Pole to Pole
Day 52: Port Said

Those of us not directly responsible for the equipment can only wait, guiltily, at the Helnan Port Said Hotel, which is run, ironically, by a Scandinavian company.
In its grounds and along the Mediterranean shoreline Egyptian holidaymakers are engaged in frantic physical activity - running, judo, soccer, tennis and what appear to be aerobic classes. The screams of children playing in the pool mingle oddly with the wailing chant of the call to prayer.
The day's filming is wrecked by the long wait in Customs and for the crew the last straw is that all the restaurants in Port Said are dry, the work of a zealously Islamic mayor.
There are also mixed opinions over what it is safe to eat. Should we eat the salad, which looks appetizing but which my medical bible - Richard Dawood's How to Stay Healthy Abroad - does not recommend in Africa? Or the crayfish from the Med? In the end I eat both, because I'm terribly hungry.
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PALIN'S GUIDES
- Series: Pole to Pole
- Day: 52
- Country/sea: Egypt
- Place: Port Said
- Book page no: 116
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RELATED LINKS
- Egypt
- Day 7
- Around the World in 80 Days
- Day 8
- Around the World in 80 Days
- Day 9
- Around the World in 80 Days