Private Touring
to the
Most Intriguing Place
on Earth

Through the Heart of Sinai to St. Catherine's

January, 2007

Now, to travel to St. Catherine's, you usually go by driving convoy into the heart of Sinai. However, we didn't participate in the convoy set up so our little group in the van included our own security officer, along with Nasser our guide, Azza my dear friend, and our driver. The first checkpoint is just behind Sharm El Sheikh as you approach the mountains. We had a good clear day and the newly resurfaced road is excellent. The security convoy arrangement has been in effect for quite some time and again, there have been no untoward incidents on this routing.

We traveled behind a train of some six 4X4's who were starting a 15-day Jeep trek from Sharm to Ras Abu Gallum, north of Dahab. Bedouin camping with cookouts, trekking, sleeping under the stars...through their Jeep windows these campers looked young and eager and CLEAN. One of those traits at least would change by the end of the coming two weeks!! You can do a 15-day trek by camel, too, or of shorter duration if you like...but of course you won't cover nearly the same amount of ground.

We passed a number of Bedouin villages with women carrying and camels staked out. I was very interested to note all the sights as my last trip through Sinai had been in the black of night as I was traveling to climb the mountain for the sunrise view...and on the return trip some 6 years ago I was just too exhausted to take note of anything.

Mostly truck traffic passed us as we drove through mountains, passing a busy cement factory. The mountains seemed to be separated by what looked like glaciers of sand. The simple truth is that there are no mountains on Earth exactly like Sinai's. And the wind carves cubbyholes and leaves jagged peaks and valleys that have the look of forever.

We passed sandstones of yellow, ochers and reds as well as sharp granite...this made me think of the Englishman I'd met on the Lake Nasser cruise and his description of how the Swiss use granite dust to enrich their fields as this pulverized stone was best for restoring soil nutrients. It will be interesting to investigate that further.

Nasser, our guide, told us that the night before it snowed on the mountain with high frigid winds. Having climbed Mt. Sinai years before in late January I remember those winds all too well.

This new road will ultimately be a 4 lane highway when completed as the two to-be-added northbound lanes are now under construction. Our security officer dozed contentedly in the front seat.

We reached the T intersection...RIGHT to the city of Dahab, LEFT to Taba and Nuweiba and into St. Catherine's Province. It's a checkpoint requiring almost a K turn to make the obligatory left into St. Catherine's Province, obviously to slow down the traffic. Now we head into the mountains of inner Sinai. About an hour later the road forked again and we took the left fork to the Monastery. We passed the “Twins” rock formation and then a remarkable plain where there must have been copious below ground water as the desert scrub plants were green and profuse.

At around the 2-1/2 hour point we drove through the final checkpoint and got our entry tickets. We passed the St. Catherine's Plaza Hotel which certainly looked more built up than when I last visited (but then so does everything else I've seen this trip in Sinai).

On arriving at St. Catherine's it was 11:30 AM, giving us just enough time to see the Church at the Monastery. No photos of any kind are allowed inside and the monks patrol to strictly enforce this rule. The Church, Greek Orthodox denomination, is tiny, ornate with gold and silver chandeliers, reliquaries and golden icons. The prized relic is the hand of St. Catherine herself, but you can only see this if you are of the Faith and pray at the altar railing...also carefully patrolled so the relic isn't viewed by the unauthorized. You are encouraged to walk quickly through the Church...there were a good hundred visitors that day, many Russians, and many of those Russian Orthodox, so there wasn't a lot of time for contemplative gazing.

Outside is the profusely abundant Burning Bush (of which there have been repeated attempts to take clippings from the Bush to grow it elsewhere, but these attempts always failed), and there's Moses' Well, marking the spot where Moses met his wife Zipporah. In truth the Well doesn't really rate a photo, but the story is a good one.

Also open for visiting is the Treasury. St. Catherine's Monastery commemorated 1700 years of uninterrupted aestheticism and the contemplative life back in 2002 and celebrated this event with the reopening of the Treasury. The project was completed in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and contains one of the most remarkable assemblies of religious art & artifacts in the Christian world. Now this (for an additional fee) is a wonderful collection of art and religious antiques, beautifully presented...these are some of the choice pieces in the Monastery's collection. The Monastery's Library was not open this day...visiting hours are usually in the morning and we may have missed this. Also on the grounds is an ancient Mosque, a stunning tribute to the ease with which these two religions co-exist peacefully here.

Nasser and I scaled the slanted facing rock hill to take some good photos and for a wonderful view of Mt. Sinai, itself, Jebel Mousa, or Moses Mountain. We could see the well trodden path up the mountain, this route I did on camel part-way going up the mountain years ago, but good old foot power coming down. I could clearly see the camel mounting area, and actually counted my blessings that I climbed when I did...and NOT during the current cold/snow snap on the mountain!

Sinai is shot with minerals (the pharaonic turquoise mines are here) and all sorts of fascinating rock formations. We approached by many locals selling geodes...rounded lumps of alabaster color that, when roasted in a fire explode to disclose wonderful crystalline formations inside. Yes, I couldn't resist, and neither could Azza. These are a particularly good buy from the vendors at Sinai...as you'll pay 3 times as much in a shop in Sharm or Dahab. The selection's better, too.

After a stop for some refreshments we headed back, retracing our steps. The visit takes the better part of a day...we arrived back at Sinai around 4:00 PM. It's hard to say what the biggest draw is here...the Monastery is almost like a step back in time...Sinai itself is timeless. On either account, this visit is time well spent.