At the northern tip of the Red Sea, is the Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, forming the world's most important sea traffic route. The 160 km canal took 10 years and 25,000 workers to dig, and has been a major source of political controversy ever since. The Suez canal has witnessed five wars, namely WWII and a series of Arab-Israeli wars. The idea of building a canal to link the Red Sea with the

Mediterranean was first brought up in the seventh century BC by the pharaoh Necho II. It wasn't until one century later that the Persians actually started working on a canal. It was a small canal, linking the Gulf of Suez with the Nile, which pours into the Mediterranean. Work on the canal was continued by the Romans and Ptolemies. It was later renovated by the Muslim General Amr Ibn El-Aas, who was the first to think of digging a canal north, straight into the Mediterranean. He did not carry it out, however, from fear that it would provide a route for Greek pirates to attack the holy city of Mecca. Finally, during the 19th century, a French engineer, Ferdinand De Lesseps, carried out the idea of General Amr. The canal was officially opened in 1869, cutting distances between Europe and the Far East to a third, and to India by half. Ever since it has been a source of political conflict and controversy, it was closed a couple of times because of the Arab-Israeli wars, and it was only in 1979 when Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty, that things settled down. Today, it is a primary source of income for the Egyptian Government. There are three major cities on the canal: Port Said, Ismailia and Suez. All three were newly established after the digging of the canal. Touristicly speaking, there is nothing worth seeing in either them except for a view of the Suez Canal, so we won't go into details. You can get to Suez, Port Said, or Ismailia by bus or by train from Cairo