Лето среди зимы :) Summer in winter :)

So we decided to relax this winter in a warm country, the choice fell on Egypt, the presence of the Red Sea, plus you can look at some of the most ancient structures in the world. The ticket was booked in Viking Tour. The manager turned out to be a very nice girl - Irina, picked up quite a few acceptable options, after considering each of them, we chose the Coral tour operator, the city of Hurghada and the Sunny Days El Palacio hotel (all inclusive) - 5 stars, an interesting location with a lagoon between the buildings, the ability to use the neighboring 4 star hotel Sunny Days De Mirette and normal price. Documents received in hand 2 days before the holiday. The flight was at 5.20 am, so at 3 a. m. we were already standing at the check-in counter in the brand new terminal F in Boryspil. It takes about 3.5 hours to fly to Hurghada, but when we were already over the city and impatiently waiting for landing, our plane stubbornly wound circles ... as a result, we flew 4 hours or a little more.
As soon as you arrive at the terminal, you need to fill out a visa form, you can do it yourself by paying $ 15 or give $ 17 to the tour operator and they will do it for you. In order to save money, we filled it out ourselves (you need to enter your first name, last name, date of birth, nationality and passport number). After 10 minutes we already had visas. Then we found a representative of the tour operator and went with him to the parking lot, then everyone was seated on buses. We drove to the hotel for about 20 minutes, during the trip we received the first instructions from the person in charge of the transfer (his name is Peter! and he speaks good Russian). The first impression of the city is that a year ago there were military operations, dilapidated or unfinished houses everywhere, patrols with machine guns, heaps of garbage on the streets and a lot of sand. When we entered the hotel territory, everything changed dramatically, everything was clean, there was a lot of planted greenery. We were there at about 11.
30, they immediately took our things and put them at the entrance (to be honest, it was a little scary that the suitcase would not be stolen). At the reception, they put bracelets on us and told us to wait for check-in (14.00 check-in), we came up for about an hour and were given a room, but after learning that it was on the first floor, they put $ 5 in the passport and asked for another number on the 2nd or 3rd floor with a good view and a large bed and immediately received the keys to room 1131. (I don’t advise taking rooms on the first floor at all, because there is really a courtyard, you go out to the balcony and you are already on the street, everyone is running around ). Our room (Standart) was in the right building, overlooking the sea from the sunny side. When we entered the room, we were pleasantly surprised, since everything was very neat and clean, there was air conditioning, a TV, a refrigerator, a large bed, 2 tables and 2 chairs, a safe in the closet (they cleaned the room every day, sometimes we left $ 1 a sometimes not, if they left they got some kind of surprise like a swan from a towel : ).

The only drawback I would call the toilet, which stubbornly did not want to flush anything! After a little rest, we went to try the local cuisine in the dining room (if I'm not mistaken, they have breakfast 6.30-10.00, lunch 12.30-15.00, dinner 19.00-22.00). The choice of food is quite large, at first I want to try everything, and therefore they simply collected mountains of all sorts of different things : ) After a couple of days, we already knew what we could eat and what not. It is better to eat at the opening, because all the food is still there, you can take a normal table, with cutlery and napkins, there are no special queues, the staff is friendly, often smiles (sometimes it seems to smirk). By the way, it is better to take juices in a bar on the street, where they are from packages, and not diluted as in the dining room. I got the impression that they have non-waste production there, they give sausages in the morning, and in the afternoon they already have a salad of the same sausages, the same with noodles, etc. The next day at 9.
00 we met with the hotel guide Ashraf, we immediately had to decide on all the excursions, the prices for them, alas, are not cheap ... we did not dare to order from the locals so as not to be deceived. We ordered an A class boat trip (I highly recommend, maybe not A class, but you can take it cheaper, but I don’t have anything to compare with), Cairo (about 6 hours one way, visiting the Egyptian National Museum, lunch, pyramids and a sphinx, aroma factory, papyrus factory) and Luskor middle (about 4 hours drive, valley of the dead, Hatshepsut temple, lunch, aroma factory, Karnak temple). It is very annoying that on every excursion they take you shopping and try to sell something. It's better not to buy anything there, you can find it all cheaper on the main Sheraton street (by taxi from the hotel $ 2).
There are both shops with a fixed price and where you need to bargain, the initial price for which thread of garbage they can put is $ 50 and the real cost will be $ 2-3, first ask the price. The vendors there are very, very, very clingy, so be patient. It is more profitable to buy in local pounds (in the bank 1$ = 5.8 pounds), and they count as 1$=5$. The guides speak good Russian, they tell interesting stories, but there is not enough time to see everything, for example, in the same museum or near the pyramids. It’s better not to mess with local bidouins, they only have thoughts in their heads how to deceive you, don’t give them cameras, don’t sit on camels, don’t take gifts, they demand money for everything. The weather throughout the rest was warm (about 21-24 degrees during the day and 16-17 at night), but the wind was always blowing, the sea is very clean and very salty (make sure of this when you swim with a mask and fins).
In the evening you can go to a disco, but we never got there, but in the nearby Sunny Days De Miretta there is an excellent hookah bar (better than in El Palacio), where Doctor Hookah (as he calls himself) for $ 3 will organize a great evening for you.


Of course, I missed a lot of things in the story, but overall the rest was great! I advise you to go!

With uv. Oleg : )