December Summer
At the end of December I went to Hurghada again, to the same place as last year - the Albatros hotel.
I went there simply to lie around and warm up in the sun, so I did not go anywhere except into the city - every day in the afternoon I walked around there, looked at mosques, and bought strawberries.
At first I could not understand what felt wrong when looking at the many construction sites. A little later I realized: there was not a single tower crane. I did not see even one.
New Year decorations in the city are mostly flags. By the way, it feels very unusual to have New Year holidays without winter, cold, or snow.
I did not see a single paid toilet in the city. Usually it is enough to ask the first person you meet, and they will take you somewhere deep into the courtyards, where there will be something like this (the picture behind the link is not very pleasant, so just skip the link if anything).
There are a lot of mosques in the city. One minaret is especially beautiful.
The contrast between it and the surrounding slums is also striking.
Finding a map of the city turned out to be an extremely difficult task. There simply are no maps. There are lots of plans being handed out, but not only can you not find anything on them, you can get lost in no time.
The best thing I managed to find was fragments of Google Maps with labels added, in some free advertising magazine from July. At the tourist information center they said no better map existed.
Here it is: a map of Hurghada, a two-megabyte JPG with the advertising cut out.
And finally, I will post a few photos from the hotel.
When checking into the hotel, they gave us a sheet with the meal schedule in the restaurants (this is what is included in the AI meal plan). The translation is magical. But I should note, it was the most important piece of paper of the entire vacation.
