One minute we were in the Suez Canal then suddenly it opened up into a seething ocean of large ships and a huge shipping port called Port Said. This port exists because of the Suez Canal and its occupants are derived of the many visiting sailors through the eons. Conjure your mind pictures now and add 50 degree heat, accumulated dirt from no rainfall in years and the arrival of 2000 Australian passengers dressed in less than RSL Club minimum day attire.
In short, this is one dusty, grey town with machine gun armed police, soldiers and shady looking characters on every corner. There is little to see or do despite the physical size of Port Said. All the action is in the two streets paralleling the harbour.
Port Said is the closest docking port to Cairo. Most of the 2000 passengers wanted to see the Pyramids so we left for Cairo. Every cross street was shut down by armed guards for kilometres as our “convoy” headed out.
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