Historic Port Said and the Suez Canal
The canal city of 1859 — wooden-balconied buildings, the domed Suez Canal Authority and the free ferry to Port Fouad.
Born with the canal
Port Said was founded in 1859 on a narrow strip of land between the Mediterranean and Lake Manzala, at the northern entrance of the future Suez Canal, when Ferdinand de Lesseps launched the works with the first stroke of a pickaxe. Named after Said Pasha, the ruler of Egypt who granted the canal concession, it grew rapidly into a cosmopolitan port city where ships from around the world called on their way between Europe and Asia, with communities of Greeks, Italians, French, British, Maltese and others alongside Egyptians.
Architecture
The historic centre preserves many buildings from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially along the waterfront and the old streets of the European quarter: multi-storey buildings with long wooden balconies and verandas, arcades and shuttered windows, built in a style adapted to the Mediterranean climate and unique in Egypt. The landmark of the waterfront is the Suez Canal Authority building, with its three green domes, built in the 1890s. The Port Said Lighthouse, completed in 1869 for the opening of the canal, was one of the first major structures in the world built of reinforced concrete. On the waterfront stands the empty pedestal of the statue of de Lesseps, which was removed after the Suez Crisis of 1956, when Port Said was at the centre of the conflict.
Port Fouad
Free public ferries cross the canal from Port Said to Port Fouad on the Asian side, founded in 1926 as a garden city for the canal company's employees. The short crossing, among the passing ships, offers one of the best views of the canal and of Port Said's waterfront.
Exhibo editorial
Port Said is a city of balconies: long wooden verandas stacked on the old buildings of the centre, some freshly painted, many fading, all facing the sea and the canal. Walk the waterfront, look at the green domes of the Suez Canal Authority, and watch the great ships slide past the city's front door.
Then take the free ferry to Port Fouad and back — five minutes on the water between Africa and Asia, among tankers and container ships, with the city's skyline behind you. It's one of the simplest and most memorable experiences in Egypt.
How to find it
Port Said lies about 200 km north-east of Cairo, 2.5–3 hours by car, or by train. The historic centre and waterfront lie along Palestine Street and the canal entrance; the ferry terminal to Port Fouad is on the waterfront near the Suez Canal Authority building.