Day 11 St. Katherine's and Mt. Sinai

Wednesday March 30^th

Up and off by 5:00 this morning for a long drive through the Sinai Desert. After leaving Cairo and the reach of the Nile, the land dried out and we were back into the desert. The highway was excellent and two lanes going both directions. We headed due east and two hours later we arrived at the Suez Canal. This is the canal that connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Without it you would have to sail all the way around Africa. We stopped at a rest stop just before the canal and you could see the ships 'sailing across the desert' from about three kilometres. The area is deemed to be of high security so we are not allowed to drive up to it. Instead the road goes through a tunnel underneath to Asia!

After that we followed the west coast of the Sinai peninsula where there are lots of beach resorts. It made me wonder where they are getting their fresh water. Didn't seem to be too many tourists around either. They we turned east and drove overland through the desert mountains towards St. Katherine's Monastery

When we arrived at the parking lot we met up with Jess (the guide from my last tour) who is just starting a new Egypt/Jordan/Syria and Turkey tour. Last time Egypt was the problem, now Syria is, but so far it's only graded level 4 (out of 5) and they are going through. She had five people in her group, three of whom where in the Intrepid group I met in Aswan, including Tarla. Jess was surprised that most of her group already knew me! She was glad to see me and loved the story of my hat being replaced. I asked her to change my last 50 Turkish lira note that I couldn't cash in Egypt. She had to figure out the conversion to US and then Egypt. Not sure who got the better of the deal, but I certainly didn't need a $34 paper souvenir!

Then we walked up to the monastery This monastery has existed since the 3^rd or 4^th century. It has been remodelled and extended throughout history and has been spared from invaders including the Arabs and Napoleon. Prophet Mohammad the founder of Islam, wrote an decree stating that the monastery should not be sacked or destroyed. This is a very important religious site for Christians, Jews and Muslims as it houses the 'burning bush' and Moses well. All three religions believe in Moses and his stories. Inside the monastery are a large number of religious icons and old texts dating from the 900's to the 1800's from all over the area. Most are written in Greek, but there are lots of other languages and cultures represented. This is said to be the second most important collection of religious artifacts outside the Vatican.

The monastery is located in a valley between two mountains. From the entrance you can't see much over the wall. But if you climb the hill in front of it you get a much better view inside. The church of the monastery is beautiful, but again no photos. There are many icons inside as well as in the museum/library. The walls and most of the icons are done with gold leaf of gold paint.

We wandered around examining the works for an hour of so and then headed down to the van for the short ride to our hotel, the Daniela Village in Saint Katherine 'City'. When we got there we had a buffet lunch that was delicious, and then we checked into our rooms. We had two hours of relaxation time before we begin our climb of Mt. Sinai, 2200 metres.

We started out at 2:30. Sam was taking the stairs because that is the way I wanted to go. He thought it would take between two and three hours. They are called the stairs of repentance and there are 3780 of them. They are rough and uneven with loose sand and gravel in lots of spots. The girls decided to take camels, which go a different route, but take you about two thirds of the way up. Sam started out leading, but needed a rest after about five minutes. I waited and then another rest after another couple of minutes. I wasn't getting warm that way, so I passed him and found a good pace for me, where I could climb and breathe without stopping except for a few photos. I made it up in 75 minutes. The girls showed up a half hour later, and they told me they had passed Sam. He never did show up.

Mount Sinai is where Moses received the Ten Commandments. On top of the mountain there is a little church and a little mosque as well. Sat around on top for a couple of hours waiting for the sunset. Talked to an English group from Cambridge who were here on a religious retreat with their pastor. They were staying overnight at the monastery. There was also a group of Germans who sang a number of hymns which lent a little atmosphere.

The sunset was at 6:00 and was quite pretty over the surrounding mountains. Then we began the climb down. We got down to the camel drop off place before it got really dark. From there we had to walk down the camel route as the other way is too dangerous in the dark. So using our head torches we descended as quickly as we could go. The footing was a bit treacherous but we all made it down. The route must have been longer because it took the same amount of time to get down as up.

Sam and I had dinner at the hotel (the girls begged off) and it was good again. Then a relaxing evening in my room typing and reading.