We spent most of today sailing up the Suez Canal, with Asia on one side and Africaon the other side. De Lesseps built this canal, but he fell out of favour when he then attempted, unsuccessfully, to build the Panama Canal. Many of the French invested heavily in the Panama Canal and lost their life savings when De Lesseps failed. We arrived at Port Said, which is at the junction of the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea at about 4.30 this afternoon. Engineers are going to work on the ship while we are here for just over 24 hours. Tonight, after dinner, Valerie and Tom and Bill and I went for a walk through the streets of Port Said. We heard the Imam calling the people to 8.00 pm prayers from the mosque minarets. The women here wear western dress such as jeans, some wear the head - scarf as well, and some older women are completely covered with only their eyes showing. The men were nearly all in western clothes. The dress shops had some very classy clothes for sale. I even saw a large sign for underwear. The town was pretty much destroyed in the 1967 war between Egypt and Israel, and while there are many new buildings there are still signs of buildings that were destroyed during this fighting. (Barbara)
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