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| Port Said |
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Shoes in Port Said
Yesterday I went to Port Said with JF. This was my first trip to Port Said which is an hour east of Damietta. It had been heralded by several Egyptians as the big city in its most positive sense and as a strong contrast to the back-of-beyond Damietta area, so I was looking forward to this first visit since my arrival a month ago.
Fact is, it’s not much of a contrast to my eyes. It is just as run-down, or maybe better stated as just as ill-kept as Old Damietta and New Damietta. That is not to say it isn't different - it is very different from the ancient city of Old Damietta and the brand new town of New Damietta.
Port Said is certainly a sizable city and has a large commercial/retail sector at the canal-end of town that have a much more modern layout than ancient Old Damietta and far more shops than New Damietta. It has several streets that run parallel to the canal for about five blocks that are lined with store fronts displaying the full variety of modern world retail offerings. One of the things that does set Port Said apart is the men’s shoe shops and other apparel stores. These include contemporary international high-end shopping mall retail chains like Puma. I am told it is for the capture of Euros from cruise ship tourists who moored here and are bussed quickly to Giza and back. I am also told that the strong apparel shop presence is due to Port Said’s status as a “free trade zone,” conferred on the city in the mid-70s.
JF was on the hunt for a pair of tan, dress loafers. The tricky part was that he wanted something that wasn’t too modern in style and that fit his size 46 (European sizing) foot which is really big. The shops leaned on toward the contemporary side of fashion and maxed-out at size 45 in tan shoes of all styles but had size 46s in black for some occult reason. The shops were well stocked with a great variety of high quality leather shoes and some of the shops were clean and well laid-out with displays and seating that were done with attention to detail This last is a rarity here, generally speaking. All-in-all, these shoe stores could be magic carpet transported to Fifth Avenue, NYC, or Walnut Street, Philadelphia, and fit in comfortably without resorting to a shoe horn.
While JF tried on size 45 after size 45 tan loafer, I looked about the first shop we entered. Near the door of the shop was a display of contemporary-styled moccasins with leather uppers and soles but having urethane tread ingeniously sewn into the soles. I was instantly drawn to them. When JF was through with not finding a fit, I asked to try them on. I told him I didn’t know my size and expected him to produce a foot measurer, but instead he took one from the display I had been admiring and the mate from a window display. He put them down in front of me, suggesting I try these on. I was doubtful, but I did. Dare I say, “lo, and behold” – they fit. With such footware one expects the soft leather to mold to the foot through wear; these were appropriately tight in width at the ball and heel but were the proper length at the toe. Needless to say, I bought them on the spot and, to the chagrin of JF, I paid the asking price of LE125 ($22). Haggling is a requisite part of almost any purchase here, but being unaccustomed to the custom, I couldn’t bring myself to argue with such a ridiculously low starting price. [I later watched JF haggle a pair of gorgeous tan loafers, a size 45 that ran large. He demanded discounts on top of discounts and walked away with the shoes and the clerk’s pants as well, leaving the poor fellow wonder what happened, cursing the British Empire and all size 46 Europeans.]
It wasn’t until I had my moc-shod feet propped up on the veranda back in New Damietta today that I recalled that when I was a boy my dad always wore black wing-tips when working but wore moccasins around the house – good quality mocs that fit his very narrow feet. I had such a happy recollection that I am sure this was in my subconscious in the shoe shop in Port Said, thousands of miles and thirty years from home.
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