Port Said
Port Said (Arabic: بور سعيد būr sa‘īd) is a major port city in Palestine, Arab Union, located on an island on the western side of the Suez Canal's north end where it joins the Mediterranean. Home to approximately 1.77 million people, it is the most populous city in Palestine and the tenth most populous in the Arab Union; the Port Said Metropolitan Area is the sixth most populous urban agglomeration in the country with a population of approx. 4.48 million, accounting for nearly a fifth of Palestine's total population. Port Said is frequently rated in the top five of most livable major cities in the Arab Union, and is also infamous for its high rents and real estate prices and high cost of living. Its median household income is second only to Nasser City among major Arab Union cities.
The city's canal-side (eastern) coast and much of its Mediterranean (northern) coast are home to extensive port facilities, including multiple container terminals and pipeline- and refinery-connected oil terminals capable of handling the largest crude tankers, which constitute a major component of the Suez Megaport, the Arab Union's busiest seaport and largest in both physical size and annual volume of goods handled. Budapest Naval Station, the Arab Navy's headquarters and second largest base, is located adjacent to the port's main drydock facilities on the east side of the canal in Port Fuad.
The city and its metropolitan area are served by three airports: Port Said International Airport, located on the northwestern edge of the city proper along the Mediterranean coast, is the oldest and busiest local airport and primary international gateway to the region, Port Fuad International Airport, located across the canal's east arm from Port Fuad in the suburb of Abbas el-Hilmi, is used primarily for cargo and long-haul domestic passenger flights and occasionally international passenger flights when Port Said International Airport is at maximum capacity; and Arsuzi Airport, located on the Mediterranean coast just west of Port Said in the Egyptian commuter town of Ezbet Shalabi el-Rudy, is used by all but the most long-distance domestic flights.
Port Said is also connected to all major and several minor cities across the Arab Union and in neighbouring countries by Union Rail's network of intercity passenger rail, with Waterfront Station (the city's main train station and public transportation hub) a major stop along five intercity (including two high-speed or "bullet train") routes. Waterfront Station is also the main hub of the Port Said Metro, a six-line rapid transit system serving the city and much of its metropolitan area (including direct connections to all three airports), as well as a major hub of the local urban and suburban bus network.
Jazirat el-Oubeid, the island on which Port Said (the city proper) is located, is the only place on the western bank of the Suez Canal which is part of Palestine; a shallow lagoon separates the island from the Egyptian mainland, which forms the canal's western bank for the rest of its length. The island was a peninsula prior to the completion in 1966 of the Shatt el-Oubeid Dam, which flooded the sandy isthmus which separated the lagoon from the Suez Canal; as such, Port Said is the only Palestinian locale technically part of the African continent. Most of the city's metropolitan area is located east of the canal on the Palestinian (Asian) side, although suburbs and a handful of small commuter cities on the Egyptian side also form part of the urban agglomeration.
