Port Said-Gateway to the East

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  Port Said, Egypt
Monday, April 7, 2008

Did you see us cruising through the Suez Canal? The length of the gulf is 195 miles & varies from 12-20 miles in width. The formal opening of the Canal was celebrated in Nov. 1869. The first ship to pass through the Canal carried the Empress of France. A long procession of 68 ships from many nations followed, with much fanfare. You may recall the Canal was closed between the two Arab-Israeli wars of '67 and '73, blocked by mines, trapped ships & artillery fire. It was Henry Kissinger who worked out a truce to clear the Canal & reopen it. All along the way, we saw Eyptian military armed with machine guns.
Yesterday (Sun.4/6), we arrived in Port Said. We traveled by bus in an armed convoy to Cairo. Again, we saw many soldiers with machine guns. In fact, there was a soldier on each of our buses holding a machine gun!
Cairo was founded near the banks of the river Nile & is not only the capitol of Egypt but also the largest city in both Africa & the Islamic world. 20 million live in greater Cairo.
People come to Cairo to see the pyramids & those were our first stop. The Great Pyramid of Cheops covers 13 acres. Napoleon calculated that it contains enough stones to build a wall 10 ft. high around all of France. Unfortunately, a desert sand storm began as we arrived & we could barely see the pyramids. The visibility didn't improve when we visited the Sphinx. The Sphinx has the body of a lion & a human head. The beard is missing & the nose rests in the British Museum.
We ate lunch at the Hilton Hotel on the Nile but because of the sand storm, you could barely see the buildings across the Nile.
Last stop was the Egyptian Museum, founded in 1858. It holds the largest collections from old, middle & new kingdoms & the collection of King Tut.
We are now cruising on the very rough Eastern Mediterranean Sea towards our first European destination, Athens in Greece, where we arrive tomorrow morning.

Note: I mentioned to you about the high security in Egypt. Security has been a concern onboard our cruise ship, too. We have 5 Gurkhas from Nepal onboard. Gurkhas are highly trained, dedicated, aggressive fighters with superior physical strength. We also have an audible electronic warning system which emits an ear splitting sound toward approaching boats but silent for us onboard. You might be reading about the luxury French sailing ship currently being held hostage in Somalia. We crossed the Strait of Malacca mid-Mar.& this Strait has been known for many pirates in recent years. In two instances, two unmarked small boats appeared from nowhere in the Strait & were within 50' of our ship. Our security officer activated the audible alarm & they took off in a flash.

Will write again from Greece.
Linda

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