From the moment I started traveling, I immediately realized that “vegetable tourism” is not for me. I perceive any journey as an adventure and allow myself to lose 7/9/14 days for absolute idleness in restaurants and on the beach it seemed to me sacrilege. However, sometimes the body needs such rest, and therefore I began to perceive trips to the “beach” countries as the “inevitable evil” that I periodically allow into my life))
I chose Egypt for my new trip. The reasons for the selection will be discussed below.
It is appropriate to say here that I usually organize my trips myself and don’t trust such a responsible business to intermediaries, but this time a standard package tour was purchased (operator: “Coral”; host: “Odeon”). Since, judging by the news reports, the situation in Egypt was not the most favorable for independent movements around the country, and therefore such a trip threatened with certain troubles. If I was driving alone, then perhaps this would not stop me, but it was wrong to endanger my chosen one. In order to reconcile the pleasant with the useful (desire for adventure and knowledge of the country - with the need for a safe rest), it was decided to use the services of intermediaries. Strict organization and established service in this case promised a higher level of security. Looking ahead, I will say
Report Content:
Section I: Hotel Report.
Section II: report on the trip to Cairo (Antifacts of antiquity; Cairo Museum; Pyramids and other buildings in Giza ...).
Section III: a report on a trip to Luxor (Artifacts of antiquity; Karnak Temple; Colossi of Memnon; Temple of Hatshepsut; Valley of the Pharaohs ...).
Section I: Report on the Melia Sinai Hotel.
The hotel has 5 * and is the "younger sister" of the larger hotel Melia Sharm. The territory of the two hotels is not divided and is made in the same style and design.
Melia Sinai - for me, as a staunch hater of "vegetable tourism", seemed like a normal hotel. In terms of number of rooms, service, food, territory, beach, pontoon, sea, etc. - The hotel completely suited me. It is more than adequate for its price. Even more likely it is underestimated, because it is unlikely to be inferior in something substantial to its more expensive "brothers."
A feature of the hotel is its large territory, on which mainly two-story houses are located. The main body is also quite low. In my opinion, this is an advantage of the hotel, but there are also negative aspects associated with the fact that, despite the fact that the hotel is actually located on the first line, from the separate buildings (Villas) of the hotel far enough to the sea. Therefore, it is worth tormenting yourself with the choice of a convenient location of the room when checking in. We chose the number we liked only on the third attempt. By tradition, for a start they offer the worst number, counting on getting a “bakshish". If you are persistent, you can get a good room with a sea view and a convenient location on the territory, which we managed to do.
Nutrition: It is quite decent and varied. If you don’t go to the Egyptian hotel’s all-inclusive food system and don’t rely on fine dining, then most of the food should suit the hotel. Perhaps a bit weak desserts. But I think this is my subjective opinion based on expectations. All problems in life because of expectations :) they blame all disappointments)
Get rid of expectations - we will become happy)) (psychology rule :))
Beach: Very specific, due to parts of the coral reefs on the shore remaining after low tide.
But since it would still be impossible to enter the water from the shore, this only creates certain inconveniences for the aesthetic perception of reality, no more))
Sea: The most valuable quality of a hotel is its coral reef. A large number of corals of a wide variety of colors and species create an amazing underwater ensemble. But the main parts in it are of course performed by fish, of which there are a lot of them. The pontoon is very small and comfortable. It’s a little inconvenient that only the left part of the pond is enclosed by the buoys for swimming. But if you do not interfere with the movement of boats, then it is possible to swim in the opposite direction (where there are fewer people, but a richer underwater world))).
Talk about the shortcomings of the hotel is possible only in the context of the staff, or rather even its "eastern organization". These shortcomings are not significant, but I will mention them in order for the following tourists to have less worries :)
I have already mentioned the habitual desire of workers to offer the most noisy rooms on the first floor, as well as how this problem is solved : either “bakshish” or polite persistence and “the main rule of a thief”)).
Also very leisurely staff and in the event of any breakdowns in the room. But these shortcomings are more than replaced by the responsiveness of other members of the staff team. So also no offense))
The only one who was upset at the hotel is the hotel guide from Coral. We were extremely interested in an excursion to Luxor and we immediately booked it at the first meeting, since it is possible to get from Sharm to it only by air flight, and for this all travel agencies have one day a week - Wednesday. What was our surprise when we returned on Wednesday at 02:00 a.m. and hoping to leave at the airport for a tour at 04:00, we saw a note in the door with information about canceling our tour (with the time when the note was left: 00: 28). Calling the guide back we never received a sensible answer about the reasons. And only the next day from another guide they learned that the tour was postponed for exactly one day (at the same time, representatives of Coral made every possible reference to the transfer due to the fault of the airline). Considering that,
Раздел ІІ: КАИР (ПИРАМИДЫ и АРТЕФАКТЫ опровергающие консервативную версию о способах строительства древних египтян).
I have been studying Egypt not so long ago, about 1.5 years. But given that the search for information sources on a topic of interest in the modern world is very simplified, even for this short time I briefly studied the main positions, theories and versions regarding the history of one of the very first and at the same time great local civilizations of our planet. I studied more deeply and in detail those sources whose conclusions I personally thought were more reasoned with a superficial acquaintance. An analysis of such a large amount of material inevitably leads not only to a fascination with the country and its history, but to a certain “getting used to the role”, to the fact that thoughts and even sometimes dreams about a topic of interest to you begin to accompany everywhere. The brain independently observes various details in everyday life, which he previously did not attach importance to and projects them on certain conclusions in Egypt: for example, stone processing technology, the possibility of loading mechanisms, the possibility of trucks carrying oversized cargo, etc. All this led to the accumulation of so many questions that it was simply necessary to go to Egypt))
The tour operator with whom we flew had, like all others, an excursion to Cairo. At the same time, it cost quite inexpensively. But, according to our hotel guide, the Cairo Museum was not included in this tour (supposedly because of the danger of unrest). Therefore, I had to look for a similar tour from other operators. The most expensive was at Pegasus (80 dollars per person). We chose her :) The reason for this was the good reputation of Pegasus, our unwillingness to look for other options, and also because we were promised the best guide to Cairo :)
The representative of Pegasus showed a high level of corporate ethics and refused to sell us a tour without Coral’s consent. Our conversation, the same hotel guide, who did not object to such a development of events and also very well recommended the Cairo guide “Pegasus”, was called for a conversation. We ourselves were already wondering what kind of guide it was so wonderful))
Although initially I was not going to listen to the guide at all, because I had heard about their poor preparation and knowledge of the material, but such good recommendations made me expect to meet with the guide with interest and gave hope that it would be possible to hear something new, interesting, well-reasoned or the most relevant about new excavations, finds in Cairo, Giza, the features of the construction of six real Pyramids, etc.
Itselfexcursion to Cairo from Sharm El Sheikh begins in the area from 00:00 - 03:00 hours. As a rule, guides vow that the travel time is no more than 6 hours. The real state of things suggests that we left the hotel at exactly 02:00 (at the same time, we got on a full bus, barely finding empty seats, and therefore it is possible to assume that the bus began to collect tourists around 01:00), we arrived to our first destination, the Cairo Museum, at 10:30. That is, the travel time was exactly 8.5 hours. Considering that we traveled back along freer roads and our journey was almost 8 hours, I must say that this time is quite usual for such a route. So keep this in mind when planning your excursions.
But if it would be necessary to travel more time, then of course this would not stop me :) since the only surviving from the ancient wonders of the world certainly deserves any sacrifice and effort))
But first, we were waiting for a meeting with a guide who got on our bus in Cairo and told us various tales, trying to be interesting and show his remarkable humorist abilities. It did not work out for him. Introducing Uncle Misha, this Egyptian old man Ahmed, clearly focused on typical representatives of "vegetable tourism", who are completely uninterested in history, architecture and other topics that are difficult to understand on vacation. Therefore, to get at least some useful information about those same history, architecture, etc. (all that Egypt is famous for and what makes it special and unique, what made it Great forever ...) - from the guide was almost impossible. After 15 minutes of the “excursion”, it became clear that Uncle Misha did not choose the manner of communication and the method of presentation of the material because he was trying to guess the mood of the majority, but only because the history of Egypt and the peculiarities of the construction of both the pyramids and the other most complex and unique structures of Egypt, he knows very poorly. Therefore, it is simply not able to tell something new to someone who has read at least the school curriculum of the history of Egypt. Moreover, Uncle Misha was often quite seriously mistaken in dating and other important details. It became clear that what I had been told so much was really confirmed and Egyptian guides very often know less than many of our tourists who are interested in the history of Egypt. For ours - joyfully, for the Egyptians - ashamed. But this only confirms the theory that the modern population of Egypt has very little in common with its legendary ancestors. So we take this last-minute tours from the International Travel Company Geography.
It became clear that in order not to lose the opportunity to touch the history of Egypt and fulfill the task set to find the traces left by ancient civilizations that existed during the time of Ancient Egypt (or before it), it will be necessary to independently search for the most interesting objects for inspection. It was important to win (beg) the maximum time to visit the most important places. Therefore, the first thing I did was ask the guide to take into account that I plan to visit the King’s Camera in the Khufu Pyramid (Cheops). Despite the fact that Uncle Misha, with obstinacy worthy of the best use, repeated for everyone that it’s not worth going to this cell, because it costs a lot (almost $ 20), and it’s hard to go up and what .... (!!!!) ... there’s nothing to watch! (I quote him verbatim: "... Granite stones are around and that's it. There is no gold, no jewelry, no mummies ... nothing interesting. ” (!!!) And this is said by a person who calls himself a historian!). What ended the saga with a visit to the Tsar’s camera, read below, but for now I’ll talk about what I managed to see in the Cairo Museum.
To get started, about how the tour itself goes: Leaving the bus, the guide slowly collects everyone and says that we have a little less than 1.5 hours to inspect the entire museum. Then, having gathered a group near the fountain, he distributes headphones to everyone with a sound-transmitting device, through which he conducts an excursion. After that, he teaches everyone to use this device for a long time and only then leisurely puts everyone in the queue, where tourists are checked for the presence of photo and video equipment (which they will certainly select).
Understanding how this will all happen, we received the headphones, immediately broke away from the group and went to the museum on our own. At the same time, while we were on the ground floor and looking for artifacts we were interested in, we could listen to what Uncle Misha was broadcasting at a distance (once again we were disappointed by the poor quality of his excursion). But the important thing is that we were already face to face with unique artifacts of antiquity, each of which in itself is a unique monument of all human history, a unique trace of the development of civilization and often a work of art. We had the opportunity to see a unique collection of “living” examples of how one of the first local civilizations known to us was developed. But we saw many of these exhibits earlier in photographs and in films, and therefore looked for traces.