I've come to Port Said for o see the Suez Canal. First let me say, they call it and "engineering marvel", well I call it a trench. There are no lochs in this canal, it is all sea level so they just had to dig a trench. A bloody big trench. It appears since 2015 they use an eastern bypass so not much goes through here at all any more. Looks like I should have stayed in Ismailia instead of coming here. I will work out a way of getting to see some of it.

Port Said was a fishing village till they built the canal. Ismailia didn't even exist then. They were both construction centres and now are big cities. When they opened the canal in 1869 port Said had 10,000 people living here, now there is nearly a million. The numbers are almost the same as the Panama Canal. Similar length, similar cost to use and similar profit to the country. Port Said is the least Egyptian city I have been to so far. They dress western and it just doesn't seem like Egypt.

Today I walked around a lot and got some things done. They have a raised walkway here along the harbour and you used to be able to see the ships coming and going but since the expansion they don't come this way anymore. It is still worth the walk and I got some photos of the old colonial buildings, including the old Woolies building. The plinth is Ferdinand de Lesseps statue? Apparently they pulled it down in 1956 when they nationalised the canal and havnt got around to putting something else there. The old Port Said lighthouse isn't used anymore but it is the first building built from reinforced concrete anywhere in the world.
Then I went to the bus station and got my ticket to Alexandria. I'm on the 10am bus. It was an hour walk to get there and my feet are now covered in blisters and raw skin. I decided to take a taxi back and actually met an honest taxi driver? He quoted me 10LE to get back so I hired him for the arvo.
This arvo I went to Port Fuad (Pt foo-ard). It is the other side of the harbour and from there I can get to the working canal. Well Tarek said he knew what I wanted but clearly he didn't. I soon put him straight and he followed my directions from google maps and we found the perfect spot to watch and take photos. I was heading to my spot and a copper stopped me. Said I couldn't go there. I gave him some lip and then said where can I go. He directed me past the ferry landing to a spot exactly like the one I was standing on. I dunno why? I managed to get a video to compare with Panama from last year, and some photos. I was lucky, you can stand for 2hr and see nothing then see 6 ships in the next 30 min. They were lined up coming out of the canal. The ones I saw would have left the Red Sea at about 4am this morn same as a convoy left here at the same time. Then they pass in the middle where there is two lanes for passing.
Tomorrow I'm on the bus to Alexandria