Accommodations & Food The clean HI youth hostel (tel. 22 19 45) is on your right as you walk down Sa’ad Zaghloul St. (between Misr Palace and Bel Air hotels) from Al-Geish St.; you may want to take a private taxi (no more than LE3). (No sheets provided. Curfew 11pm. One fan per room. Dorm beds with 12 per room LE3, nonmembers LE3.5O.) The Misr Palace (tel. 22 30 3D, facing the luxury Bel Air Hotel on Al-deish St. six blocks east of the bus station, has dirt-free, furniture-free, and fan-free rooms.

Don’t get too excited about the sign for a Korean restaurant-it’s been out of business since stegosaurus DNA was last trapped in amber. (Singles LE20. Doubles with bath LE30, with A/C LE35. Breakfast included. Fans 1.E1.50.) Around the corner from the “Palace” hides the more comfortable Hotel Sina (tel. 22 03 94); rooms have ceiling fans, TVs, and phones. (Singles LE12.3O, doubles I.E16.80, triples LE21.30. Some have A/C for LE5 extra. Breakfast LE3.) The friendly Star Hotel (tel. 22 87 37), on Hotel Sina’s street, has large, spotless rooms. (Singles LE9, with bath LE12. Doubles LE12, with bath LE15. Triples LE18.)

The restaurant of choice in Suez is the El Tayib Coffee Shop on Hoda Sharawi St., (tel. 22 59 88), four blocks west of the post office. Fresh orange juice will relieve you of LEI, excellent baked macaroni a mere 75pt. (Open daily 7am-3am.) A more Restaurant (tel. 22 21 32), several doors east of Restaurant (tel. 22 21 32), see LF7 Al-Geish St., where an ordinary Egyptian dinner costs (Open daily 1 lam-12:30am; closed on Islamic feasts.) A pink, yellow, and blue sign on Al-Geish, before the Bel Air, marks a cheap sandwich, shwarma, and sweets spot (macaroni in bechamel sauce, green salad, and soda LEI .45). Food stands lurk at the service stop; a souk is on the same street just the other side of Al-Geish.