Before the Suez Canal was built, how did ships go from the Persian Gulf to Europe?

They had to pass around the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of the African continent.

The long way :-)

All the way around the continent of Africa…..a very long, time consuming and highly dangerous route.

I think mostly they just wouldn’t bother, or they’d transport the goods by road or rail instead.

There were tedious, long and arduous somethings. See above.

@pcmonkey incase you didnt notice from the above answers, the southern tip of Africa was known for having some of the roughest seas in the world.

A fearsome voyage indeed!

Was it at all common for vessels to offload cargo in Suez and have it shipped north for reloading onto another ship in Alexandria or elsewhere?