Hurghada - Evening Out

Sheraton Road - Photo (c)  Holger Hartmann

Sadly, Lena had to leave, but I was relieved that she’d enjoyed her time (and am so glad she chose the 18 days rather than 14 days to visit!) and my life continued to be busy.

Two days after she’d gone, I joined Kathryn and Nicole for dinner out in Hurghada. The original idea was to go to the Bombay (Swiss Way!) restaurant and then go to the bar / club next door afterwards. However, in the end we tried somewhere none of us had been before (I believe). I was happy enough to go anywhere since I haven’t eaten out much in Hurghada and would like to build up some recommendations for guests when they visit.

I can’t remember the name of the place where we ended up, but it was in a semi-circle of rather Western-looking restaurants on Sheraton Road. I ended up ordering a steak, which was pretty good and the price was reasonable.

We paid up and walked on to the pub/club, which was reputed to have good live music on a Friday night. Apparently, you have to get there early if you want a seat.

I needed to take some money out. The cash machine I tried was out of order, and a guy seemed to be hanging round with a very drunk Russian woman by the machine next to me so we walked on as I knew there was a machine near where we were going.

However, when we got there, two guys were loitering next to the machine and I felt a bit apprehensive. The Russian woman we’d just seen earlier was now just being helped by her taxi driver to get into the car; she'd obviously just got money out herself. Kathryn explained that at the last machine the taxi driver had been  trying to help the drunken woman. I had just assumed it was a random guy trying to take advantage!

Anyway, at this machine, too, some tall Egyptian men were standing around. They tried to speak to me, but they spoke only Arabic and I couldn’t understand; I was also blocked by my general sense of panic as they didn’t seem to wish to move from the machine and wanted to watch me. I’m not sure how, maybe Kathryn latched on, but eventually we managed to work out that they were telling us that the machine would work only if you used the stick by the machine to push the buttons; fingers wouldn’t work. So, I was being all scared and they were just trying to be helpful! I must get back to learning Arabic.

Finally, we got to the pub / club. I think the owner might be Norwegian (or I could be horribly wrong!). Anyway, she greeted us all in person and was so familiar that we all thought she already knew the others and then were surprised to discover that none of us had been there before.

It was really hard to believe that you were in Egypt as it was very much a European-style bar with alcohol served at the table (no obligation to have food, although it looked good). People of all nationalities and ages filled the area. A group of young Egyptians was sitting on the table next to us, playing a game using a mask. Kathryn looked at the mask once they’d finished and they offered to let her have it. It was all very friendly.

The crowd on the other table appeared to have ordered a whole bottle of Vodka, so maybe they were Russians. I heard two women coming in and greeting the owner in English, although they could have been Scandinavian. German voices echoed out from another corner.

The doors were open and overhead fans decorated the ceiling; it wasn’t yet hot enough for them to be on (but plenty warm enough for sitting inside or out!), but the fans added to the general atmosphere and you could imagine them whirring round in the summer months.

The band was described on the blackboard as “heavy rock", so I was a little apprehensive, but the music turned out to be relatively light with one female singer (in English) and some male guitarists, as I recall. Since I can’t get any radio stations in my flat and I swim now rather than go to the gym, I don’t listen to music at all these days and hearing the band made me realise how much I miss it.

More people piled in as the band started (later than billed; This is Egypt) and the place had a buzzy and relaxed feel. We stayed until around 00:30, at which point we asked Esmat to collect us (probably to his relief as he no doubt wanted to get to bed). As we walked outside, an Egyptian guy at one of the tables was sitting with his mates with a Labrador puppy, so we fondled the puppy and talked to them for a while before walking down to Sheraton Road. A litter of kittens scuttled about just behind us, but the guys warned us off from touching them since they were wild and could be diseased. It was all very friendly and sociable, but also a very “Egyptian” experience, somehow.

I popped in quickly to Metro to buy some milk – I was not the only customer at that time – and then we waited until Esmat arrived to take us home.

I would never have imagined that it would be possible to have a night in a pub with live music and drinks flowing here in Egypt. It was almost like being back in continental Europe (I say “continental Europe” deliberately; in the UK, it’s rarely that warm and you wouldn’t get table service). It was a super evening out and a change from the norm.