We left for Hurghada after school on Thursday. When we arrived at the Cairo airport the departure hall for our flight had changed. The person at the information desk told us to go hall 4 (we were in hall 1). He said it was a 2 to 3 minute walk from hall 1 or we could take a taxi (which we thought was kind of unusual). It turns out that hall 4 was a good 10 to 15 minute ride by shuttle bus. Because of the Eid, many people were flying to either Hurghada or Sharm and they set up a special departure hall for that. The hall was crowded and typically chaotic. There were no signs or announcements telling when the buses were loading up to take passengers to the planes – people milling all around and then the doors open and everyone rushing through.
The flight lasted a little less than an hour. When we arrived, there were many taxi drivers lined up to take people to there hotels. Our hotel is located in Makadi Bay (about 30 km from the airport). I told a couple of drivers where we wanted to go and they both said they would take us there for 150 LE because they told us the hotel was 65 km away. We walked away and one came back and we settled on 100 LE (still a little high but it was late and we wanted to get to the hotel). As we got in, he told us we had to pay 30 LE for the airport parking. We told him it was his responsibility as he had agreed on 100. We argued back and forth on the trip to the hotel and then he told us, he wanted and additional 20 LE for his trouble. We reminded him again that he agreed to 100 and also that his 65 km wasn’t correct. Finally as we got out, we paid the 100 LE and he drove away. The ride by the way was an experience as he was all over the road.
The resort is part of a large complex with several resorts and shops sharing the same beach on the Red Sea. There are numerous pools and all sorts of recreational activities for children and adults (billiards, theatre, table tennis, fitness areas, volleyball, golf, tennis, shopping areas, soccer, etc). Our resort really caters to families and there were numerous activities for kids (playgrounds, arts, and of course water activities.) Since it is all-inclusive, the meals, drinks and snacks are included in the cost of staying there. The grounds are very well kept and it seems like you are in a garden as you walk the grounds. No matter where you were at, it was just a short walk to another pool or refreshment area. Meals were good and the staff was very friendly. The beach was a 5 to 10 minute walk from our area of the resort. The water was clear and fish were within plain view no matter where you were at.
Our stay at the resort was very relaxing – because of the size of the area, it never seemed very crowded although there were many people there. This resort really caters to the German crowd. Not once did we run across anyone who was from the US. Very few spoke any English. The grounds were beautiful. Trees, cacti and flowers everywhere along with green grass (something we do not see a lot of in Egypt). Perhaps due to all of the flowers, we saw butterflies for the first time since we have been here. In addition, there were numerous mourning doves on the grounds. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky and temperatures in the 80’s during the day and cooling down at night. If anyone is looking for a great family place to visit – this is it. However if travelers come to Egypt and only stay here, they do not get a true picture of what Egypt is like. I guess that is why we enjoy living in Alex right in the heart of a typical neighborhood and experience what the culture is really all about.
We arrived back at Schutz Monday afternoon around 5:00. Since there is still one more day of holiday, the kitchen staff was off yesterday so Pat and I ventured out to San Steffano to grab a bite to eat. The crowds were awful – probably because of the Eid. Few festivals in the Muslim world are anticipated with greater delight than Eid el-Fitr. It is this festival that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The food court in the mall had about three times the number of the capacity of the area with people (primarily kids) pushing and shoving to get to the counters to order their food. We ordered and took our food home as there was no place to sit and the noise level was deafening.
