In the summer of 2011 I wa lucky enough to visit Sharm El Sheikh one of Egypt 's most beautiful and well known resort cities.
Our flight left from Budapest in the early hours of the morning, first to to Jordan then we continued on to Sharm el Sheik, the whole journey took about three hours. Our guide was waiting for us at the airport, from where they took us by bus to our hotel.
The city on the shore of the Red Sea is far from Egypt 's capital and is made up of mostly hotels, at least along the beach. We stayed in the Melia Sharm a huge, five star hotel complex. We spent the first day just exploring the hotel.
This is a very large hotel complex, which offers guests a lot of programs. They have animators who are very helpful in recommending and helping you choose from the numerous sports and other activities. They had a disco with music and dancing every night, we all had a great time.
The hotel itself was enough to keep you entertained without taking part in any of the programs. They have several pools surrounded by greenery and these provide the only activity you don't have to pay an additional price for like the billiards, darts, or even the internet.
The food was tasty even though it was a little strange to me with all the new spices I hadn't tasted before. It was all inclusive so we got to eat and drink as much as we wanted. The best part was the bar in the swimming pool which was full of guests all day.
The second day was one of the best experiences of my life, we got to swim with dolphins in the tropicarium. It was lovely and a memory that will remain with me always.
The next day we took a quad ride in the desert. To stay out of the midday heat, we had to leave at half past three in the morning. We were driven by car to the place. It was very exciting, especially in the early hours when it was still dark and all we could only see by the light of the vehicle. Despite our protective gear, all of our stuff was full of sand by the end, but it was awesome!
On the fourth day of our vacation we took a speedboat to the island of Tiran to see the remains of a shipwreck from many years ago. Afterward we cooled down in the swimming pool until the party at night.
The next morning we headed for the bazaar for some souvenirs. The bazaar is much bigger than we thought with many shops and vendors packed close to each other. We bought a few small things and a beautiful water pipe. The vendors expect you to haggle with them, at first they give you a ridiculously high price and you go from there until they sell you their merchandise for a reasonable price.
After returning to the hotel we went to the beach to do some diving. There are piers about 20 meters long leading out to the water, this is to protect the coral reefs. The underwater scenery is breathtaking. Beautiful coral formations, colorful fish and other sea life. The fish seemed to be used to people and came up to us curiously rather than avoiding us.
The next two days were spent diving, at the hotel's swimming pool and just relaxing. We had a great time.
The last day of the trip we had to be at the airport early, but we were able to do a little souvenir shopping there, too before boarding the plane back to Budapest .
I spent a lovely week in Novi Vindolodski, which is a small town in northern Croatia. This was in 2008, I went with family as well as friends of my family. The town is about 600 kilometers from Budapest, it took about 6 hours to get there by car. When we arrived we had to meet with the representative from Neckerman travel agency.
Since we new the address, we simply had to ask someone on the street for directions. He was a local, but luckily he spoke very good English. Right away, I found Croatian people to be very nice and helpful. We found the office easily and after filling out a few forms one of the employees escorted us to our accommodations. It was a lovely 4 room apartment fit for 8 people, with rooms facing the beach and a huge balcony. The street was full of apartments like ours, as we found put later, a lot of other Hungarians were staying there
After unpacking and getting settled in, we headed for the beach. The sea there is very clear blue, with lots of little islands. The only problem was that the shore instead of being sandy, was rocky. This is because Novi is in the mountainous northern part of the country. We bought special shoes from one of the many vendors on the beach to protect our feet from the rocks and the sea urchins. We went swimming right after. This was my first time by the sea, so it was quite an experience! The salty taste of the water was strange at first and I was surprised at how easy it was to swim and float in sea water. Later that afternoon we explored the rest of the beach and bought a few souvenirs from the vendors. There are plenty of restaurants along the main street of the town, we tried a different one each night and got to taste some of the local specialities. I was kind of worried about what I would eat while on vacation, because I'm not much for fish and seafood, but I found I had plenty of things to choose from. They served Ajvar sauce with almost all main courses, which was completely new to me. We spent almost all the rest of the days on the beach. We tried different water toys, like the „banana.” That’s when they pull you by motorboat on a long banana shaped mattress, there's also the life belt version. This was a lot of fun. One day we rented a water bike and explored some of the little islands close to the shore. We took a two day trip to Pula and Opatija, which are beautiful cities as well. I really enjoyed the vacation, because it was a little like we never left Hungary, since there were so many other Hungarian tourists. Upon hearing people speak Hungarian, I said hello, and they were also happy to see people from home. I found that Croatian people are very nice and helpful and speak great English and German. One evening we took a walk in the old district of town, which reminded me so much of Venice with its narrow little streets. People here have to live very close one another, their homes are practically adjoining. They spend the evenings on the street talking and usually say hello if you walk by their house.
All in all the trip was a very pleasant experience, I met some very interesting people and gained many new experiences.
Durnig the concert some pieces of the program was accompanied by flute (Eneonora Krusic) and other pieces was performed with opera singer ( Kolos Kovats). The Basilica's acoustic is perfect, it doesn't matter in which section are you sitting.
Durnig the concert some pieces of the program was accompanied by flute (Eneonora Krusic) and other pieces was performed with opera singer ( Kolos Kovats). The Basilica's acoustic is perfect, it doesn't matter in which section are you sitting.
Nowadays, performances of the Hungarian State Folk Ensemble (approximately 120 annually) can be seen here. Their educational performances presenting the history of Hungarian dancing. I have visited the Birth of a national dance perfomance. Between authentric perfomances you can enjoy the Eternal Kalotaszeg, Highland Treasures or Hungarian Concerto named performances.
I went on the Expanded Grand Tour - with three synagouges (3,5-4 hours ) This tour was created for the one, who would really like to understand the differences between our main religious wings. With the help of our English-speaking guide you can be acquainted with the most important chapters of the history and culture of the Hungarian Jewry. The tour includes an interior visit to the Dohány synagogue, which is the largest in Europe. Guided tour in the Jewish Museum, which has an important and unique collection of art pieces from Hungary and Eastern Europe. The Holocaust Cemetery where thousand were buried, who were killed in the ghetto times. The Raul Wallenberg Memorial Park with the Tree of Life which was created to remind us of those who perished in the war. We passed by the Heroes temple, which was built in memory of those who gave their lives during the WWI. To understand the present we continue our walk to the old – new Jewish Quarter, which was used as a ghetto during the WWII and it hosts synagogues, monuments, kosher restaurants, and shops. You can see the Carl Lutz Memorial, than we have an interior visit of the statusquo movement, the Rumbach Street Synagogue, the Király Street, the famous Gozsdu Courtyard and the center of the orthodox Jewish community, with an interior visit of the Kazinczy Street Synagogue. After approximately 3,5-4 hours-long tour, you can have a cake and coffee in a kosher confectionary. You can chose this tour with a lunch too, in that case with ticket you will get 15% discount in Carmel a kosher restaurant.
It is possible to book this program with the Dinner & Cruise at 22:00. In this case, you will get a full evening program, an unforgettable theatre performance, and a romantic and delicious candlelight dinner on a ship. On this occasion, a host or hostess will escort you to the pier.
I have booked this program with the Dinner & Cruise at 22:00. This was a whole evening program. After classical music concert in Danube Palace I have enjoyed 1,5-hour dinner-cruise on the Danube by the candlelight atmosphere. The theater performance was unforgettable, and the dinner was really romantic. A host and hostess escorted me to the pier from the concert.
