Built in the late 1800s, this hotel is a classic! Part of me felt like we were walking into Don Wolvin's living room, or Marc's grandmother's apartments with the brocade curtains, Louis the XIVth chairs, ornate carvings, gilded frames surrounding large, dark paintings, marble everywhere. The lobby! We arrived to check in and were greeted with a chair, a sweets table and a freshly squeezed lemon and lime drink. So civilized!
The rest of the hotel was equally elaborate. Breakfasting every morning, lounging with tea and wifi late afternoons, you got the feel of the place when ball gowns, jewels and men's evening coats were required. Service was top-notch.
The elevator was a classic!, as was the brass plated call buttons. The service ware was porcelain, 1946, made in Egypt, complete with gold trim, real silver.
We had Marc's dinner in the dining room, and as we were 1 of 2 tables of guests, we were personally crooned by the Egyptian karaoke singer. Hilarious! A rare bottle of wine was produced in this alcohol-free country (mostly). Delicious dinner.
I do have to relate a funny story from our first night in this hotel. When we land in a new city, we unpack and hit the streets. Usually getting our bearings of the neighbourhood, finding a grocery store - minim purchase is some cream, coffee, sugar, bread, fruit if we can find it to hold us till the next day's bigger shop. We then find a fast-food dinner - shwarma in Iraklion, pizza in Naples , curried stew in Rome, more shawarma in Athens. It's a small, leisurely circuit that has usually been conducted at dusk, getting to know the neighbourhood. It's been a really enjoyable start to the adventure of each new city.
On this walkabout, we aren't 100 steps from the hotel, and a dapper man in his late 30s taps Marc on the shoulder and introduces himself as Sammy. He works at the hotel, is just off his shift, on his way home to his wife and 4 kids, are we okay? Yes, yes, and we explain our task. It's quite late for grocers he says, but I can lead you to a store that will have some cream. He is so affable, his English is so good, he works for the hotel, why not? We follow him. And cream we get. He starts leading us back, talking all the while about his family, Egypt, his job and we are quite enjoying his company. He asks us if we need some alcohol, a 3-day holy day is coming up, no alcohol will be for sale, the guy is still open. We debate, and he encourages us, not far, not far, special price, and so we don't even think, we just go along. He takes us on a long circuitous walk, we end up at the shop, buy our beer, and he starts walking us back to the hotel. We've now been with Sammy for 45 minutes ( "don't worry, you're safe with Sammy") , gotten a great background on the city, he talks about his 6-day a week job for the equivalent of about $100 Cdn / month and trying to support his family, his wife cannot work in Egyptian society, he deep sea free dives for fish a few mornings per week at 4 am, with a gun-spear, but if he had an oxygen tank, man, life would be different!
We continue walking towards the hotel, he stops. "Don't mention this in the hotel, I could lose my job. If you see me, do not acknowledge me. Don't ask for me. Please. When we get near the hotel, I will stop walking with you." We understand, it makes perfect sense! As he makes his leave, he hits Marc up for a tip. He knows what we have in our pocket after the cream and the beer, 15 Egyptian pounds, which is less than $3 Cdn. He takes it with great thanks.
We never see Sammy again. We talk about it a lot. The ruse. For $3? The perfect scam, we'll never ask, we'll never tell. But $3? We're there for 5 nights, are in the public spaces of the hotel a lot. We never see him again.
We're so trusting. Coulda turned out much worse, during the no-streetlight portion of the walk to the booze shop. Duh.
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