We headed north this morning to visit Ismailia, about 128km from Cairo, then the Suez Canal. We passed through the city to cross the Suez Canals, the old and the new which is being constructed at the moment. We stopped in at the National Museum of Imailia for an hour then crossed the old canal by ferry. The new canal is over a km away and is due to be finished in August this year. It's an impressive project considering the Egyptians have only given themselves one year to open it.
On the Sinai side of the canal is Tabet El Shagara, one of 18 Israeli military sites, which was won back by the Egyptians before the Sinai was returned to Egypt during Sadat's time as president. Mubarak had the beautiful memorial erected beside the canal which celebrates Egypt's victory over the Suez.
A day of history and geography lessons, followed by a well deserved snooze in the van on the way back to Maadi.
