Mt. Sinai/St. Katherine’s Monastery

Our last big event planned for Egypt was a visit to Mt. Sinai. Mt. Sinai is the location of the Burning Bush from which God spoke to Moses.

Here is how are trip went:

9:45 PM Pick up from our hotel. Then, we were in the van for a long time picking up other hikers before we started our drive to the mountain. We also had to stop at several police checks along the way and show our passports.

3:00 AM We arrived at the mountain and began our climb. There are two ways up the mountain. One is called the camel trail and the other way is by taking 3750 stairs. Both routes have 750 stairs at the end. We had planned to take the stair route, but our guide was not happy about this. We figured that he knew best, so we started out on the camel trail. I planned to hike ½ of it, and then hire a camel in the middle to take me the rest of the way. But, I ended up hiking it all. There are shelters along the way up that sell food and drinks. There are also several offers for camel rides along the way. It was beautiful seeing the outlines of camels in the dark along the different peeks of the hills. Since it was dark, my pictures cannot properly display the unrealness of hiking at night.

5:30 AM Only 750 stairs to go! If it weren’t for the glimpse of orange peeking through the blackness, I’m not sure that I would have made it. So, at this point, the race to get to the top of the mountain before the sunrise began.

5:50 AM Made it! The sky had turned a beautiful assortments of pinks and oranges. At least a couple hundred people were pushing their way to the edge of the cliff to have the best views of the beautiful sky and emerging scenery. I could not believe how many people fit onto the tip top of this mountain. I was so absorbed in the sunrise that for a few minutes I forgot about the cold. My toes were frozen. Living in Nigeria I didn’t really have the proper clothing. Luckily at the bottom I had purchased a hat and gloves.

7:00 AM We began the descent. In the light it felt like we were on a completely different mountain. As you can see from my pictures, I loved watching the camels.

9:00 AM We toured St. Katherine’s Monastery, which is directly at the bottom of the mountain. It is one of early Christianity’s only surviving churches. It’s many highlights include a plant that is the descendent of the original Burning Bush and the Well of Moses.

2:00 PM (Next Day) We arrived back at our hotel. We took a short nap, and then went in to town for Christmas Eve dinner.

4:00 AM (Next Day) We were picked up at the airport to fly back to Cairo. Sleep is much needed at this point.