The Suez Canal Part 2 - Egypt from the ship

We are now just two hours out of Cyprus, and I look forward to my first excursion into a member state of the European Union. It will be my last shore excursion on this ship. While the captain has decided to also visit Sicily, that day I will be busy packing and so forth for disembarkation early the next day. I will have a chance to visit there later in my itinerary. 

Back to the Suez Canal . . .

As I noted in my last post, we did not come very close to the three or four Egyptian cities we saw along the canal, including Cairo. What struck me most was the very long tall fence made of stone separating Egypt from the canal, complete with observation towers. Occasionally were was a tall black gate. Sometimes this continuous barrier was less visible - perhaps behind the sand hills, but you could still see observation towers rising out of the top off the sands. Between them and the green rafts that are for military use, it seemed to me that Egypt must be very protective of its borders. If only it were more protective of its own citizens. The problems occurring within what was once a great nation with such rich history prevented us from having the pleasure of going for a cruise down the Nile, and visiting the great pyramids. I would have so loved to do that, but of course it was not worth the risk. At least I saw Petra.

Also, on the Egyptian side of the canal, we saw a lot of aquaculture and horticulture - neat rectangles of ponds and crops such as wheat and corn, all on the other side of the fence. This was another benefit Egypt received from the building of the Suez Canal. A very long freshwater canal was built for them at the time of building the original canal, and now there are a number of canals that keep the land well watered and productive. According to one of the ship’s experts, Egypt supplies Britain with goods such as potatoes and other vegetables. Along the entire length, however, I only saw one small herd of cattle, and no sheep or goats. I assume their pastures are  further afield. 

One city half-way along the canal attracted great interest as it was being extended to the other side of the canal as well. A huge amount of construction of side-by-side multi-storey buildings (not skyscrapers) was going on, and apparently a tunnel is being built under the canal to join two halves of the city. I think the city was called Ishmaelia, though I am not sure how it is spelt.   

I had hoped the remainder of my photos could be included in this post and one other. Surprisingly, our satellite coverage is really poor right now and the downloading was taking too long. I will try again later.