Chapel in the sky, atop Mt Sinai. Today I got back from hiking Mt Sinai, known to Egyptian Bedouin as Jebal Mousa or Mountain of Moses. I slept at the base in the guest house of a monastery there after hiking up during the afternoon, watching the sunset at the summit, then hiking down after dark. There are a few chapels like the one pictured in this area, and small hermitages for the monks of the region. Many claim that Moses received the Ten Commandments here.
The Monastery at Saint Katherine's, near the base of Mt Sinai, which is the oldest Christian monastery in the world. There is an American monk who lives there. A friend told me he likes peanut butter, so I brought him a jar of Jif.
You meet people on the trail. I saw Maya's red Galabia from a ways off, and we chatted for a few minutes as we passed, she walking down and I walking up. She is a self proclaimed spiritual "healer" from Switzerland who has come to live with the Bedouin in this area of Egypt this year. I guess she is in her late 40s or early 50s, sun kissed and healthy looking.
A Brew with a view. Cookin up some Turkish coffee after spending the night at the monastery.
The Descent.
Anthony and our guide Ouda on the trail to the summit. According to Muslim tradition, Moses walked barefoot. We wore hiking boots. We could have found the summit without a guide, but Ouda certainly needed the 85 Egyptian Pounds and he made sure the daylight portion of our hike was in the shade.
Mount Sinai is a holy place for Muslims, Jews, and Christians, as they all recongnize Moses as a prophet. Pilgrims and travellers alike form rock piles (if there is a better name for them please tell me, as I see them everywhere here, from holy sites to desert trail markers) along the trail to the summit.
This picture does not really capture the extreme terrain surrounding Mt Sinai, but it does show one of many tiny chapels the dot the landscape here.
I have travelled extensively with Anthony around the Middle East, and he climbed Mt Sinai with me on this trip. Good with a map (I usually drive) and always game for an adventure, we have enjoyed some good times from Morocco to Oman. At least once (and often more than once) on every trip to a different exotic locale, we lift our mugs high and toast "To the FAO program: It Does Not Suck!"
Bedouin guide on top of the world.
Fellow Arabic speakers will appreciate this: I found "Mabrouk 2000" stenciled on the side of this trash compactor.
Chapel in the sky, atop Mt Sinai. Today I got back from hiking Mt Sinai, known to Egyptian Bedouin as Jebal Mousa or Mountain of Moses. I slept at the base in the guest house of a monastery there after hiking up during the afternoon, watching the sunset at the summit, then hiking down after dark. There are a few chapels like the one pictured in this area, and small hermitages for the monks of the region. Many claim that Moses received the Ten Commandments here.
The Monastery at Saint Katherine's, near the base of Mt Sinai, which is the oldest Christian monastery in the world. There is an American monk who lives there. A friend told me he likes peanut butter, so I brought him a jar of Jif.
You meet people on the trail. I saw Maya's red Galabia from a ways off, and we chatted for a few minutes as we passed, she walking down and I walking up. She is a self proclaimed spiritual "healer" from Switzerland who has come to live with the Bedouin in this area of Egypt this year. I guess she is in her late 40s or early 50s, sun kissed and healthy looking.
A Brew with a view. Cookin up some Turkish coffee after spending the night at the monastery.
The Descent.
Anthony and our guide Ouda on the trail to the summit. According to Muslim tradition, Moses walked barefoot. We wore hiking boots. We could have found the summit without a guide, but Ouda certainly needed the 85 Egyptian Pounds and he made sure the daylight portion of our hike was in the shade.
Mount Sinai is a holy place for Muslims, Jews, and Christians, as they all recongnize Moses as a prophet. Pilgrims and travellers alike form rock piles (if there is a better name for them please tell me, as I see them everywhere here, from holy sites to desert trail markers) along the trail to the summit.
This picture does not really capture the extreme terrain surrounding Mt Sinai, but it does show one of many tiny chapels the dot the landscape here.
I have travelled extensively with Anthony around the Middle East, and he climbed Mt Sinai with me on this trip. Good with a map (I usually drive) and always game for an adventure, we have enjoyed some good times from Morocco to Oman. At least once (and often more than once) on every trip to a different exotic locale, we lift our mugs high and toast "To the FAO program: It Does Not Suck!"
Bedouin guide on top of the world.
Fellow Arabic speakers will appreciate this: I found "Mabrouk 2000" stenciled on the side of this trash compactor.
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