I stayed in the city of Port Said, Egypt for four days. There wasn't much to do, other than the short visits to the neighbouring cities of Ismalia and Ras El Bar. The trip to Ismalia by train had been planned to fulfil my wish to see the movement of ships in the Suez canal. The train track from Port Said to Cairo runs right next to the Suez canal and provides a wonderful opportunity to see the canal close up. I went up to Ismalia and it was a very enjoyable one hour train ride. The train seemed to be a very popular mode of transport. It was packed to capacity and the un reserved compartments were overflowing.
The new Ismalia city built around the triangular Timsah lake, is a beautiful city with wide roads and parks. There are pathways, benches and picnic areas all along the water front and people were picnicking and enjoying themselves. We took a drive around the city on our way back from Ismalia to Port Said. I wish I had more time to spend there.
Another short trip was to the tourist place of Ras El Bar - the northern most point in Egypt. River Nile joins the Mediterranean sea here after a long flow of 6695 kms, and provides for an enchanting waterfront area. Ras El Bar is a triangular projection of land with river Nile on one side and the Mediterranean on the other, both of them joining at the tip where there is a light house.
The light house at Ras el Bar
The water front pathway at the time of sunset.
The plaque needs no explanation.
River Nile, at a place called Damietta, just before joining the sea at Ras El Bar
A group of conservatively dressed locals whom we befriended at Ras El Bar. Almost every stranger whom we met during our eight days's stay was very civilised in behaviour, very friendly in attitude and expressed lot of regards towards India and Indians. One of the girls in the group could manage a smattering of english which was enough to express the feelings and develop an instant friendship.
(Though I love to write and maintain a record of my trips on the blog, it takes considerable time and efforts to select pictures, upload them, set them at right places and post them. I loaded all the pictures of Port Said in this post by mistake and have no patience to take them off and place them in another post. Hence I leave them here with the captions. please bear.)
Port Said - the last two days.
I was on my own most of the time and spent a lot of time walking around. I could walk from one end of the city to the other end in about forty minutes. Other than the two major thoroughfares all other streets were narrow, criss crossing and and full of parked cars. Still there were no traffic jams! Port Said is named after King Said Pasha, who signed the agreement for construction of the Suez Canal. I walked for hours along the canal, the beach and also the streets and have posted some pictures giving my impressions of the city.
The historic government building where the decision to construct the Suez Canal is said to have been taken. I went closer for a better picture but was shooed away by the security guard.
The Panoramic view from the balcony of my cousine's 6th floor apartment. Suez canal starts behind the building at the right hand side.
Picture of a ship entering the Suez canal taken from a shack on the beach. Later I went for a closer look of the canal, disturbing a pair of love birds who were sitting next to an abandoned old boat. I did not want to annoy them and walked away from the place. But they followed me and were eager to talk to me! The girl knew a bit of english and was the interpreter. An instant friendship developed and the girl - who did not want to be included - took our picture. By then a security guard arrived there and wanted to know what was happening in the restricted area. He wanted to check our identity but I did not have my passport on my person. The girl explained to him that I was from India and touring Egypt. On hearing 'India' he smiled and allowed me to stay there with the restriction that I should not take any pictures. In this confusion I forgot to save their numbers which I had noted and the new found friendship ended there! The Name of the girl Yara, and the picture of the boy will remain as memories.
Looking like a pigmy standing next to the handsome young boy whose love affair I disturbed. By the way this was the closest I could get to the Suez canal.
I do not know what these conical things are. They are some meat preparation which were seen roasting in front of almost all eateries.
The ferry which runs all the twenty four hours carrying passengers from Port Said to Port Faud, on the opposite bank of Suez canal.
Port Said as seen from the ferry.
One of the thousands of Taxis that you find on the streets. You can get one almost anywhere and it costs seven Egyptian pounds (about 25 rupees) from one point to any other point in the city.
A typical internal street in the city.
The Church of Virgin Mary. The churches are under tight security due to the constant threat from the 'Muslim Brotherhood'.
The Al Salaam Mosque located close to Suez canal.
Under the pillar is the Egyptian Museum Of Modern Art and all around the monument are the government offices. This can be considered the centre of the city.
The City is full of cars and hardly few two wheelers. Fuel is cheap - Seven EGPs, about twenty eight rupees a litre. We find plenty of old cars of all makes and many on the verge of junking still being used for transportation of goods.
Person selling the staple Arabian 'Pita' bread at a street corner.
Khaleed and Ahmed whom we nicknamed Laurel and Hardy because of their build and bumbling nature which they sometime exhibited - probably due to their inability to communicate effectively. Both of them very polite and affable. Thy drove us around Egypt.
Sunset witnessed from the light house at Ras El Bar on the last day of our stay in Port Said. A beautiful end to a beautiful trip!
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| A Container ship in the Suez Canal, photographed through the 'not very clean' train window. |
The new Ismalia city built around the triangular Timsah lake, is a beautiful city with wide roads and parks. There are pathways, benches and picnic areas all along the water front and people were picnicking and enjoying themselves. We took a drive around the city on our way back from Ismalia to Port Said. I wish I had more time to spend there.
 |
| The entrance to the Agricultural University in Ismalia. |
 |
| Another view of the City of Ismalia |
Another short trip was to the tourist place of Ras El Bar - the northern most point in Egypt. River Nile joins the Mediterranean sea here after a long flow of 6695 kms, and provides for an enchanting waterfront area. Ras El Bar is a triangular projection of land with river Nile on one side and the Mediterranean on the other, both of them joining at the tip where there is a light house.
The light house at Ras el Bar
The water front pathway at the time of sunset.
The plaque needs no explanation.
River Nile, at a place called Damietta, just before joining the sea at Ras El Bar
A group of conservatively dressed locals whom we befriended at Ras El Bar. Almost every stranger whom we met during our eight days's stay was very civilised in behaviour, very friendly in attitude and expressed lot of regards towards India and Indians. One of the girls in the group could manage a smattering of english which was enough to express the feelings and develop an instant friendship.
(Though I love to write and maintain a record of my trips on the blog, it takes considerable time and efforts to select pictures, upload them, set them at right places and post them. I loaded all the pictures of Port Said in this post by mistake and have no patience to take them off and place them in another post. Hence I leave them here with the captions. please bear.)
Port Said - the last two days.
I was on my own most of the time and spent a lot of time walking around. I could walk from one end of the city to the other end in about forty minutes. Other than the two major thoroughfares all other streets were narrow, criss crossing and and full of parked cars. Still there were no traffic jams! Port Said is named after King Said Pasha, who signed the agreement for construction of the Suez Canal. I walked for hours along the canal, the beach and also the streets and have posted some pictures giving my impressions of the city.
The historic government building where the decision to construct the Suez Canal is said to have been taken. I went closer for a better picture but was shooed away by the security guard.
The Panoramic view from the balcony of my cousine's 6th floor apartment. Suez canal starts behind the building at the right hand side.
Picture of a ship entering the Suez canal taken from a shack on the beach. Later I went for a closer look of the canal, disturbing a pair of love birds who were sitting next to an abandoned old boat. I did not want to annoy them and walked away from the place. But they followed me and were eager to talk to me! The girl knew a bit of english and was the interpreter. An instant friendship developed and the girl - who did not want to be included - took our picture. By then a security guard arrived there and wanted to know what was happening in the restricted area. He wanted to check our identity but I did not have my passport on my person. The girl explained to him that I was from India and touring Egypt. On hearing 'India' he smiled and allowed me to stay there with the restriction that I should not take any pictures. In this confusion I forgot to save their numbers which I had noted and the new found friendship ended there! The Name of the girl Yara, and the picture of the boy will remain as memories.
Looking like a pigmy standing next to the handsome young boy whose love affair I disturbed. By the way this was the closest I could get to the Suez canal.
I do not know what these conical things are. They are some meat preparation which were seen roasting in front of almost all eateries.
The ferry which runs all the twenty four hours carrying passengers from Port Said to Port Faud, on the opposite bank of Suez canal.
Port Said as seen from the ferry.
One of the thousands of Taxis that you find on the streets. You can get one almost anywhere and it costs seven Egyptian pounds (about 25 rupees) from one point to any other point in the city.
A typical internal street in the city.
The Church of Virgin Mary. The churches are under tight security due to the constant threat from the 'Muslim Brotherhood'.
The Al Salaam Mosque located close to Suez canal.
Under the pillar is the Egyptian Museum Of Modern Art and all around the monument are the government offices. This can be considered the centre of the city.
The City is full of cars and hardly few two wheelers. Fuel is cheap - Seven EGPs, about twenty eight rupees a litre. We find plenty of old cars of all makes and many on the verge of junking still being used for transportation of goods.
Person selling the staple Arabian 'Pita' bread at a street corner.
A very popular variety of Sun glasses. I found almost all young girls wearing these types of coloured sun glasses of different shapes. Everyone is fashionably dressed in jeans, T shirts, jackets and shoes and wearing these glasses when in sun. A cigarette between every youngman's fingers complete the picture. Smoking is rampant but I did not see anyone spitting on the streets.
Khaleed and Ahmed whom we nicknamed Laurel and Hardy because of their build and bumbling nature which they sometime exhibited - probably due to their inability to communicate effectively. Both of them very polite and affable. Thy drove us around Egypt.
Sunset witnessed from the light house at Ras El Bar on the last day of our stay in Port Said. A beautiful end to a beautiful trip!
1 comment:
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