HOLIDAYS IN EGYPT

In 2009 I went for the second time to Hurghada in Egypt, together with my friend Chantal. At that time we still had a time sharing apartment and I had asked for an apartment in Hurghada. We got an apartment in the Hotel Regina, which I guess doesn't exist anymore.

It was in the middle of the town and when we arrived there tired from flight and a bit surprised by the surroundings, I thought the driver was wrong, we were suddenly in a jumble of honking cars, loud music and a lot of hustle and bustle ! 



Where is the red sea ?? I almost got a nervous breakdown, when I imagined  to stay 2 weeks in this loud mess.

Reluctantly we entered the hotel and found ourselves in a beautiful entrance hall and almost in another world !




From the reception we could see the beach and the sea ! Was I happy !



From outside our apartment looked very nice too. The inside was funny. My bed broke the first evening, in the kitchen (which fortunately we never used) the electric wires hung out of the wall, the TV dated from the first World War and the furniture was used up. Apparently it is not a country to go for time sharing apartments, the hotel rooms were completely different and rather luxurious. Anyway timesharing doesn't exist anymore.

But then sitting on our terrace in the morning for a cup of coffee, suddenly a huge truck arrived and sprayed I don't know what on everything ! It stunk terribly we almost suffocated.



We quickly escaped into the room, and when the smoke slowly disappeared we hurried to the beach ! Of course I asked what this spray was and they told me that it was against the mosquitos, that stung the people and that itched horribly. This spray was supposed to be the only mean that lasted for a long time.

They sprayed three times per day, early morning, when we had lunch and in the evening. It helped probably, because the mosquitos didn't like us but this was not the case of everybody.

Meanwhile all this has changed, and they use a more environment friendly spray which doesn't smell.




In a mosque, we got nice green coats !





Linking to Linda.G.Hills SOCS - Spray

FRIDAYS FAVE FIVE

All good things come to an end, and our last week had started.




In not even two days the tent for the Christmas and New Years festivities were finished.



While we went to the big shopping mall Cleopatra, we saw Christmas decorations on the street. The locals or tourists, just enjoy the funny father Christmas, the beautiful fake Christmas trees, the garlands and the lights



We bought some bits and pieces for Christmas or just as gifts there were such beautiful things which you don't find in Europe or other Western countries.



I watched a young man who filled in glass bottles with colored sand and made little camels or other things with the sand. Amazing to watch that, I had seen it already but it always surprises me how they do it.



In our hotel too each day we discovered more decoration. The Christmas tree hadn't arrived yet, they had ordered a new one apparently.

On our last two evenings Nicole and I watched an Oriental Show in the evening and one where couples from the hotel had to do funny things.



This was a dancer on stilts, it looked just beautiful when he canced



Then a very nice belly dancer





A Dervich who whirled around



and the couples, where the woman had to make a mummy out of her husband with ... toilet paper ! I assure you it's really very funny. An English couple won.

On the last day there was again a fruit festival, this time with strawberries, ! Delicious.



These strawberries taste the sunshine and the other fruits too !

And then we had to leave. Our flight was only at 8.30 pm so we had the whole day at the beach, but we stayed at the pool not to import tons of sand with us in our suitcases. I had asked if it would be possible to keep one room until 5 pm, and of course I got it, I am such a good client !

The bus picked us up at 6 pm and we said good bye to Hurghada.



Last view out of my window.

The flight was quiet without airholes and we arrived punctually at 10 past 1 am in Brussels, were the streets were white with frost ! Our taxi was waiting for us and drove us home. I was in bed at 3.30 am !



And here is my view this morning ! Fortunately the sun is shining but it is cold !! So I feel a little upside down, half here, half in Egypt and I am dressed for the north pole !

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Belly dancing in Hurghada, Egypt






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And today my holidays in this wonderful place are finished. I fly home this late afternoon



Good bye to my winter residence, to the blue sea, the blue sky and ..... my love Oscar !!

A BALANCE FOR WEIGHT AND ANOTHER BALANCE

Fortunately I don't belong to women who climb on the balance every day to see if they have put on a few grams and then for a week go on diet to get rid of them. I am lucky, I eat what I want but it can happen that sometimes my jeans have "shrinked" ! Then I too check my weight and usually it's not grams but kilos ! Not a real drama, I make an apple cure, that means I eat only apples during the day, usually 6, for a few days and my jeans fit again.



Here on the beach you can watch women who I am sure if they step on a balance will break it. They would need to sit on two chairs because one thigh is as big as my two together. I wouldn't say anything, it could also be a disease but what is not nice at all to see is, that especially these women wear the most narrow bathing suits or even bikinis (I didn't even know that bikinis exist in this size) instead of wearing something large.

Some of them don't know their size either because usually they are too small so that you are afraid that the huge bosom would fall out of the bra in the next seconds. Not to talk about the rear view which shows more than you want to see. Sometimes I pity them, but when I see what quantities they eat only for breakfast, I think it would be enough for a normal person for the whole day !

A balance is dangereous for some people and a comfort for others, but finally at the end as long as everybody is happy and healthy the balance doesn't matter ! 




Temptations !

I also take the opportunity to update my holidays in Egypt.

I don't know what happened, but when I got up and went to the bathroom, I saw blood on the tiles. I looked at myself couldn't find anything, hadn't killed anybody, and finally realized that I had a cut  under my feet in the heel. I called my friend who came with disinfectant and a plaster. It hurts a bit when I walk and I have to tip toe on one leg. Finish to go to the beach because of the sand so I moved to the swimming pool.



That's very nice there too, I could observe what was going on, water checking and general checking by the manager, people laying in the sunshine or swimming.

When I got back to my room I saw some men from the personal busy with decorating the entrance hall of the hotel !



I greeted a Father Christmas in his slide and a man was busy with a huge light wreath, which later hang down from the ceiling.I am sure tomorrow they will work on a Christmas tree. Muslim or not, they had a lot of fun with doing it together with the guests. It was a real Christmas ambiance.



For supper we had international food, Chantal and Nicole look not so convinced, but it was very good a lot of choice and a nice supper.

Later in the evening for the first time I went with Nicole to see a show ! For once we were not so tired.



We waited for a South American dancing group



they were great ! and here I can talk  about another kind of balance ! Unbelievable !



The girls also performed dances which involved a lot of balance. We really had a nice evening.



More participants here Five Min Friday Balance

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

Now we are more then a week here in Hurghada and are really chilling out. Every day we are at the beach at 9 am, after a nice breakfast, and around 11 I always go for a swim, Chantal and Nicole prefer to snorkel. I swim like a girafe with my head far out of the water because I hate water in my face.

The water is also so salty that it carries you without swimming ! You just lay on the water ! It's great.
Each day the animation team tries to entertain us with more or less success, but one day we had a fruit festival, which was very colorful !



An "orchestra" arrived and played local music



A buffet was dressed beautifully with fruit juices and fruits ! It really looked beautiful.



We ate and drank and it tasted delicious. The main cook of the hotel is the man below right, and as he is so handsome, he has a lot of success with the female guests ! They are whirling around him like mosquitos ! It's funny to observe them, he only has to choose !

I prefer another kind of holiday love ! So kind and cute ! It's Oscar the camel and I think he loves me too !



I bring him apples, oranges and bread and he thanks me blowing in my neck or just nibbling on my fingers with his soft lips. When his owner saw that we went so nicely together, he allowed me to sit on Oscar !



and Oscar sat still and I swang myself in the saddle without help ! Was I proud ! My old bones didn't let me down. I think that's thanks to my daily yoga exercises, that keeps me flexible. People were gathering around us and applauded !



It had cooled down a bit so we took the opportunity to do some Christmas shopping in the Cleopatra Shopping mall.

It is about 15 km far from our hotel and we had to take a taxi. But taxis are so cheap because the fuel price compared to what it costs at home is unbelievable.

The nice thing in this mall is for those who don't like to haggle, all prices are fix. I don't bother, but it takes more time.The girls bought jewelry and spices etc. After two hours or more, we all were exhausted, hired a taxi and returned to the hotel.

The taxi driver drove us as if the devil was behind him, horning all the time and passed right and left or in the middle so we thought the rearview mirrors would break off. He zigzagged through the traffic and the girls were screeming sometimes. I found it funny, the others not!




Each evening when I return to my room I find another masterpiece made out of towels on my bed. !

It's nice to be so spoiled !

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

A DRIVE THROUGH HURGHADA - EGYPT

Today is the last day of my holidays in Hurghada ! And while it gets colder and colder at home it gets warmer and warmer here. Acccording to the locals it is a very unusual  warm February, normally it is the coldest month of the year which means temperatures around 20 to 25°C.



The  view from our hotel to Hurghada had never been so sharp and clear..

Our French friend whom we had met here 2 years ago, goes each time when she is here to the Copt church which is the Egyptian version of the Orthodox church. I had never been there and of course was curious to see it.

We took a taxi from the hotel, and the driver was well known by our friend. So he drove us around through Hurghada and I could finally take some pictures of the city !



Restaurants, shops and apartments



The very beautiful Mosque of Hurghada



The city has changed very much and became real modern. Far away from the little town I knew 10 years ago where you could hardly walk because the streets and sidewalks were full of holes and uneven. Now it had all been renewed.



The mosque from the other side





Shops all along the streets



The copt church is very beautiful and I will write about it when I am home.



And here we are at the entrance. There were quite a lot of people around, chatting it seemed to me like a meeting point to socialize.

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SKYWATCH FRIDAY - FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE - FIVE ON FRIDAY

Being in the sky above Egypt

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Skywatch Friday

In this week I started my holidays together with my friend Nicole. As we were both handicapped she with her twisted leg and I with my breathing problems I had asked for "disabled" assistance to bring us from the check in to the flight gate. These were about 2 km impossible for us to walk.


Above a selfie in the wheelchairs ! and a beautiful view on Hurghada

We were picked up by a young girl who brought two wheelchairs ! one hanging at the back of the other. Unfortunately I forgot to ask somebody to make a picture but made a selfie. We got directly through all controls and then had to take a little electric car and were driven to the gate ! Here again we had priority with all the others we were not many only 5. The flight was smooth and the 4 h went by rather quickly.

We arrived at 5 in Hurghada and were driven in a bus to the hotel. As it was St. Valentine's day the whole hotel was full of hearts and the table decoration too.

The first day was a bit cool and only scattered sunshine. We were so tired that at 8.30 pm the first day we went to bed !



The deserts are still delicious



The view from my bed too ! What a joy to wake up and the sun is already shining at 6 am !!



I found a mummy in my bed, watching TV

Now the sun is shining and it is warm. We met a lot of people from last year and when I went to get me a cup of coffee, suddenly somebody "jumped" on me and hugged me it was the Scottish lady I had met two years ago in November and also last year and now they are also here in February at the same time as we are. What fun !

So now the work has started, laying on the beach the whole day with lunch interruptions and swimming and chatting of course. Half of the guests are German the others from GB. Very few other guests.

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

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