Hurghada - First Christmas

Palm Beach Plaza Beach Looking Towards Entrance Plaza

Several people have been asking me what my Christmas was like, so maybe it is worth a blog. It also depends on your nationality as to how you define the question as well – for the Germans (and I suspect the Russians, of whom there are many here in Russgarda), the main day is 24th December; for the British, the day of celebration is 25th December. So I may as well talk about both!

I had the great pleasure of having my long-standing friend, Holger, coming to Hurghada for a month as from 22nd December. He was over to start working on his new book and had got an all-inclusive deal in one of the hotels near the city centre. I was excited about having a good friend nearby to meet up with from time to time.

As soon as I got back from the UK, I’d searched out some restaurants that were putting on celebratory dinners on 24th December (this is why I suspect the Russians also celebrate on 24th December, as this is the date that all the hotels and restaurants chose) and emailed the details to Holger, feeling slightly pressurised to find something fun for us to do.

As it turned out, he preferred to spend more time settling in and didn’t want to do anything about Christmas, so we arranged to meet up on 25th December instead (which, for me, was Christmas – see what I mean, it really gets quite confusing?).

I was happy to have a quiet Christmas Eve as it had been a long time since I’d had the opportunity just to relax and do what I want. Up to now, it had been problem after problem, even before I arrived. We had good weather with temperatures in the mid-20s, my cleaning was finished, and I was free to do whatever I liked. I decided that although I wasn’t going to celebrate Christmas as such, I was going to make the next week or two a holiday and not do any writing or learning of Arabic. I was going to have some “me” time.

So, I had an extremely enjoyable day on the beach – it was quite quiet – I read my book and swam to my heart’s content. In the evening, I got out my box of Maltesers that I’d bought in the UK and my pack of shortbread, poured myself a wine and sat down to watch any random film that I could find on the television. Maltesers are a Christmas tradition for me (this is a Fiona thing and not a British thing), so what with this, the Christmas tree, and the shortbread, I did feel quite Christmassy. I stumbled across one film channel that was playing “There’s Something about Mary” followed by “Me, Myself and Irene”, so I watched that; two unchallenging films that hit the spot for the purposes of just vegetating. It felt like an ideal day perfectly designed to match my mood.

On Christmas Day (25th Dec), I again went to the beach. I can’t imagine tiring of swimming in the sea. To my surprise, the beaches were a lot busier, but I guess maybe this is the day when the Germans and Russians rest, whereas for the Brits, it would traditionally be a busy day of preparing turkey, opening presents, and visiting family. Also, I guess many people who holiday in Egypt at this time of year are likely to be those who wish to escape Christmas, so I guess the beach is the perfect place to do so.

At 3.30pm I got my taxi to meet Holger at his hotel at 4pm. Holger has hurt his knee, so the two of us limped around together and no doubt looked a bit odd, almost as if we’d dropped into Hurghada from a planet where people don’t walk properly. Holger gave me a tour of his hotel and the grounds while we chatted and caught up. Then Esmat’s brother-in-law took us to the marina, where we looked round until we got to the mosque.

Holger said he’d read on Wikipedia that the mosque at Hurghada is the only one in Egypt where tourists are not allowed to enter. Although I’d seen the mosque from the outside before during the day, it was now dark and was therefore illuminated with its minarets towering above us in green; it looked stunning. We wandered around to take photographs and then walked to Sheraton Street, one of the most famous (shopping) streets in Hurghada. This was the first time I’d made it into Hurghada “proper” since I’d moved to Egypt.

As one of the city’s main hubs (if not the main hub), Sheraton Street was buzzing and lively. The diverse shops were all open, some lit like traditional shops, others more similar to small warehouses with items displayed on part of the pavement. The street was busy with a mix of cars and the occasional donkey and cart. The Egyptians really come alive at night. Surprisingly, and maybe it was because I was with Holger, we were not hassled that much and were able to walk down the road and chat without having to fend people off the whole time.

We stopped by in a computer shop because Holger needed an extension cable; we were guided round the corner where the shop went up two floors and was open until midnight. The guy in the store spoke really good English and was very helpful. I asked him if he would be able to clean my laptop and he could, so now I have somewhere to go for that as well. It was interesting to see everyone living their everyday lives for once and to start to get a feel for what Hurghada really is, despite the preponderance of tourists.

For our dinner, we returned to the marina and ate in an Italian restaurant where some people smoked the shisha and others ate. Holger’s Christmas meal turned out to be a pizza and mine a tagliatelle with chicken and mushrooms in a cream sauce. At around 9pm Esmat phoned, I think wanting to be done for the day with his taxi driving; we’d already finished eating some time ago, so we paid up and went around 15 minutes later to wait for Esmat.

As we were waiting, one taxi driver, whom we’d refused by explaining that we had already ordered a taxi, had the audacity to then drive up to us in the street and pretend that he was Esmat’s brother. Fortunately, we knew what Esmat looked like and knew that if he wasn’t driving then his substitute would only be in his own numbered taxi, so it was clear that the guy was having us on. However, this illustrates again the benefits of having a taxi driver you know!

After Holger was dropped off at his hotel, I was home in time to watch my soaps on my laptop (it was the first time I’d opened my laptop all day, which must be a record!) and then it was time for bed. All in all, it was a pretty excellent Christmas.