Chilling out in Soma Bay (Egypt)

One summer day, during a spontaneous meeting with my friend, we spontaneously decided that it would be good to go together somewhere where we could practice watersports: 

me - diving, and her: windsurfing. Shortly after another friend decided spontaneusly to join us :)

As we were planning this trip somehow in autumn, the choice was easy: Egypt. It's easily accessible from Europe, it's relatively cheap, there's still very warm even in late autumn and last but not least - it offers amazing possibilities for diving, windsurfing and kitesurfing.

Despite the fact that travels to Egypt are not recommended by most of the EU countries, all travel agencies offer trips to this country - starting from 500 euros. Our search was quite limited as we wanted not only to dive (what is possible in all resorts located on the Red Sea), but also practice windsurfing or kitesurfing. We decided to go to Soma Bay - a coastal resort, 45 km south of Hurghada with a variety of nearby diving sites, as well as prevailing winds which are perfect for windsurfing and kitesurfing.

A few days before our trip to Egypt, a Russian plane flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg crashed. Assumptions that it was a bomb smuggled by jihadists from ISIS were not very comforting. Nevertheless we decided to go. We concluded that the security measures would be now at its high, and we would stay only in the resort. To my big regret I had to postpone to unknown future visiting of Egypt - Cairo, Luxor, Alexandria etc. In current situation it would not be the very wise. One day I will come back - Insh'allah.

On the day of our departure, while we wanted to check-in, it turned out that other tourists were not afraid to fly to Egypt either - the flight was overbooked and there was no more place on the board for us!! Luckily, thanks to EU Regulation 261/2004, we were not left behind. The carrier had to offer us an alternative flight + compensation of 600 euro (as we were supposed to fly over 3500 km). The alternative flight wasn't direct - but via Istanbul, but while checking in to this flight, it turned out that we fly business!! With these conditions, we easily accepted that our flight to Hurghada will take a bit longer than initially planned :)

We enjoyed a lot the amazing Turkish Airlines Business Lounge at the Istanbul Airport - not only great food (including my beloved baklava and thirteen kinds of olives!!), unlimited alcohol, relaxing atmosphere, but also a possibility to play golf!! :)

We arrived to Hurghada at 3 AM. Just before we reached the border guards at their counters, several men shouting names of their (and tourists') travel agencies surrounded us. It turned out that they were selling visas. Sometimes they increase prices, and sometimes they manage to sell those more expensive visas to us. And so they did manage to sell it to us ;-) Normally a visa costs 25 $, we paid slightly more. A rescue arrived unexpectedly from a man working for our travel agency who made the other guy return us the differen, and then he brought us outside the airport, where his colleague picked us up - luckily the transfer to the hotel was included in the trip. There are only a few hotels in Soma Bay, we stayed in Movenpick Resort Soma Bay.

 

 
The hotel itself was very pleasant. Located at the seaside (though a walk from the hotel to the beach was taking a few minutes), but also with a big swimming pool for those who don't like to walk too much. It offered several activities - such as SPA (where we were frequent guests :)), salsa classes, diving centre, and windsurfing/kitesurfing school.

There was also a Bedouine Tent with two lovely Rasta Bedouins, where it was possible to chill out with a cup of tea and a shisha.

But my main goal during this trip was diving - I was really looking forward to my first underwater experience in Egypt!! I paid 160 euro for a package of 5 dives (including equipment). After my last year's dives in amazing Flores (Indonesia), I was a bit spoiled, nevertheless I was still enjoying a lot diving in the Red Sea, though marine life was definitely poorer. Some spots were better, some other were worse, but  the coral reefs were really beautiful. The highlight was definitely a spectacular Panorama Reef - a huge coral formation, dropping to over 100 meters (I went down to 35 meters).

When I was not diving, I was enjoying the beach, the sun and 30 degrees :)

Ultimate Ukrainian experience - 12h by overnight train. Check!!

At first a bit anxious and afraid, as you never know what to expect in the overnight train in any country, and whether it will be safe, in the end I did not really have a choice. The train was the best option to get to Lviv, and there were only overnight trains. I decided to buy the most expensive ticket for the first time sleeper, which costed me around 15 euros.

Train station in Odesa

When I entered the train, I loved it immediately! Very cosy, with a carpet, and very nice compartments comprising two beds with clean bedsheets. Every carriage had its own "guardian" who was available for any kind of problem, or simply to serve a tea :)

We left after 6PM, and the journey took 12h. I spent it sleeping, and was well rested when the train arrived to Lviv shortly after 6AM. It was my second experience with a train in Ukraine, and the only thing I can say is that I highly recommend trains as a mean of transport in Ukraine - clean, comfortable and safe :)

Decadent Odes(s)a*

Next stop in Ukraine was Odesa, third most populous city of Ukraine located at the shore of the Black Sea.

The city was founded by Catherine the Great in 1794, however it was inhabited since ancient times, and remainings of old settlements - from Ancient Greece through Great Duchy of Lithuania and Ottoman Empire - were found by archeologists. In the past it was Russia's Empire trade, intellectual and artistic center and its main port.

Because of the fact that Crimea was annexed by Russia, Ukrainians lost their usual holiday destination and thus this year they (peacefully) "invaded" Odesa. It could result in problems in finding accomodation in Odesa, neverthelles I decided to risk and not to book anything in advance. I did not book the train ticket either, what almost made my trip to Odesa impossible, as there were huge queues at the train station. In the end, realizing that I had a very little time left to the departure, I started explaining (in Polish) that my train to Odesa will leave very soon, and whether I could buy my ticket without waiting. People were very nice and they let me do it. The Intercity train was very comfortable, and after seven hours, at 23:30 I arrived to Odesa.

According to my "great" plan I was supposed to look for accomodation as usually - on spot. Very stupidly though I did not take into consideration that I will be doing it after midnight and I will be doing it in August - thus very high season, and moreover with Ukraine deprived Crimea - thus with bigger than usually number of tourists. With GPS on my phone I found the city centre (around 20-30 minutes walk from the station) and I started to look for some hotel. After several failures (too expensive hotel or no free rooms) I eventually found a hotel - which was full, however whose staff recommended me another hotel in which they booked a room for me.

And while walking to this hotel the most unexpected situation, which of course I did not expect, happened. At 1AM, in the middle of the street I looked at some familiar face and asked:
-Eamonn??
To which I heard:
-Natalia??
Yes, there in Odesa, in the middle of the night, on another side of Europe I met a good friend from Brussels. We agreed to meet the next day, and I continued my walk to my hotel.

The next morning I started to visit the city. Despite the fact that Odesa is relatively young - only 200 years - it is very impressive. Still, there's not much to visit, but it's rather a city to wander along, admire the beautiful architecture and get lost. And so I was just wandering on its beautiful streets, discovering Odesa's hidden gems.

And indeed on the Deribasivs'ka street - one of Odesa's main streets - I saw some of Odesa's beautiful Art Nouveau buildings and an stunning commercial passage, with some amazing sculptures.

But the most famous part of Odesa and its best known symbol are the monumental Potyomkinski Skhody (Potemkin Stairs), which are considered leading from the Catherine Square to the Port. They have 192 steps, and are 132 m long and 27 m high. Interestingly in every era of their existence they had different names: the Boulevard steps, the Giant Staircase and the Richelieu steps, and they received their current names after the Soviet movie "te Battleship Potemkin".

Number two of Odesa symbols is Odesa National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet, which was called by some "the best opera in the world" and is a must see and a must do while in the city.

So indeed I decided to go to the opera in the evening. Luckily on that day they were displaying an Ukrainian opera - Zaporozhets za Dunayem (A Zaporozhian Beyond the Danube). Luckily, because it's more difficult to see it outside Ukraine. I bought my ticket in advance. After I met Eamonn, he also wanted to join me. It was though pretty late, and since there were huge queues (people were queuing for different opera though), we understood it was rather unlikely to buy a ticket before the start of opera. But in my very broken Ukrainian, which was rather loud Polish, I managed to convince the lady who was checking tickets to let us in ;-) we paid the amount of the ticket to her colleague, and watched the opera from the first class lodge :-)

During the break we just couldn't not to try champagne and caviar :-)

But Odesa is also one of the most famous spots on the Ukrainian nightlife map. Probably I wouldn't go on my own to a night club, but luckily I was there with friends, so after a very satisfying and very Ukrainian dinner at the restaurant Kumanets, we were ready for the pleasures of the night! And for that we chose the most popular night club - Ibiza. Also on that night this wonderful open air venue was very busy and full of guests.

The following day I continued wandering around and discovering amazing Odesa.

Adam Mickiewicz was here :-)

so was Pushkin ;-)

A monument of Catherine the Great on the Catherine Square

 Odesa City Hall

The Ukrainian crisis of 2014 did not avoid Odesa - which is a very pro-Russian and Rusophone city - suffered. In the clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian protesters 48 people died and 250 were injured.

*Odesa in Ukrainian, Odessa in Russian

Chernobyl - unforgettable experience

Chernobyl. A word that does not leave anyone indifferent. A word that reminds of one of the biggest disasters that ever happened on this planet. And a place which is now a touristic spot and can be visited on a daily trip from Kyiv. I knew that I just could not miss this place while in Ukraine. Some say it's the world's weirdest day trip, to me it was once in a lifetime experience. And a very powerful one. 

The trips to Chernobyl are organized by several travel agencies in Kyiv. I went there with SoloEast Travel. These trips are not very cheap - I paid for mine 170 euro, but the earlier it is booked, the cheaper the trip is. Apparently the permits allowing entering the Exclusion Zone cost a bit. The price comprises also an insurance.

The meeting point was Maidan Square and the trips start early in the morning. Long trousers, long sleeves and plain shoes are a must, what on such a hot August day was quite a challenge! My friend who has visited Chernobyl a few years earlier told me that I would be the only girl, and indeed apart from me, there were only guys going for this trip. 

The journey to the Exclusion Zone (the 30 km exclusion area surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant) lasted about two hours, and on the way we could watch a documentary about the Chernobyl disaster. Of course I knew that on 26 April 1986 there was a huge explosion in the nuclear power plant, but the movie developped further this topic, and was a great introduction into the visit to Chernobyl. It was truly shocking to learn how the Soviet authorities were hiding the explosion from the world, and how they let people of Pripyat to carry on their lives as if nothing happened and exposing them to a huge radiation. The movie showed also the battle to stop the contamination and reduce as much as possible the radiation. Battle lost by 31 people. 

At the entrance to the Exclusion Zone there was a checkpoint where our passports and permits were verified. Our guide - Lena - joined our tour and was a great source of information on the past events.

The town of Chernobyl was our first stop.

One of the hot-spots in the Exclusion Zone. In the hot-spots radiation is particularly high.

First place we visited on the way to Reactor 4 was a kindergarten in the Kopachi village. Everything was left - toys, books, even some slippers left by a child.

In front of the famous Reactor 4. It was unbelievable how quickly, with every step I made the level of radiation was growing. The yellow device was beeping faster and faster. A sign that we should leave this place quickly. We spent in front of the power plant only a few minutes, longer exposion could be dangerous.

Next stop was the ghost city of Pripyat. For a few days after the explosion its habitants were still unaware what happened in the power plant. Then, the entire city was suddenly evacuated within 3h by a thousand of buses. People took only their money and documents, as they were told they'd be back in 3 days. They never did. They left everything behind. Their city, houses, schools, kindergartens, shops...

A whole completely deserted city, taken over by nature. On the day of the disaster nearly 50 000, mostly young people were living there. The city had it all. Schools, kindergartens, hospital, shops, swimming pools, sport centres, cultural centres etc.

Pripyat Amusement Park was supposed to be opened on 1 May 1986. It was opened only on 27 April, one day after the explosion to entertain the people before announcing evacuation.

Last place we visited was the school. Hundreds of gas masks, which were never used, made particularly terrific impression. Although I know that everything here was left from one day to another, I couldn't help but think that the objects left in the school were reminding more of an inscenization made by a human years after the explosion, rather than natural and real setup.

On the way back everybody had to do the beta-radiation control, in order to find out whether we were radiated. In fact, the radiation to which we were exposed during the trip was not higher than a flight from Europe to U.S. We spent very little time in the places where radiation was higher and potentially dangerous, and our guide was making sure we don't spend too much time in the radiated places. The radiation check proved that my body was clean.

All in all the trip to Chernobyl was a very powerful, eerie and sad experience, but I'm glad I could make it. It was a good lesson of history and a trip I will never forget.

I finished this day together with my two Argentinian friends. We had a dinner and vodka in an Ukrainian restaurant, and we enjoyed a lot dressing up in traditional Ukrainian clothes :)