My last Voyage East post was on Port Said. The point, eventually, is to build up a book of postcards from all the points on the old ocean voyage passengers took from London to Shanghai. I’m not necessarily posting in geographical order, though did start at Gallion’s Reach, the place in the Port of London where ships bound East began their journey. I’ve unearthed a few more postcards from various stop off points – this time Alexandria. The post card left (printed and published by the Cairo Post Card Trust) shows Alexandria Harbour with a passenger ship moored up.
Alexandria of course sits on the other side of the Suez Canal to Port Said so ships invariably either stopped at Port Said or Alexandria. Both were, obviously, in Egypt and provided passengers with side trips to the Pyramids and Cairo. It must have been a eagerly anticipated stop on the voyage, especially for classicists, having been founded by Alexander the Great.
Of course there was also a resident foreign community – a lot of French and some Brits among others and they had their institutions which were often visited by passengers stopping over. The postcard opposite is of the Alexandria Sporting Club (taken by B. Sirven) which probably supplied a good drink along with some sports.
The Voyage East I - Gallions Reach: Where the Journey Began
The Voyage East II - Port Said
The Voyage East IV - Through The CanalThe Voyage East V - Suakim, Port Sudan
The Voyage East VI - Resupply at Aden
The Voyage East VII - Gibraltar
The Voyage East VIII - Suez- You Rather Hoped Not
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