Egyptian Album.
There is no need to convince anyone that it is good to have a good rest and it is necessary to have a good rest, this is already clear. So there were circumstances that the decision to spend this vacation in Egypt arose spontaneously and it matured almost overnight. We called the tour operator, arranged a meeting, met, they picked up an option that was suitable for the price and that's it. We flew.
The flight was not long, flying on the A-320 only 3.5 hours: an hour over unfortunately cloudy Ukraine, then under the right wing of the plane, the Saki estuary flashed among the clouds and then half an hour over the Black Sea, the Turkish coast, mountains covered with dense forest and another half an hour we saw Antalya and the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Further the Mediterranean Sea and soon the yellow sands of Egypt appeared, the Nile meandering like a huge anaconda and Cairo in its arms, tiny pyramids on the left bank of the great river. All this is a majestic and unforgettable sight from a height of 10.5 thousand meters.
Half an hour later, the plane began to descend sharply and numerous hotels located on the shores of the Red Sea opened up to the gaze. The imagination of the architects evokes a wave of enthusiastic exclamations from the audience - not a single repetitive building, the shape of the pool, a bizarre contour formed by palm trees swaying in the wind ...Now the plane has already run along the concrete of the Hurghada airport, taxied to the parking lot and a hot wind rushes through the door that opened after the plane stopped , filling the body not only with warmth, but also with excitement from the anticipation of the holiday, meeting with another unfamiliar world. At the airport we pay 16 dollars for a visa (the tour operator promised 15 dollars each), by the way, only those who arrived from AnexTour paid 16 dollars, fill out immigration coupons, while brushing aside the annoying offers of local comrades to speed up the process of passing through passport control for an insignificant bribe.
We pass through passport control quite quickly, we get our luggage and in an organized flock we move along the route indicated by the guides of “AnexTour” to the bus. The air conditioner works in the bus and it saves from the sudden heat. After everything is loaded we go to our hotel. The road goes through wastelands littered with construction and household waste, along the way, the skeletons of unfinished hotels are often found. 11 kilometers on almost perfect coverage to the unusual ear of oriental music rushing from the receiver and here we are at the hotel. We fill out the documents at the reception, put bracelets on our hands, identifying us as living in this hotel, and invite us to dinner, since our rooms have not yet been fully cleaned and prepared for settlement.
The restaurant impresses with the variety and quantity of food.
Lunch consists of at least three types of side dishes (potatoes, rice, pasta (macaroni)), cooked according to different recipes, to choose from poultry, beef, fish with various delicious sauces. There are soups, a wide variety of salads, fruits (apples and pears cut into slices and soaked in sugar syrup), dates, bananas, oranges and lemons. Very tasty bread, rolls, cakes, pastries. Tea, coffee, cocoa, juices, beer, wine, brandy, tequila...You can take everything in any quantity and combination yourself to your heart's content.
Everywhere the friendly faces of the attendants, absolutely everyone smiles, nods their heads, winks, asks where you came from, how you are doing, how you feel. At first, this is somewhat annoying, apparently the soviet upbringing affects.
After dinner, so you don’t want to move, we get the keys and check into the room.
The room is clean, bright, about 25 square meters in area, with a huge bed, a huge mirror, a TV, a safe, a small refrigerator in which there are 2 bottles of 0.6 liters. water and a spacious closet compartment and of course air conditioning. There are 2 comfortable armchairs in the corner under the floor lamp. A balcony overlooking the sea and a hotel under construction next door, where mountains were visible from behind the construction site, later we had the pleasure of admiring the most magnificent sunsets, watching the sun sink into the mountain range, sending farewell rays to the cooling sand, the walls of buildings, painting them in incredibly beautiful colors. On the balcony there is a table and two wicker chairs.
Having received beach towels, we go to the beach. We pass by a pool with a bar in which the Germans are lazily splashing, chatting and sipping beer. Then we cross the entire territory of the hotel, which is replete with greenery.
Neatly trimmed shrubs, palm trees, giant ficuses, the very ones that are found in offices and state institutions in tubs grow here right out of the ground, cycads, bright green lawn grass - all this is framed by figured stone paths.
On the beach there are a large number of umbrellas with low screens woven from rattan, under each umbrella there are 2 sun loungers with soft mattresses. There is also a fairly large pool with sea water, next to a bar, you can take drinks without leaving the water. The water in the pools is chlorinated, so we tried to swim in the sea. The beach is equipped with comfortable steps for entering the water, to the place where you can swim, you had to walk a decent distance knee-deep in water. The water is unusually warm and clear, there are no waves, you can see scurrying flocks of fish and dead corals.
The path to the depths is fenced and cleared of corals, it is quite difficult to walk on them and it is almost impossible not to get hurt. Those who wish to wander among the corals wear special coral slippers on their feet. In the city you can buy for 5-6 dollars, in a hotel - 10.
Having swum to our heart's content in almost bitter water from salt, we return to the hotel at sunset, change clothes for dinner. During the settlement, we were given a leaflet with the basic rules of stay, where, among other things, it was recommended to respect and dignity and come to dinner not in shorts and other beachwear, but in something more decent. Again, we gorge ourselves and tired of the flight and experienced first impressions, we go to bed.
