And this “History” must endure the antics, sometimes the swaggering behavior of tipsy nouveaux riches from their gangster or semi-gangster “history” of the 90s of the last century, who stuffed their pockets with dollars, by no means, by righteous methods. And now this "low culture" is trying to control the "high world culture", imagining itself as the elite of society. And not only here, at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club hotel in Hurghada, but also in the whole world, including in Ukraine (the example of the same former President, a former prisoner - Yanukovych), or in Russia (using the example of infinite prowess abroad of the “new Russians”, about whom hundreds of jokes are composed).
From such a truly lofty humiliation, from this vital injustice of our time, my nose began to tingle, tears came out in my eyes and flowed down my cheeks in a continuous stream ...I sobbed soundlessly ...All this flurry of a sensual storm took place inside me, outwardly manifesting itself as a barely noticeable stream of tears . With that fury of inner passions, what could I do to change outside? Except how to lay out your reasoned conclusions in this essay and try to bring them to the masses? What's the use? The world is heading towards the abyss! And I'm powerless to change anything...
I sat at a table full of delicious dishes and could not overcome myself to eat at least a piece of fragrant grilled kebab, drink cooked Ouzo or a sip of beer.
Corals and fish complemented each other and made up a single whole of this small, about 10-20 square meters of Red Sea biocenosis. And my joy knew no bounds! I am back in the real Red Sea and it has again opened its best treasures to me! And it doesn't matter that the water is not +26? C, how was it in the summer in Sharm El Sheikh, but only +21? However, I did not feel its coolness - I was warmed, oddly enough, by the beauty of the underwater world of the Red Sea. And I noticed this every time I just entered its cool waters, having previously put on a mask with a snorkel. Everyone felt this sensation of a sharp contrast between the temperature of water and air. But as soon as you go down into the water and see the underwater world, you immediately forget this difference of contrasts: some kind of switch is triggered and you are completely at the mercy of a new world for a person. You are completely in it and it is in you, and there is nothing around!
A little later, having matured, they themselves, each individually, can ensure their safety among predators in this cruel underwater world, despite their external beauty, and therefore they already arrange their lives alone or in pairs, mating with the same fish of the opposite sex.
Having made this conclusion about all sorts of dangers in the underwater world, I imagined the Red Sea in a completely different way. The ostentatious beauty of the Red Sea, which we see when diving into it or when we watch films made about it, is just its external beautiful surroundings: fish of various colors and colors, bizarre formations of coral forests, turquoise and blue color transparent, tens of meters thick water and the glare of sunlight on a sandy clean bottom ...
At the same time, the cruel truth of life of the Red Sea, which can no longer be called "red", in the sense of "beautiful", remains behind the scenes.
And therefore, to some extent, warnings of local aboriginal Arabs about a serious danger to health, sometimes even life, direct contact with the inhabitants of the underwater world of the Red Sea are perceived as savagery. I, like most people - the inhabitants of the land, do not fit in my mind at all: how this little charm in the form of an outwardly peaceful colored "aquarium" fish can be fraught with such great evil and danger to my life. And I can hardly restrain myself so as not to tenderly stroke this beautiful creation of Nature with tenderness.
Or put your hand into the forest bowls of corals and fondly touch them, as I would do on land in the thickets of grass ...Apparently, I would have a different idea of the Red Sea, as the habitat of the most wonderful in the world and at the same time peaceful creatures, if he could plunge into the night sea, when, according to the same natives, a numerous, life-threatening creature comes out of its hiding places. And therefore, for security reasons, night swimming is strictly prohibited on the beaches of all hotels in Egypt ...
But I, for research purposes, in order to know all sides of the Red Sea: both positive and negative, nevertheless somehow decide on a night dive, for example, in a bathyscaphe or in a protective and safe suit. For now, for now, I will be content with the daytime beauty of this miracle created by Mother Nature.
And this is an example of the fact that no matter how much you know Nature and discover something new in it, it will still remain completely unknown and inexhaustible ...
I was under water for only half an hour, on the strength - forty minutes, no more, but the Red Sea left deep impressions of itself - so much so that today, March 7, when I write my memoirs on the events of those days, and it has passed since then It's been two weeks since I did that micro-immersion, but the impressions, and even the sensations of the body and, especially, of the Soul, are as if everything happened today, five minutes ago. These moments of joy in communicating with the underwater world are a drop in the ocean of my life - in duration, but not in content. In my Soul, this drop occupies a huge part of it. And this despite the fact that I looked into the underwater world of the Red Sea with just a cursory, superficial glance and felt, and then, slightly, only the fish, playing with them. What about corals? - Remained completely unknown and mysterious.
Perhaps that is why corals throughout their multi-million-year history have preserved themselves as a unique marine creature, and continue to live and develop up to the present day. And, mainly, because they live in themselves, not revealing all the secrets of their existence, not allowing anyone into their inner world. Take, for example, the relationship between Red Sea fish and humans: they become so close to us, especially if they are regularly fed, and this is often what tourists do, they open up completely to humans, become almost tame. And I felt this while playing with the Surgeon fish.
With corals, it's different. I see only the external form of the coral, their different colors and the external features of each of their species. Not more.
At the same time, behind the barrier that the corals put up before themselves and the outside world, including before humans, I am sure that there is boundless beauty - and not only external visual, but also internal spiritual, sensual perception of them.
Corals are not a public creature, as it happens, a woman of easy virtue. And in order to win over the corals, after which they can reveal their secrets of their innermost being, it is necessary to have a long communication with them, by all means try to win over the corals to friendship. And for ten years, since I first saw them, having visited the Red Sea in Sharm El-Sheikh, and for nine subsequent visits, I finally began to get closer to corals, to get to know them. This is my long journey into the coral world.
All seven times of my visits to Egypt and the Red Sea, I perceived corals as something abstract, although beautiful and original, but nothing expressing a monumental creation in the world of the sea. And only on my previous, eighth visit to the Red Sea, I began to penetrate the secret of corals. And then only extinct ones, the trace of which remained on the seashore in the form of frozen limestone formations of bizarre shapes - so small in size that I could see and evaluate them only on multiply enlarged photographs. And these dead historical rarities gave me a reason to describe their fate in a lyrical form, so sensual that when describing them and later when reading them again, tears came to my eyes.
Yes, and not quite the season now for a beach holiday - tea is not summer!
Immediately in front of the main building, in the immediate vicinity, as a logical continuation of the territory of the Old "Sea Gull", there is Dolphin Beach, which means "Dolphin Beach" - a rather poetic name. Behind several rows of umbrellas with tables at their base (by the way, very convenient for drinkers and chewers), as well as comfortable sun loungers with soft mattresses, is the sea. More precisely, a long lagoon, artificially created between two bulk areas on both sides of it, far away, about a hundred meters out to sea. Luxurious two-story villas with territories closed to outsiders have been built on these bulk plots for VIPs. The lagoon is also covered with sand, and therefore, along the entire hundred-meter length, the sea here is shallow - no more than two meters. But at the end of the lagoon, at the mooring place for pleasure boats, the depth of the sea sharply increases to ten or more meters.
And on the border of the shallows and great depths, barrier buoys for swimming are installed.
The only bad thing is that for the sake of a person and his comfort, it is covered with sand, and maybe construction debris during the construction of the hotel buildings, the living world of the Red Sea and therefore in this place, as elsewhere on the coast near Hurghada, the Red Sea in its true sense , ceased to exist here ...Nevertheless, having sailed along the entire lagoon deep into the mask with a snorkel, I saw needle fish at the bottom, small flocks of translucent whitish, the color of the sand, and therefore barely noticeable, fish, and near the boats - a huge, almost half a meter flat fish and schools of larger fish, which, apparently, feed on food waste from pleasure boats, which attracts them here, despite the negative ecology of the artificial seabed for them.
revelation by the sea
In the evening.
On the very first day of my arrival at the hotel, an obligatory tribute to the Sea is my respect for him. I am sitting by the sea. Oasis Beach, on the territory of the Sea Gull Beach Club, is deserted. The sea here, unlike the Old "Sea Gull", where I was this morning, is more natural and alive ...The sea is noisy - just like in the Crimea. And this noise of the sea excites in me a burning, to the point where “tears in the eyes and tickle in the nose”, nostalgia of an emigrant for his native lands.
And not only the sound of the surf reminded me of Alushta, but also the color of the sea, and also, in part, its smell. Only here is a special, barely perceptible smell of the sea, and in the Crimea - a pronounced iodine from sea grass, which the sea throws ashore in whole heaps. And the wind picks up this smell and carries it far inland ...
Such a sea here, in Egypt, happens only in winter - from November to March. In summer, it is completely different and in no way similar to our Black: the heat is below +50?
C and calm oppress the Red Sea so much that in a sluggish and outwardly lifeless hibernation, it is too lazy to even move a wave along its surface, let alone play the appearance of a real storm.
It's been about four o'clock in the afternoon. The sun is setting. But it still warms strongly enough for the naked body to feel its fading heat. And on the other hand, in the shade, the evening coolness is already creeping up and pinching the bare areas of the body, predicting that in an hour it will already be hosting all over the body. But I don’t think about it yet, but I make the most of the good that the sea, the Sun, the rocky coast clings to me.
I relaxed, as if I had entered the stream of sensations that the Nature of the Red Sea brings to me. I am inert and passive. As an individual who turned into zero, he surrendered himself completely to the elements of the sea.
And only my mind is trying to take a mold from those inner impressions and visions that pop up out of nowhere and surprise me with their insight essence.
First of all, I feel the Sun, its warmth. And it seems to me that it tries so hard - with all its might, trying to bestow its warmth on me. So the Sun warms in our latitude in late autumn, somewhere in October in Indian summer. And he tries to warm, like the last time - before the long cold winter. Does it keep you warm in winter? Only dazzling, until the pain in the eyes, shines, reflecting from the whiteness of the snow. And here, in Egypt, in the African winter - the same periodicity of solar thermal activity, only daily: during the day it is hot, like our summer, and in the evening - exhausted, like we have in autumn.
Or these tears will shine on the monitor screen, reading from it digitally printed by me. And until the moment when my line cries, I will be silent !!!
Sea
Red sea. Egypt.
It would seem that it is the same everywhere: everywhere and always, even in winter, warm and healing, colorful fish, corals, etc. Yes, there are common signs of the Red Sea and it seems the same for all resorts in Egypt only to beginners who only fly here a couple of times. But, surprisingly, even in each hotel the Red Sea is different, moreover, it has significant differences. And I say this not unfounded, but with knowledge of the matter. Indeed, for me, the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club hotel is already the fourth in Hurghada (and five more hotels in Sharm El Sheikh are behind it). And what is most surprising, this time in this hotel the Red Sea exceeded all my expectations, both for Hurghada (I emphasize) and especially for the center of Hurghada - the Sharaton street area.
Unlike other hotels in Hurghada where I have been, in the sea of the Sea Gull Beach Club there are a lot of live corals and even three small underwater reefs, 3-5 meters in diameter at a depth of 1.5-2.0 meters and not far, twenty meters thirty, from the coast - on the sea of the Sea Gull Club Hotel, and in the lagoon of the Sea Gull Beach Resort Hotel, where the sea is covered with sand and is convenient for swimming, especially with children, not only corals, even few fish. In my opinion, these corals are preserved here only because this hotel is new and recently rebuilt, and before that this beach and the sea area were wild.
The depth of the sea here, as well as on the entire coast of Hurghada, is excellent and comfortable for swimming. In Sharm El Sheikh, almost everywhere from the shore and at a distance of up to a hundred meters - solid corals and the depth of the sea - ankle-deep - makes it impossible to even splash, especially at low tide, but it is compensated by a wonderful reef, a variety of live corals and colorful fish ...
By the way, such an acceptable depth of the sea and entry into it from the shore in Hurghada, and not from a pontoon, as in Sharm El Sheikh, attracts many tourists to use the benefits of the Red Sea for medicinal purposes. My good friend, a well-known children's writer from Moscow, thus, after sitting in the sea for hours, brought stones out of the kidneys (“El Samaka Beach” 3 *, Hurghada, (July - August 2015) But in my opinion, the healing of the sea is directly proportional to the riot of life in its depths, the Dead Sea will not be able to heal as well as the Red Sea. After all, Life gives Life, and not Death gives Life! This is logical and no one will argue with this. And the more violent life in any segment of the planet on earth or in the water, the more probable are the conditions for new types of life and the improvement of existing ones. And therefore the Red Sea has much more chances for this than any other, especially the Dead Sea.
In February, the Red Sea is relatively cool, but this year it is below +21? C was not.
You go knee-deep into the water and put on a mask and snorkel in advance, go even deeper, with difficulty perceiving the coolness of the water with your body higher and higher. As always in such cases, doubts arise: is it worth climbing into such a “chill”? But the goal to see the sea from the inside takes over and you dive, having decided to dramatically overcome the body's rejection of the discomfort of the cool water of the sea: the water is fifteen degrees cooler than the body (+21? and +36? )! For a fraction of a second, the body perceives this impact of the temperature difference, but you no longer pay attention to it. You forgot about everything in the world and with both eyes you observe a different world, a different life, different from the real one on land in which you constantly live. When you dive into cold water without a mask with your eyes closed, of course, all your attention for a few seconds, if not minutes, is focused on the sensations of the body, the body's perception of the coldness of the water.
But when you are wearing a mask, other landmarks of your attention and preferences instantly arise. The mask allows you to instantly switch to the perception of visual images of the extraordinary underwater world of the Red Sea after diving. Through the glass of the mask, as through the porthole of an underwater submersible with a wide field of view, you can see all the beauty of the underwater world. And you begin to live in this world. And you perceive it no longer with the body, but mainly with the feelings of the Soul. And not only the Red Sea. As I remember my previous dives into the underwater environment, whether it be the Black Sea or even the Dnieper, there is an irresistible interest and desire to know the unknown world, different from our ordinary one on land. The main thing is that the water is transparent, and there is always something to observe.
Here, on the Red Sea, if there are enough living corals, then there will definitely be their fellow travelers - colorful fish.
Comparing the weather conditions in January last year (“Poinciana Sharm Resort” 4 *), I can say with all responsibility that now the weather is much more favorable for the beach and sea bathing and, most importantly, there are no such brutal windstorms as then. By the way, in order for the reader to have an idea of what the January wind is in Egypt on the Red Sea, I then wrote a short story "The Old Man and the Sea Wind", similar to E. Hemingway's story "The Old Man and the Sea".
Compared to summer, when there is no wind for whole weeks and there is complete calm, now the wind blows, although small, but constantly. And even during the day it changes direction. Moreover, I noticed that the temperature of the water depends on the direction of the wind, which jumps by 1-2? C and also the air temperature, but within a wider range. So, if the wind blows from the sea, then the water and air will be warmer than when it blows from the land. And all because the Red Sea is constantly warm, and the wind drives the surface layers of water to the shore.
And this is not because I do not want to be with the sea, but simply the sea does not let me near it, it is rejected for reasons unknown to me.
So on this trip to Hurghada at the end of February 2017 - the same thing: things distract me from the sea, there are reasonable ones, but for the most part they are insignificant. For example, a restaurant - a vital necessity for my physical body, a bar - to stimulate creative activity, sleep - to restore physical and mental energy - all this takes a maximum of 12 hours ...And the remaining twelve hours? Of these twelve hours, I am only 2-3 hours daily by the sea, and only a few minutes - with the sea! After all, as they say in Odessa, there are “two big differences”: to be by the sea and to be with the sea.
You can be physically close to the sea, lie on the beach, even splash in it, but with your thought and all your essence you can be far away - thousands of kilometers, somewhere beyond the Arctic Circle in the permafrost ...And therefore, in fact, you will not here by the sea, where is your physical body, and where are your thoughts, where is your Soul. And what is the use of the fact that you flew thousands of kilometers to Egypt on the Red Sea? After all, the true essence of a person is not in the physical form, but in the inner content and in its manifestation. By the way, only then do I feel that I live as a person (more precisely, as “Ozarwek” - my new definition of a person of the future, from the word “enlightenment”), when I perceive my surroundings so deeply that tears of the sensitivity of the Soul come to my eyes.
For example, now, I am in Kyiv, three thousand kilometers from the Red Sea, but now, thinking about the sea and perceiving it very sensitively, and therefore much closer to it than when I was in Hurghada, I was sitting in a bar on disco a hundred meters from the sea and admired the dancing of young curvy girls. Then the thoughts were completely different, and I was clearly not with the sea ...
The sea, like a woman, requires attention. And without attention - it becomes a stranger and therefore will never be revealed to you.
The hotel has two beaches (although there are actually three, but the third small beach to the right of the Old "Sea Gull" is now closed and I did not manage to visit it - there is construction and capital renewal of residential buildings). The first lagoon beach is located right in front of the main building of the Old "Sea Gull" - between two artificial dams, on which prestigious two-story royal villas are built with swimming pools, external barbecue and grill ovens, gazebos and other amenities for recreation not only for the local elite, but also foreign millionaires. Their privacy zone is fenced with such a thick wall of well-groomed and trimmed two-meter bushes that it is impossible to even peep that there are nutrias. And the 24-hour security even forbids taking pictures. Therefore, I will not be able to describe these mansions in more detail.
But when I become a millionaire, and this will definitely happen, I will definitely reveal all the charm of being and relaxing in these royal villas ...
And now, without being distracted by the villas, I will continue the description of the beaches of the hotel. Sandy beach near the Old "Sea Gull", very comfortable for swimming. The depth gradually, over a hundred meters, increases to two meters. And at the exit, at the right pier, where several pleasure boats stand on the pier, the depth increases sharply to ten or more meters. The beach is clean. In the water - not a single coral - everything is covered with sand. On the one hand, this is good for the benefit of the bathers, but on the other hand, the fauna of the sea in this area is practically destroyed. I swam these hundred meters in a mask and snorkel and saw very few fish.
Only closer to the boats, where some vegetation in the form of sea grass appears at the bottom and, apparently, fish are fed with food waste from the boats, flocks of fish appear, and once even I noticed a huge fish, half a meter or more long, at a depth ...Here again I remembered about the detrimental impact of man on Nature, when a man tries to adjust everything around for his own good and pleasure, regardless of anything ...
In general, this beach is comfortable for relaxing. There are umbrella shade houses made of densely and neatly stacked bundles of dried stems, such as our reeds, without gaps, as is the case on other beaches. Sun loungers are serviceable and with comfortable mattresses - there are enough of them and choosing a comfortable place by the sea is no problem. And, importantly, everything is close.
Sometimes even this "comfort" infuriates me, as it is aimed at destroying my "pagan" essence and Nature as a whole. And that's why I preferred the beach of the Sea Gull Club hotel for my vacation. The Sea Gull Club Hotel, which is located to the left of the Old Sea Gull, was built recently and therefore the Nature of this site still bears some elements of its virginity. Especially the sea, where I discovered three coral underwater islands, about which and their inhabitants, I wrote above in the section “Sea. Fish. Corals.
The beach is also well-kept and comfortable for relaxing, like the Old "Sea Gull". What is better here, because, in addition to the elements of the virgin Red Sea, there are many restaurants of various cuisines nearby, the so-called food court, on which are compactly located: Italian, Oriental, Indian and Chinese corner.
A very interesting architectural and design solution that brings an element of life and some freedom into this closed space. But, to be honest, perhaps because of prejudice, but I did not like this pool. But it's personal. And all because, at my request to give me a room with an impressive view from the window for creativity, I was initially given room 1153 at the reception desk in the “well” of four walls, at the bottom of which there was this pool ...But for the first floor with access to the pool, as for pensioners who love peace and comfort, you can’t imagine better!
In total, the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club has five pools: a three-level pool, two pools for adults heated in winter and two children's pools - also heated in winter.
Animation
The Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club has an amphitheater for animation, but, fortunately, at the time of my visit to the hotel, it was closed for repairs.
Why “fortunately”, because from the experience of the SunConnect SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 * hotel, where I was in January, I know what kind of torture it is to sit outside in the cold wind, turned blue from the cold, for one and a half to two hours and watch the performances of animators or guest artists. Here, at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club, everything is arranged with maximum comfort: as in a variety show, you sit in the lobby at a table with a glass of whiskey, rum or, at worst, beer and watch the performance in warmth and comfort. The beauty!! ! And the fact that the hotel lobby is not an amphitheater and is not quite adapted for such events, you do not notice at all. It's just that the hotel administration found an original way of spending leisure time for vacationers in the most favorable conditions of the winter period. And the area of the lobby allows you to do this. She is huge.
In the first half with a high arch, under ten meters, as I described earlier, there is a reception, a table - the workplace of the Russian-speaking Guest Relations and tables of hotel guides, and in the second half with a low, slightly more than three meters high ceiling - a lobby bar with numerous sofas, armchairs and tables, in the center - a podium for animation. The hall is decorated in light, festive tones of beige. The columns in several rows are made in an original form and are backlit, which creates a festive mood. The low ceiling does not press, thanks to the use of various interior solutions that distract attention and create the impression of dynamics in seemingly statistical forms: here everything is in motion and pleases the eye. And the lobby bar with its round-the-clock drinks only contributes to this.
This is despite the fact that the hotel was mostly guests invited to the wedding and came from remote villages in Egypt, where not every day, as in Hurghada on the Promenade, you can see a belly dance. Just these were representatives of that part of the Egyptians who have not yet been spoiled by the current civilization. And therefore, in my opinion, a belly dance with a frank, as for Muslims, showing the bare areas of the female body, is a kind of challenge to the Koran and Sharia law - among Muslim women wrapped like dolls, from the very heels to the head in black robes of Muslim women, who have only the eyes remain alive and bright. By the way, sometimes the eyes of an Arab woman speak about much more than the naked, frank parts of the body of any other woman, including a masterfully performing belly dance.
I am convinced that it is impossible to comprehend this dance to the very depths, since with each new viewing of it, it opens up new facets that were previously hidden from me. And now, when I look at a belly dance, I, against my will, switch to its perception by the feelings of the Soul, completely disconnect from the outside world and see only the dancer and hear the music, which as one whole and alternately pass into each other. Every movement of the dancer is the music of life. And each sound of music becomes a part of its incredibly mobile and plastic body. She does not just listen to music, but listens to it in herself and the whole body plays: each part of it moves to the beat of the music and according to its own scenario. I look at the dance of an Egyptian woman and ...Oh, a miracle! I see how every cell of her body dances to the beat of the music! ..
No one will argue that a business trip to a resort is one of the most enjoyable events in life. Outwardly, a business trip to a resort is no different from a regular tour: the same selection of a country and a hotel, booking a tour through a travel agency, flight, transfer to a hotel, accommodation and ordinary life in an All inclusive hotel with three meals a day and obligatory visits to bars, the beach, the sea and fire. And even if you're lucky, which is not excluded, then with an impressive holiday romance ...
And the only difference is that with a regular tour you pay for it yourself, and with a creative business trip someone pays for it. From this moment is the most interesting in this whole process. After reading this article, each of you can organize a business trip to the resort. But there is only one small condition: the business trip must be creative, and you must be a creator or, what is the same, a creative person.
And about what really needs to be done to make everything work out, I will share from my many years of experience and the last eight creative business trips to the resorts of Egypt: to Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada.
So, if you are a creative person, then you need to find a sponsor who will finance your creative business trip. It can be any philanthropist, including ...yourself! For example. As Sergei Yesenin wrote, there is a certain “Black Man” sitting in me, who is very far from any kind of creativity and, moreover, has the opposite moral and ethical standards of behavior, compared to my creative personality. Paradoxical as it may seem, but everything is true, in accordance with the dualism of our world, when in one whole there should be both plus and minus, Good and Evil, ying and yang ...And if you cannot do without even a share of Evil in yourself, then let this The share of Evil works for Good - it pays me for a creative business trip to a resort in Egypt! No sooner said than done.
And this is the eighth time I have been going on business trips to Egypt using this system!
I want you to do the same!
Resort and creativity
I have already been at the resort for four days - half of the entire period. And I realize with horror that all my plans for the creative saturation of my current stay on the Red Sea have collapsed. I remember my January arrival in Sharm El-Sheikh (SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 * hotel) - for only five days and on the fourth day, as now, I filled with my impressions almost all the blank sheets of paper prepared back in Kyiv. And in the end, after typing on the computer, there were about a hundred pages of printed text! What now? A whole pack of sheets of paper prepared for this trip remained untouched. And therefore it contains potentially significant content, which cannot be realized until the end of my stay on the Red Sea.
All my plans for the realization of my creative potential are collapsing, which is incredibly activated in the Red Sea. And all because I relaxed and thought that eight days of the tour was too much and enough for everything: for “communication” with the female sex, and for sitting in the lobby bar at night almost until morning, sipping beer, and for aimless walking along the Sharaton street in Hurghada...Perhaps our whole life is wasted, like in the sand, leaving no trace. And we, even in our declining years, think that our whole life is ahead ...
Realizing this, I decided to spur myself on and start writing at a double pace, writing twice as many sheets for each remaining day as I had planned. And bring to Kyiv a weighty pack of sheets, covered in small handwriting. Moreover, as I know for myself, the main thing is to start the topic, and then everything will flow smoothly and non-stop, like a babbling stream. And those here, on the Red Sea, more than enough!
(Looking ahead, I will say that by the last day of my stay in the Red Sea I had written all the prepared paper.
But this is not the main thing. After this trip to the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club, I lived by the Red Sea for more than one week - this tour was so impressive for me. And I drew a lot of themes from my memories and promoted them thanks to the fact that I presented the pictures so realistically, as if I were not in Kyiv, but on the shores of the Red Sea. And, interestingly, even a couple of lines, written and interrupted on the Red Sea, gave such a capacious and significant continuation and promotion that I myself was surprised. Just as the embryo stores all the genetic information, so these couple of lines contained the full text of the finished work. This is what happens in art.
As a result, in addition to the previous entries about Egypt, I had enough material and a real opportunity to publish another book: "The Red Sea: A Corner of the Earthly Paradise"). Although there were four more hotels ahead, including three - elite ...
February 27.2017. Monday
How do I make money at the resort
I spent more than one year in Crimea, if we sum up all the weeks and months of my stay on the Black Sea, on the South Coast. He used to call on May 25, on the eve of the holiday season, and leave in September - at the height of the "velvet" season - during the summer children's holidays, as he worked on the beach (in two days) of the Cascade pioneer camp. In Crimea, by the way, he began to write seriously. “Seriously” means that you can publish what you write. And published, with a circulation of 100 to 1000 copies. Then there was the problem of selling books.
But he decided on a third tourist trip, and took a dozen of his books on a resort theme for sale. And it was a success! Especially among young people on collections of aphorisms. I understood that the hotel in which I was vacationing had a monopoly on the business on its territory, and therefore I sold my books with some apprehension. Although, by and large, I did not have any business, and I was in the role of a philanthropist - I gave away my work for nothing. Taking payment only for paper and printing services, that is, he sold his book at the cost of printing. And, even more so, on a topic close to the theme of the hotel and tourism in Egypt, with the prospect of describing the features of recreation in this hotel and publishing a book on this topic, highlighting the positive aspects and, if possible, obscuring the negative ones.
And so with the middle management of the hotel, with whom I had to deal every day, I developed a special relationship of mutual trust and respect.
But selling your own books is child's play in terms of business. Who does not know about the oriental bazaars and the art of trading on them by local residents! And therefore, as a seller/buyer of the Ukrainian market (the capital's bookstore "Petrovka"), it is not without benefit for me to learn from their experience. To do this, on my last trips, I arrange a trading mini-business for myself: I take with me the permitted in quantity and assortment, and therefore not contraband goods, and I go out with it to the oriental bazaar. And I sell, not even with the aim of earning $1-$2, but to learn from the Arabs - street vendors the art of trading with an individual client. You know it works.
And at my place, in the book market in Kyiv, where I have two outlets, I use this experience for the benefit of my entrepreneurial business. Here the subtleties of this process are not in the topic, and therefore I will not disclose, but will transfer them to the corresponding Facebook page.
February 28.2017. Tuesday
Last days on the Red Sea
The last full day on the Red Sea. For me (yes, probably for everyone), even the first late evening in the Red Sea resorts is more valuable than the last three quarters of the day. Just imagine: you just checked into the hotel, settled in and stay with you until midnight, while the All inclusive bars are open for two whole hours!
And there is still at least seven days and only one night ahead - rest on the Red Sea ...And the last day, even if the flight is late, is still crumpled and not very pleasant for rest, this is check-out at 12:00, and the problem with lunch (after bracelets are no longer fed), where to change clothes ...And in general, if the body is still near the Red Sea, then all thoughts and completely Soul are already there - at home thousands of kilometers from the Red Sea. And what about rest? ..
So, morning. I'm still at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club. Beach. Sea. I, of course, choose a beach with open sea, and not an artificial closed elongated lagoon. There is such a choice at the Sea Gull Beach Hotel. But in general, in Hurghada there is such a tradition - to make lagoons of 100-200 meters or more into the open sea by lengthening bulk piers on both edges (borders) of the hotel. And the territory of the hotel can be enlarged by arranging a beach with umbrellas and sun loungers on these wide piers (as in the El Samaka Beach 3 * hotel) or even luxury villas, as in this hotel.
Although, how else to say, the greatest impression is made on the contrast ...But the contrast is still significant, even compared to those hotels in Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh, where I previously visited. And this is with the declared “four” of the Sea Gull hotel. And, what is even more surprising, at the lowest price, which is very significant for us, Ukrainians, in our crisis, war, galloping rise in price of everything. (By the way, for eight full days with All Inclusive in a single room, I paid $240, and my friends two ladies from Brovary - only $190! one hundred dollars).
The day before I was at the SunConnect SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 * in Sharm El Sheikh (see above), and I must say that the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 * is not much inferior to this elite "five ". Even, moreover, in some moments, for example, the round-the-clock work of two bars according to the All Inclusive system, even surpasses.
And the chic lobby, with a huge area for recreation and animation in the winter, when evenings (and especially nights - my friends and I often sat out until three in the morning) are several orders of magnitude higher! This hotel is much higher than the 4 * Le Mirage New Tower hotel in Sharm El Sheikh, where I was in the summer of 2015.
It turns out that you can comfortably and cheaply relax for a week not only in 5 * in Sharm El Sheikh, but even in 4 * in Hurghada and swim every day in winter and admire corals and fish. Moreover, the sea at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 * hotel is truly "beach", and not only for its contemplation from the beach, as in all hotels in Sharm El Sheikh: the depth is constantly increasing, the bottom is sandy and at a greater there are no dangerous corals and hedgehogs on the bottom area. And the beaches are low, near the water and sandy!
In the second half of February, the weather was perfect: the water temperature was 22-23? C, the air temperature during the day reached 27? S. Only in the evening and at night could it drop to 13-16? WITH.
And after, for the same reason of distrust written on paper, in between beer-whiskey-coffee, at half past one in the night I wandered into a restaurant and had dinner (late dinner from 23-00 to 2-00), I was surprised at the efficiency of the restaurant chefs and sleep are they at all for the sake of satisfying the thirsty belly of the vacationer?
But that's not all. After all, the variety of external design of dishes (this is a whole art! ) And, most importantly, the incredible taste of dishes - you will lick your fingers - are surpassed even by many of the "five" of Egypt.
In January this year, I was surprised by the oriental restaurant on the seashore at the SUNRISE Diamond Resort 5 * hotel in Sharm El Sheikh, but here, at the Furd Kort restaurant at the Sea Gull Beach Resort & Club 4 * royal shrimps on a hot brazier, from which the smoke rose to the very ceiling, and the seafood soup served to the table exceeded all my expectations ...
There are two zoos on the territory of the hotel - I have never seen such a variety of animals anywhere, in any hotel!
And all this in the center of Hurghada! Left the hotel in the evening - and you are on the main Sharaton street with all the delights of oriental exoticism, all kinds of souvenir shops, restaurants, shops of southern vegetables and fruits ...You find yourself in the living world of seething Egypt ...
In abbreviation. Full text: "Holidays in Egypt"
https://www. facebook. com/sashasim. Egypt/
And in the book: Sasha Sim. Red Sea: Corner of the earthly Paradise. Travel notes from Egypt. - Kyiv: SIM & HAM Publishing House, - 2017. - 535 p. , illus. ISBN 966-8802-17-9
© Sasha Sim (Alexander Golovko), 2017
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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