The View is Worth It

  Cairo, Egypt
Monday, May 7, 2007

We had an EARLY start this morning - we were woken up at 2am, left the hotel by 2:30am, and by 3am we had picked up our Bedouin guide at the foot of the mountain, strapped on our headlamps, and started climbing Mount Sinai.  We took what is known as the Camel Path up, so called because we were passed by a number of pushy camels carrying Korean and Italian tourists up the mountain as well.  On top of the rocky terrain, we also had to try and dodge all of the camel droppings on the path, not an easy task with only the light of a little headlamp!

It was a clear night with a brilliant full moon, though, and the stars were out as we made our way up the mountain.  The mountain is about 2800metres high, and the idea was that by starting our trek at 3am, we would reach the top in time for sunrise, and avoid the worst of the heat by the time we came back down.  Amazingly, there were endless little Bedouin-run cafes and tea shops along the way, and you could buy a cold soft drink or have a cup of tea, literally on the side of a mountain in the middle of the night.  The spirit of enterprise in these countries never ceases to amaze me!

Church on the Mountain

We reached the top by about 5:30am, with plenty of time to spare before sunrise at 6am.  It had been warm climbing all the way up, but was chilly at the top, and we huddled behind a rock out of the wind as we watched a huge red ball of sun climb over the endless ocean of cliffs and mountain tops spread out before us.  It was stunningly beautiful.  There were lots of other people at the top, especially religious tour groups - for all of you Biblical scholars out there, the top of Mt Sinai is apparently where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, and it is a site of huge significance for all three of the monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  Several of the groups started singing hymns as the sun was rising, which was actually very cool - a loudly tuneless but enthusiastic group of Italians were luckily drowned out by the much more tuneful Koreans.

Sunrise on the Mountain

We headed back down after soaking in the view for a while, the rising sun coating the surrounding mountains in a brilliant gold colour.  It was really spectacular, but we were glad to reach the bottom with the temperatures already climbing.  We headed back to the hotel for a quick shower and breakfast, then it was back on the bus and on to Cairo!  The bus trip took us along the Suez Canal, but as most of us were sound asleep by that point, we didn't see much. 

The Golden Stone

We've arrived in the crazy, chaotic, smoggyily beautiful city of Cairo after a seven hour bus trip, and are off to the Pyramids tomorrow.  This part of the tour is pretty action-packed, so we'll try and catch up on our sleep where we can!

All our best from Egypt,
Dan and Gabes

The Monastery of St. Katherine