Was there a sea route connecting the Mediterranean to the red sea before the cannal was built? I did not quite understand how the ships passed through Africa.
Venetian traders - and certainly not Venetian ships - were never going directly to India. Their end destination was Alexandria (or Beirut) were they were buying spices and goods from Arabic (and other) traders who transported goods by ships from India to Red Sea either Egypt or Arabia from where the goods were transported overland (by camel caravans) to Alexandria (caravans could reach Nile and then transported by river ships down to Alexandria).
Similar route was for Beirut, but this case ships wouldn't got to Red Sea but Persian gulf, and from there by overland routes reach Aleppo and Beirut. In each case, it wouldn't be Europeans who transported goods but Arabic/Persian/Indian/other traders.