I didnt plan to blog about Egypt but after being here a couple of weeks I decided to record some of the quirks of Egypt and the Jaz Fanara hotel in particular.
I had decided to spend some time in Egypt, at a hotel on the beach and close to a reef where it is easy to spend a lot of time snorkelling. The plan being not to leave the hotel, but snorkel, read and plan more trips which is why I called the blog a little patch of earth. A few weeks before leaving Gillian found she was free to join me so we added her on to the booking with Tui.
The airport experience was still chaotic and surprisingly Tui handled it less well than easyJet. The queues were long, only 2 open and no additional Tui staff to be seen anywhere. Nor were there any seats in the All in all, a challenging and unpleasant experience. But once on the plane all was good.
restaurants, which ones open when, which nights etc. We were steamrollered with facts until we had to stay stop! We cant take it in as we are tired. At least we were able to go for dinner even though it was 10.30pm.
Then we were taken to our room. It was tiny! I have never seen such a small twin room. Yes, there were 2 beds but jammed close together to fit them in. The corner of the bed was only 30 cms from the middle of the bathroom door, making it very difficult to walk around the bed. The bathroom was squeezed into a corner with insufficient space to place my toiletries around the hand basin, never mind Giiils. It was very disappointing but we were so tired we decided to wait until morning to do anything. I wondered if it was in fact a single room that they had originally booked for me, then just crammed another bed in.
So next day I went to Reception to be told that all standard rooms are the same size. Later I spoke to the Tui rep who met with the
manager and identified 2 other rooms that were available. One of them was much better, being only slightly bigger but having a much larger bathroom & balcony with a better view. It was just enough but certainly not the size of room expected in a 5 star hotel.
As days passed we came to realise that in normal times the hotel caters mainly for Russian & Eastern Europeans. When we first arrived it was only about occupied, rising perhaps to 30%, mainly with Italians, Eastern Europeans & Brits. I wondered if the Russian & East European clients are happy with smaller rooms?
So as I said, I wanted to record some of the quirks of the hotel. The first one is the a la carte restaurant, La Gazella. It is open 4 nights a week and must be booked between 10.30 & 11.30 on the day you want to eat there. The menu is brought to the reception at that time and you choose what you want to eat. No information is posted to tell you this, you only find out if you ask at reception, so it seems
quite secretive. What we quickly realised is that the menu is always the same anyway, a choice of 2 starters, 2 soups, 4 main courses, & 2 deserts. The restaurant itself different in style, slightly Scandinavian, all light wood & smooth lines in contrast to the Egyptian decor everywhere else, and situated at the far end of the hotel plot, 10 minutes walk back from the sea. Only 5 or 6 tables are booked at most in what is a large restaurant. Then at each course they ask, are you ready now or would you like to wait 20 minutes. Very strange! Gilli described it perfectly when she said it reminded her of Startrek, where any scenario from any time/planet can be replicated on the hollodeck for people to experience & enjoy but sometimes lack knowledge means something is askew. That is how La Gazella felt, almost authentic but not quite!
Then the stomach bug hit. No question it was a bug but the staff all say it is the effect of sun/heat. Gilli suffered more than I but the waiters were very good at bringing ‘special ‘ soup ( ie clear
vegetable & chicken), & ‘special tea, ( mint & lime) for those suffering & that helped.
