Egypt – Port Said and the Suez Canal

Silver Wind skipped the planned stop at Sharm el-Sheikh due to the captain’s desire to keep an appointment to transit the Suez Canal. It appeared that the canal authorities were a bit vague about exactly when we would begin the transit.  Captain Arma wanted to be there to take advantage of the earliest possible transit time, that is to be close to the beginning of the northbound convoy.  When Michael made the Suez Canal transit twenty years ago, there were two convoys, one in each direction per day.  The canal is single-lane with passing places in the "Ballah By-Pass" and the Great Bitter Lake. There are no locks; it is essentially a big ditch across the desert from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Michael's ship made a daylight passage and waited in the Great Bitter Lake for the southbound convoy to pass before his northbound convoy could proceed. Things have changed a bit now.  

We arrived in late afternoon at Port Suez at the south end of the canal .  Southbound ships were still coming out of the canal into the Red Sea.  We were told the northbound convoy would begin around 7 pm.  At the last minute, Silver Wind was assigned a spot in the middle of the convoy and did not start the transit until around midnight.  I woke up around 2 am and peeked out.  The ship was in the middle of the canal and I could see sand on the nearest bank.  Most of our Suez Canal transit occurred in the dark.  Michael and I both got up at dawn to watch the end of the transit.  The Silver Wind was motoring along at about 10 knots in a big ditch with desert on either side.  Cargo ships were visible in a line as far as we could see north.  More followed us to the south.  Gradually we passed small villages on the left.  We saw a commuter train go north and half an hour later another came south on the same track.  Every mile or so we passed guard towers built into a wall that protected the canal from approach by land.  All of the towers were manned by bored looking young men with machine guns.

Silver Wind, the only passenger ship that we could see in the line, diverted to Port Said as we reached the north end of the canal and docked at the same pier Michael and I had berthed at in the same ship in 2011 during our Mediterranean cruise.  Port Said was a little bit cleaner and there were no donkey carts in the street.  Otherwise it looked much the same.

Because of the traffic on the canal, we were not scheduled to leave for our next port of call until 7 pm. The original itinerary had Silver Wind staying in Port Said only two hours.  Now we were obliged to stay a full day.  The Tour Desk manager, Sylvia, had managed to arrange a tour along the canal to Ismailia, about half of the length of the Suez Canal away. Sylvia found a tour guide and hired a bus to take interested passengers to Ismailia from the African east bank across the Suez Canal to the east bank which mapmakers have technically decided is Asia.  Michael and I were eager to see another part of Egypt, especially places we had passed in the dark.

This tour convinced Michael that he doesn’t want to visit Egypt again anytime soon.  For the most part I agree with him.  First, there was an armed guard and a mysterious “Company Representative” aboard our bus.  We started out with a police escort.  Just outside the city, the bus stopped at a military or police checkpoint. The armed escort changed from a police car with siren wailing to a pickup truck with six or so very young men with automatic rifles.  Every few miles we stopped at another checkpoint and another truck with different young men with big guns took over the escort duty.  Secondly, the infrastructure was falling apart.  The roads were bumpy. The “peace” bridge, a beautiful modern bridge over the canal carrying a highway that  was to eventually connect Morocco in the west with Turkey to the northeast, was closed and had been closed for over a year.  Fear of terrorists coming into Egypt, our guide said. 

Our bus drove through Ismailia and stopped at a tiny museum.  We were allowed forty minutes to wander the two rooms and small yard all containing artifacts, mostly thousands of years old, some more modern that had been excavated near Ismailia.  The museum was mildly interesting but nothing in comparison to the Valley of the Kings, Luxor or Giza.  The most intriguing aspect of the stop was the way the armed soldiers blocked off the street as if they expected terrorists to appear from any direction any minute.  It didn’t make us feel safe.

The tour bus next took a small ferry across the Suez Canal to the “Asian” side.  We visited a monument to the Egyptian “victory” in the Yom Kippur War of 1973.  This revered national monument, a 100-foot rifle barrel with an attached bayonet, is falling apart.  We were also taken to a recreated Israeli bunker supposedly captured by the Egyptians during the war. Unfortunately, the equipment looked like odds and ends of WW II military surplus and even the signage did not make sense.  We did see lines of earth moving equipment and dredges busy at work widening the Canal.  Our guide proudly stated that the work was being done by Egyptians, not foreigners.  The Egyptian army was providing the labor and expertise to get the job done in just one year.

Our tour was running late due to all those military checkpoints.  The  gentlemen supervising the tour (the armed guard, the mysterious company official  and the driver) decided to try crossing the Peace Bridge as a shortcut back to Port Said.  We drove along a well-paved two-lane road along the east bank of the canal until we reached the approach to the bridge.  These gentlemen got into an animated discussion with the armed soldiers guarding the bridge.  Words were exchanged.  Money changed hands. All to no avail.  We were not allowed to cross the bridge. The tour bus, instead, hurried to make the last evening ferry back to the west side of the Suez Canal.  Fortunately we were somehow able to cut the line and get on the ferry after a scary looking armed individual checked our passports and, I think, accepted a gratuity.  We weren’t going to make it back to our ship by the advertised 7 pm sailing time.  Nothing is efficient in today’s Egypt.

Even the Suez Canal Authority cannot efficiently maintain the ship traffic on the canal.  Instead of two convoys a day, now there is only one in each direction and they all regularly run late.  Captain Arma was told we would leave Port Said at 7 pm but the northbound ship traffic did not finish until well after that. We were finally cleared to depart around 10 pm.

Michael and I felt sorry for, yet admired our tour guide.  She showed us the things there were to see.  Her narrative was good.  She kept to the fine line between official propaganda and telling us what she really thought about current events.  She allowed that the “glorious victory” in 1967 was the taking of one hill on the east side of the canal.  She failed to mention that Britain and France had pressured the Israelis to pull back and not cross the canal.  The saddest and most alarming point she made was that because of the chaos after the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood, ordinary Egyptians just wanted safety and stability. They were happy to elect General Sisi president and return to a military dictatorship. Michael’s and my conclusion is that Egypt will continue to stagnate.  The army is the employer of last resort for male youth.  Women are being marginalized.  The authorities can’t even seem to run the canal effectively and that is their main source of income.  Tourism is sure to decline further.  The outlook is not good.

Israel and a Bit of Turkey - The End of the Trip

After a depressing adventure in Egypt, Israel was a breath of fresh air. Silver Wind docked at Ashdod, the commercial port for Jerusalem, and again at Haifa for access to northern Israel.  We took a tour to Masada and the Dead Sea from Ashdod.  Both Michael and I have been to Jerusalem on past visits. Most of our fellow passengers were headed there to see the sacred sights. Instead, we joined about fifteen other passengers  and went cross-country to the Judean Hills and the famous fortress of Masada.  Not only was the history of Masada fascinating, the bus trip through the Negev and Judean deserts gave us a new perspective on Israel’s Muslim and Christian Arab citizens.

An Arab Town in the Negev

There are many Arab towns and individual houses in the northern Negev.  At its northern end, the desert landscape looks a lot like the plains of southeast Colorado.  There is enough grass cover for the local inhabitants to raise sheep, horses and even camels. Our excellent tour guide told us that the Israeli government is trying to convince the Bedouin Arabs living in isolated areas to move to towns where electricity and modern sanitation can be provided.  There is a lot of resistance because the Arabs fear that they will lose their land if they move to towns.  Nonetheless, we did pass a number of fairly large towns with one or two minarets and Arab style buildings.  We also saw other large tracts of lush cropland irrigated by a complex network of piping.  The government is encouraging Jewish city dwellers to move to new towns in the desert to reduce crowding in the cities The contrast to the scrubland around the Arab towns was striking. The government may be trying to reduce congestion in the cities but where are they getting the land to build the new Jewish towns? I think the Bedouins have legitimate concerns.

While we were on the Way to Masada Rain fell in the Desert
Our Bus was diverted Further into the Desert to Avoid Flooding

Michael and I had read about Masada before our trip.  It was a mountaintop fortress and palace complex built by Herod the Great around 37 BC.  It is famous because according to the historian Josephus who wrote in the first century AD, it was the place to which near the end of the first Jewish-Roman war a group of rebels from Jerusalem fled after the fall of the capital. The Roman army laid siege to Masada and built an earthen ramp up the mountainside enabling them to breach the walls on the mountaintop.  The Romans supposedly found that more than 900 defenders had all committed mass suicide rather than be captured. Whether the tale is true or not, Masada has become the symbol of Jewish resistance and determination. In the past fifty years the site has been extensively excavated and the whole mountain is a national park and world heritage site.

Bedouins Herding Sheep

Resort Hotels on the Very Salty Dead Sea
They Worry that Further Shrinkage of the Waters
Will Leave Them With No Beaches

View of Masada From the Tram on the Way Up

Layout of Masada's Summit

The actual archeological site turned out to be much more complex than we had imagined and far more interesting to explore.  We reached the mountaintop by scenic tram.  There are also two hiking paths popular with visitors that require an arduous climb.  Our tour guide lead us through about one third of the ruins and showed us Herod’s palace, the royal baths, the cistern system, an early synagogue and the spot where the walls were breached at the end of the siege.  No one really knows whether the defenders really committed suicide.  Archaeologists have found only the remains of twenty-four bodies.  The only account was by Josephus Flavius, a Jew working for the Romans.  He wasn’t there and heard the story secondhand.  None the less, the site was moving.

Most of the 2000 Year Old Roman Ramp Remains Today

View From Masada Toward the Dead Sea

Masada sits on an escarpment overlooking what remains of the Dead Sea. Masada is at sea level, while the dead sea is 1200 feet below. Because of water diversion from the Jordan River and continuing drought, the Dead Sea is shrinking every year.  The sea is so reduced in size that there are two parts.  The northern part is the extremely saline true remnant of the sea.  Separated by marshy land and kept alive by a channel from the northern portion of the sea, the south portion is very shallow and has salt ponds from which a number of companies are harvesting salt and other minerals.  There are a number of hotels on this southern end of the Dead Sea.  Their popular beaches are kept viable with the water drawn from the northern portion of the sea via the channel.  We had lunch at one of the hotels after visiting Masada and were given the opportunity to take I dip in the Dead Sea that afternoon. 

Bathers Floating in the Dead Sea

I Waded into the Dead Sea But Did Not Go Swimming
The Water Felt Oily and Really Clung to the Skin 

The trip to Masada and the Dead Sea (I did wade into it) was worthwhile.  I heartily recommend it to anyone visiting Israel after going to Jerusalem.

View of Haifa From Mt Carmel

The following day we took an excursion to the northern Israeli city of Acre.  This proved a great contrast to Masada and ancient Israeli history.  Although we were there to see relatively modern history (only six to seven hundred years old), Acre has been around since about 2000 BC and during the centuries has been an important seaport for many nations.  The city has been a crossroads for trade between the Mediterranean and the Near and Far East. 

The Courtyard of the Crusader Castle

In the twelfth and thirteenth century AD, it was famous as a Crusader foothold in the region. Acre served as a fortress of the Knights Hospitaller. While European Christians were trying to “liberate” the Holy Land, Acre was the de facto capital of the “Kingdom of Jerusalem.  Acre finally fell to the Muslims in 1291 AD. Today its inhabitants are Jews, Arab Christians and Muslims.  The Crusader era fortifications have been excavated and the city has become an interesting tourist attraction. 

Map of 13th Century Acre

 Our tour guide, not as good as the one the day before, led us through the Crusader fortress and through the Arab souk to the old port, now a marina for pleasure boats.  Newer structures have been built with the stones from the original city wall.  

Fish and Spices For Sale in the Market

The Ancient Harbor is Now a Small Boat Basin

We saw a dilapidated but well proportioned caravanserai that some investors are planning to turn into a luxury hotel.  We even visited the once secret tunnels from the shore under the city to the fortress.

A Several Centuries Old Caravansary Where Traders Bargained and Slept
 Is Awaiting Transformation to a Modern Luxury Hotel 

The "Secret" Tunnel From the Sea to the Crusader Fortress

Michael and I returned to the Silver Wind to relax and watch the Ship set out for Kusadasi, Turkey.  This would be our last port before the ship docked at Athens and we would fly home.

View From the Pier at Kusadasi, Turkey

Silver Wind is Tiny Compared to the Medium Sized Azamara Journey

The Castle on "Pigeon Island" Next to the Port

Michael and I chose to stay close to the pier and forgo the usual trip to Ephesus that is the principal reason cruise ships stop at the bustling resort town of Kusadashi.

Michael and I Enjoyed a Turkish Coffee at this
Seaside Cafe

Monument to Freedom

 We took two long walks and spent the afternoon packing our suitcases for our disembarkation the following morning at Piraeus, the port for Athens  It was good to have a pleasant, relaxing day before the thirty-hour, three-flight trip back to Denver.

Leaving Turkey for Athens and Home

When we landed at Denver International airport, Michael and I had traveled completely around the world in a westerly direction.  About eight thousand of those miles were by ship making about 20 mph.  

It was a truly wonderful trip. I saw parts of the world totally new to me.  Michael revisited places he had not seen in over twenty years.  We both concluded that there is no ”third world” in the sense we used to think of it.  Everyone seems to have access to cell phones.  Everyone wears shoes, or at least flip-flops.  The third world in the twenty-first century is still poor but a different kind of poor than formerly.  Many of the countries we visited appear to have a growing middle class and aspirations for a better life.  

Our greatest concern is for the Middle East, Egypt in particular. Oman and Jordan are essentially stable monarchies.  What will happen when the current rulers are gone is a anyone's guess.  I suspect  a great deal turmoil at the least.  Egypt, in actuality a military dictatorship, is the least stable nation we visited.  We avoided Yemen with its religious wars which appear to be strengthening the radical factions including El Qaeda.