Thursday, February 10, 2011

old Port Said and the Suez Canal

A close up view of the lighthouse, built circa 1869, 56 metres tall
Quai et rue du commerce (quay and commerce street)
Grande Rue dans l'arabie (big street in the arabia)

northern entrance to the Suez Canal
Ship in the Suez Canal and a dredge
Suez Canal - "le lac salé" (the salt lake - the Great Bitter Lake?)
from the Illustrated London News 22 July 1882

Port Said lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population today of of 604,000 The city was established in 1859 during the building of the Suez Canal.
Port Said is an important harbour for exports of Egyptian products like cotton and rice, but also a fueling station for ships that pass through the Suez Canal. It thrives on being a duty-free port, as well as a tourist resort especially during summer. It is home to the Lighthouse of Port Said (said to be the first building in the world built from reinforced concrete).
There are numerous old houses with grand balconies on all floors, giving the city a distinctive look. Port Said's twin city is Port Fouad, which lies on the eastern bank of the canal. The two cities coexist, to the extent that there hardly is any town centre in Port Fouad. The cities are connected by free ferries running all through the day, and together they form a metropolitan area with over a million residents that extends both on the African and the Asian sides of the Suez Canal.
Port Said acted as a global city since its establishment and flourished particularly during the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century when It was inhabited by various nationalities and religions most of them were from Mediterranean countries,they coexisted in tolerance forming a real cosmopolitan community. Referring to this fact Rudyard Kipling once said "If you truly wish to find someone you have known and who travels, there are two points on the globe you have but to sit and wait, sooner or later your man will come there: the docks of London and Port Said."

The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869, it allows water transport between Europe and Asia without navigation around Africa. The northern terminus is Port Said and the southern terminus is Port Tawfik at the city of Suez. Ismailia lies on its west bank, 3 km (1.9 miles) north of the half-way point.
When first built, the canal was 164 km (102 miles) long and 8 m (26 ft) deep. After multiple enlargements, the canal is 193.30 km (120.11 miles) long, 24 metres (79 ft) deep, and 205 metres (673 ft) wide as of 2010. It consists of the northern access channel of 22 km/14 mi, the canal itself of 162.25 km/100.82 mi and of the southern access channel of 9 km/5.6 miles.
It is single-lane with passing places in Ballah By-Pass and in the Great Bitter Lake. It contains no locks; seawater flows freely through the canal. In general, the Canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. The current south of the lakes changes with the tide at Suez.
The canal is owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Under international treaty, it may be used "in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag."

(info and below pic from Wikipedia)

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