The Suez Canal

A major driver for this year's trip was to see the Suez Canal (built 1859-69) as earlier attempts had been thwarted (2019 Covid, 2024 Houthis). Our travel agent was up for the challenge and we drove down to Ismailia to visit the museum. This was built in 1939 over the remains of the original Suez administration building and houses the numerous objects found during excavation of the canal. Unfortunately, photography inside was not allowed – a strange rule, given this was not an issue for the Grand Museum.

The building and grounds were colourful!

Photos in the entry atrium were allowed and housed some large equipment and a statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat who was the driving force behind the canal's construction. 

The museum included ancient monuments through to modern-day history, such as a moving model of the Ever Given that went aground in 2021. Although that blockage was expensive (not least for the ship’s insurers) it pales into insignificance compared to the 50% downturn in trade since November 2023 because of the Houthis’ Red Sea antics.

After our translated guided tour, it was time for a snack. We were driven around the block with our police escort to the front door of the Maison Maxim De Lesseps. As it was next door walking would have been quicker! This is a beautiful building which has recently been refurbished into a boutique hotel. Quite an exquisite dining room for our late morning snack.

There were two unique aspects to this visit. Our guide was keen to point out two bullet holes in separate walls and years apart. It is a little ironic that both holes were carefully protected. Second a film team sought and received permission to film us during our tour. I'm a little dubious as to the value we would add to any marketing material.

We then travelled North to Port Said and enroute swapped our police escort ‘ute’ with its supine sleepy policeman in the back, to a degree-qualified officer with a driver in a relatively unbattered car. The experience of crossing the canal, albeit by ferry, after years of waiting was quite euphoric.

The canal is a very busy shipping lane, albeit most of the transiting ships now travel through the Eastern arm. Unlike UK canals, a boat’s wash is irrelevant as this tug demonstrated by generating a significant wave that was not only felt on our heavy ferry but also created quite a wave on the far shore.

Once across, we had an unexpected visit. This was to a “salt mountain”. Sea water was evaporated into ponds and then formed into “mountains” using excavators and stackers. It is then manually put into bags for industrial use. Quite a labour-intensive operation.

Having overcome our euphoria, the return across the canal enabled a bit more focus on what a busy waterway this is. From large floating dry docks:

To dominating mosques there is plenty to occupy the teeming population.

A busy day which we rounded out with a meal at a local fish restaurant before our 3-hour drive back to Cairo. Here we selected the fish which was then cooked and brought up to our table on the balcony overlooking the madding hordes. Not quite the calm or, with the taped plastic sheets of the same standard as our morning meal - but nonetheless an unforgettable experience.

A long day but one but one which was memorable in so many ways – and of course ticked a long standing item off the bucket list!