Shams Safaga Hotel | Club Mistral | The Egyptians | Countryside & Safaga |
Other activies (snorkeling, star gazing, kiting)

After a rainy and grey Spring I urgently needed some time in the sun. My wife had taken a week of vacation earlier for a visit of her best friend so I was on my own for a week. Inexpensive and warm was my destination to be and after some research on the Internet and making some calls, I had a ticket for the Shams Safaga Hotel in Egypt and a voucher from Club Mistral for a week of windsurfing.

The Shams Safaga Hotel
After dropping some people off at fancy, new resorts in Makadi Bay, the bus stopped in front of the Shams and for a second I was wondering if I was in the right place or had booked the wrong hotel. The letters on the roof were all crooked and looked like they were about to fall off. Construction to the left and right made the whole place look rather desolate but the beautiful marble reception hall of the Shams gave me hope, so I stayed.



Actually, the Shams is quite green and its gardens are really pretty (and which I later found out happen to be almost bug-free thanks to some white dusty weed killer that the gardener sprays on literally everything (DDT?). My bungalow was all right and I was glad I was not in the main tract of the hotel. The Shams is not really the 4-star hotel it claims to be, more a 3-star, but still offers reasonable accommodations. I had booked the Shams because the Club Mistral windsurf station is on-site but later I found out that one can book the Holiday Inn Safaga, which is within easy walking distance from the Shams, for almost the same price. The Holiday Inn is a nicer hotel, supposedly has better food but also has a reputation for hosting mostly older folks. I would probably book the Holiday Inn next time. I was not the only one to catch a stomach bug within a couple of days even though I was really careful about what I ate (the Shams is also called the "Darms" (stomachs) among German tourists for the certainty to catch a stomach bug).
By the way, if you ever go, bring your favorite foods with you (Snickers, peanuts, etc.) - the Shams has a no-outside-food policy and people have told me that the security guards asked them to hand over food and water they had bought at the local supermarket.

Club Mistral
The Club Mistral station was under temporary management by Steve and Monica and thanks to those two, we all had an awesome time. They organized a desert trip with star gazing, camp fire, fire dancing and Arabic music, took us to a club in Safaga, organized a snorkel trip on a windless day and had a happy hour on our last day with cheap beer. I heard from some folks that the regular managers are not as engaged, so don't expect as much if you visit. Kahled and Machmut have been with the Mistral station for a long time, keeping the equipment in shape and generally keeping everybody happy.
The only thing that I did not like was the number of kitesurfers posing a risk to those hanging out on the beach. A little girl got entangled in a kite line when a reckless kitesurfer was trying to land his kite where the kids were playing on the beach. It would certainly be in Club Mistral's and the hotel's best interests to strictly control where kitesurfers can launch and beach their equipment.

The Egyptians
You hear all the stories of the Egyptians in the tourist areas trying to win your business in an obnoxious way but you don't know how obnoxious it really is until you have experienced it yourself. "Come in, just for a minute, just to show my store. You don't need to buy anything, just look." And so forth… Yes, many of the people are really living a hard life, away from their families and I do feel for them, but there were moments when I was really annoyed. I did end up buying some stuff and the experience of chatting with some of the Egyptians over a cup of tea (excellent tea) makes up for the occasional hassle.
The hotel staff was sort of friendly, but somehow I did not get a warm feeling with most of them. Generous tipping did seem to make things a little better but I never felt as if I was a valued customer (especially at 14 DM/$7 a beer!). During meals, there were at least 400 waiters for 30 people and nevertheless it sometimes took 10 minutes of trying to flag a waiter down to get a beer or a special wish fulfilled.

Countryside & Safaga
When you drive along the coast, there is whole lot of desert. It's vast. And it's full of construction sites. There are raw concrete frames for the many hotels not yet finished; lots fenced in for the next big resorts. It's scary. And everywhere are guards and military posts protecting … what? I am not sure.


Safaga is quickly becoming a tourist city. As everywhere, many houses are not finished (I was told Egyptians don't have to pay taxes on their homes until the house is finished, so many houses lack a roof). Men sit in cafes drinking tea and smoking waterpipes seemingly for days on end.


Other activities
Snorkeling
Snorkeling is simply fantastic and I don't think I need to say any more than that. There are hundreds of websites dedicated to the beauty of the Red Sea. But it is amazing how much one can see snorkeling just off the coast.



With incredible visibility on a calm day, snorkeling is an amazing experience. I can only recommend a rash guard or lycra shirt to keep the sun of your skin - the sun is simply merciless.



Star gazing
For our next trip to Egypt, we will definitely bring a star guide. Although the night skies in the Canary Islands were clearer, the Milky Way was visible almost every night.

Kiting
The area to the north of the Shams (in front of the unfinished hotel) is used by Club Mistral for kite surfing instruction and is also suited to trick kiting when the winds die down at around 5 p.m. There were about 1-2 hours of perfect light wind for trick kiting almost every day. Too bad that this opportunity will surely vanish once the new hotel opens…