It's been almost two years since our vacation in Egypt and I'm still writing down my impressions. Either I was too lazy to do it earlier or that country truly enchanted me so much that I can still recall everything in detail. Honestly, both are true, I have to admit, but that's also the beauty of traveling. Even years later, you can remember and share all the interesting moments as those have happen yesterday.
I will wrap up this story about with this blog and I'll leave you some links to the previous parts that I posted in different communities [before I figured out how Hive actually works and that Worldmappin is the right place for stories like this]. 😊
We arrived in Hurghada after about a four-hour bus ride from Luxor. What we could see from the bus as we approached the place didn't impress us at first, we immediately wanted to go back to Cairo. :) I'm completely honest. When we got there, it was the same feeling. Slightly more colorful and shiny shop windows on the main street stood in huge contrast to the trash everywhere around, even right in front of five star hotels, which was still a shock to us. To be fair, our country - Serbia isn't exactly a country with a strong awareness of environmental care either, we're shocked by things here too.
Our first day was reserved for exploring the surroundings. We got pretty discouraged when we realized there was nowhere nearby where you could freely approach the sea and walk along the shore. Nope, nothing like that. "Montenegro, Greece, our dearest brothers, all is forgiven." ☺️
On the second day, we paid for a day pass ticket at a Sunrise resort. 25 euros per person, which was about the standard price everywhere at the time. We had access to the beach, pool, sunbeds, towels, food, water, coffee and juices... It was nice, not expensive, everything was tasty, but again somehow a small stretch of beach, a small pool, enough for two or three hours to look around, take a dip, grab a bite and then you are bored. That's when we confirmed to ourselves that it was a good thing we didn't book an all-inclusive package, we're just not that type of tourists.
In the evening, we went for a walk. Their marina is soo beautiful, especially at night when everything shines and reflects in the deep dark blue sea. We sat in a Havana pub, sipping cocktails, really cool place, totally relaxed atmosphere, the waiters were excellent. That's where we tried shisha for the first time. Nothing spectacular, but interesting for a first try and something completely unfamiliar to all of us.
On the third day, I got "the pharaoh's revenge" (that's what I found on Google how tourists call it, hihi xD). Sensitive stomach, probably because of the ice in the cocktail the night before, so that day was also for lying around and watching movies. A couple of Netflix accounts were still logged in, thank you, wonderful people, previous guests.
On the fourth day, we decided to give a public beach a chance, one nearby. Entrance was 90 pounds, which is like 200 of our dinars or 1.6 euros per person, basically nothing. The path to the beach literally goes like this, no lies:
-> from the main street full of signs in Cyrillic like "Миша одежда, добра цена" - Misha clothing, good price... everything tailored to Russians, you enter a short, muddy alley with a strange smell, then pass through a fully equipped amusement park that probably hasn't been operating for a while, go past three abandoned buildings, between a warehouse of toilet bowls and granite tiles (I am not kidding, it really was like that) and then you end up at the beach. And the beeeeeach - amazing! <3 You wouldn't believe it.
Everything clean, no trash, the mattresses on the sunbeds super soft. Yes, they were old and grayish, but they were leather, so you figure they can't hold dirt like fabric ones. You put your towel over it and it's perfect. At the beach bar, three guys working there were incredibly kind, they adjusted the sunbeds, moved them wherever you wanted, didn't ask for tips, prices were the same as for locals, no difference.
No crowds, just a few local families and a couple of tourists besides us. On both sides, beaches three times smaller belonging to some hotels, same water, worse sunbeds... nothing makes sense...
On the fifth day, we booked a trip to Orange Bay. It was really nice on the boat, the ride itself, the sunbathing, the delicous fod we had for lunch. We didn't dare to try snorkeling, which is actually the whole point of the trip to that island. We thought we'd be swimming there when we arrive, but in reality, it's just a stop for Instagram photos, people literally wait in line to take pictures on giant swings. The water is extremely shallow for like a kilometer from the shore, and you can't walk to a normal depth to swim. Don't ask how I know, I tried. 😅
Sixth day - quad biking, 25 km to some kind of Bedouin village in the middle of the desert where they have a well-rehearsed "acting crew", but they are cuuute. One woman makes those thin flatbreads, kids light fires using camel dung, others prepare tea for you and so on. Everyone knows it's not real village, but we all kind of pretend it is. The ride through the desert itself was really cool, especially for us since it was our first time, but the quads are pretty beat up. They don't maintain them at all, every second one has faulty brakes and at some point oil starts spraying from the side, so watch your bare legs, I got burned.
In the evening, we went out again. Recommendation for The Blues at the marina, every other night they had live rock and blues music. 😍
Seventh day, we went back to that same beautiful public beach, packed for the return and left that day for buying souvenirs. We kind of messed up there, because we didn't really feel like shopping that day but we had to buy some fridge magnets. At 2 a.m. we boarded the plane, then via Istanbul back to Belgrade. ☺️
If you'd like to read about our adventures in Cairo and Luxor, here are the links:
It's a bit late as I'm writing this, so I forgot to add the most important thing: the sea is truly beautiful! I've never seen that color of water anywhere before, and those who went snorkeling say the underwater world is even more beautiful and magical. It's worth going just to spend the whole day on the beach and in the water if that's your thing, it's really worth it.
And yeah, one more thing. It was a bit disappointing for me, I expected fine reddish sand, almost like powder, but it's not like that. It's more like classic fine shingle sand with small yellowish stones, although it's still beautiful and different to see. <3
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