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Introduction
2. A community whose purpose is
serving the Canal and its ancillary activities.
4. Its rigid city form and
population increase unfavored by its shortage of land
surface. The Suez Canal progress led to the
prosperity Port-Said. And, by 1981 its population reached up to 450.000
habitants, during the decade of the twenties it became an international trade
center due to the promotion of the world commerce which the Suez Canal
realized.
Hundreds of shipping agents, food
suppliers, banks, hotels and a big variety of firms whose activities were
related with serving ships transporting goods and passengers were
established.
In 1976 Port-Said was declared to be
a free zone. The Exemption of the goods imported from all parts of the world to
be sold in it from being charged with custom dues of any kind or taxes favoured
the interior tourism to a very great extent.
Port Said was a town with no port; a
port with no deep docks. It was simply and is the northern entrance of the Suez
Canal.
The city and its life were oriented
to the western influence being very strongly the Italian, Greek and French
cultures.
It is a straight forward city. Its
street planning is grid similar with cross roads and no curves, many gardens, a
large business quarter with mainly European architecture, many villas, several
European schools, many churches and Mosques. The tourist will not miss the
pleasure of life and clubs.
Port Said has a higher standard of
living than the rest of Egypt, due to the many foreign employers in the
city.
The street names were formerly
European such as De lesseps, Lord Kitchener and Queen Eugenie .. Last but not
least, it a very quiet city that goes to sleep early and awakes in the middle of
the night, when a ship stopped, to wait for the transiting ship
convoy.
Port Said is in many ways Egypt's
most beautiful city. There are numerous old houses with grand balconies on all
floors, giving the city a distinct charm. Port Said's twin city is Port Fouad,
which lies on the eastern side of the canal. The two cities coexist, to the
extent that there hardly is any town centre in Port Fouad. The cities are
connected by free ferries running all through the day. Port Said is
geographically isolated, situated on a low, sandy ground west of the Suez Canal
and east of Lake Manze la.
Port Said was bombed in 1956
over the Suez Crisis, and again in the 1967 and 1973 wars with Israel, and the
damage can still be seen here and there, although it was extensively rebuilt. It
was built on land reclaimed from Lake Manzela and sits on an isthmus connected
by causeways to the mainland.
Ferries cross Lake Manzela to Al-Matariyya and across the canal to Port
Port Said was bombed in 1956 over the
Suez Crisis, and again in the 1967 and 1973 wars with Israel, and the damage can
still be seen here and there, although it was extensively rebuilt. It was built
on land reclaimed from Lake Manzela and sits on an isthmus connected by
causeways to the mainland.
Ferries cross Lake Manzela to Al-Matariyya and across the canal to Port
Fouad. The site of the huge ships that line up to enter the canal is something
special.
1859: Established, in conjunction with the start of the construction of the
Suez Canal. 1869: Opening of the Suez Canal. This is the beginning of decades of
prosperity for the city. 1956: Heavy damages from bombing during the Suez-Sinai
War. 1967: New damages from the Six-Day War. 1973: Bombing destroys the centre
of Port Said, during the Yom Kippur War. 1976: Declared duty-free zone.
The offered information are aimed to
facilitate your stay in the City in particular and in Egypt generally, we invite
you to look at the Web-links to get more information about Egypt to make your
stay so agreable and fruitful.
So if you like the sound of it, click on
for more. We are sure you will find our City intresting and the offered
information are very useful to use
1. Its livelihood bound up with
the canal and its operation.
The total inhabitants was approximately 75,000
Europeans who had lived side by side with 129,000 Egyptians before the 1956
Anglo-French assault. This relationship in turn had coloured the Port Said
citizen, which made him differ from the rest of Egypt. Most Port Said citizens
were Egyptian in a town that was not fully Egyptian as they lived with
foreigners in the country. The Suez Canal Company had owned all Port Fouad and
its utilities including water and electricity and a substantial part of Port
Said.
A real Port Said citizen differes from the rest of
Egypt as he speaks several European languages. Apart from English and Italian,
he speaks French, some Greek and maybe a couple of other languages. He never
wore a Gallabiya, the national dress of Egyptians, unless he was a non citizen
of the city, mainly from the Fellahin or south Egypt and most importantly of all
he was open minded and very tolerant.
The economical base of Port Said is fishing and
industries like chemicals, processed food, and cigarettes. Port Said is also an
important harbour both for exports of Egyptian products like cotton and rice,
but also a fuelling station for ships that pass through the Suez Canal. Port
Said also thrives on being a duty-free port, as well as a summer resort for
Egyptians.
Fouad. The site of the huge
ships that line up to enter the canal is something special.
Unlike many of Egypt's other
Mediterranean towns, Port Said does not get overrun with local tourists seeking
sun and sea. Nor do many international travellers come to Port Said, but it is
an unusual destination for Egypt with turn-of-the-century colonial architecture
and several good museums and gardens.
Port Said, The City on two
continents
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© 2000 Yahia Al Shaer. All rights
reserved.
This web site is maintained by ICCT,
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The contents of Port-Said Web sites are prepared
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