Until we can once again cruise to exotic lands, we can dream. Here’s a story that was first posted in The Cruisington Times in 2011. Mount Sinai is timeless and many of the scenes on this tour are reminiscent of Biblical days.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
That’s the reaction I had on an opportunity to drive into the Sinai desert when Silversea Cruises’ Silver Spirit called on Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.
I almost gave the tour from the ship a pass, after reading the description of a three-hour bus ride each way through the Sinai desert to pay a visit to the remote St. Catherine’s Monastery, built on this historic site in the fourth century and inhabited ever since.
I was intrigued, because the monastery has long claimed that growing in its courtyard is none other than the legendary burning bush that the Bible says was where God first made contact with Moses. As flames leapt from its stems, so it’s written, Moses was told he was the one chosen to lead the Israelites from their decades-long exile in the desert to a land flowing with milk and honey.
From picture books, I had a mental picture of the Sinai as being a endless landscape of monotonous sand. But the reality was so ever-changing and fascinating I ended up actually hoping the bus ride would be longer.
There’s plenty of sand but the predominant features are craggy peaks of granite, limestone and weathered sandstone in colors that range from stark white to rose to burnt ochre. I wandered how the Israelites even got around or over some of the imposing crags, whose surfaces get scalded by 40 C (104 F) heat in the daytime. I imagined anyone climbing some of these stony peaks might even today might be the first human ever to make it to the top.
The few signs of habitation I saw seemed straight out the Bible as well. Children dressed in homespun tunics rode on donkeys. Bedouins in flowing robes led trains of camels bedecked with colorful home-made saddles. And shops were little more than goods laid out on a blanket across a convenient rock.
I came away with a deep admiration of the fortitude of people who live in a climate like this. One advantage, though, is that the air here may be the freshest on earth, because there is not a source of pollution for hours in any direction.
Was this trip worth it? Definitely.
The only downside was that on a day trip you only get a few precious minutes inside the still active monastery filled with gorgeous icons, artworks and illuminated manuscripts. We arrived at 11 and the monastery officially closes to the public at noon. I might even want to go back and stay overnight at one of the small hotels near the monastery that book up months in advance, so I could arrive when the monastery doors open at 9 a.m.
And spending a quiet morning in the monastery would allow time to contemplate the burning bush– or at least a green bush that must resemble one that traditions say grew on this spot more than three millennia ago. It’s a nice touch that they put a fire extinguisher next to it—just in case.
The adventurous can also climb the 3,000 steps to the top of Mount Saint Catherine, which was believed to be the Mount Sinai referred to in the Bible. Thanks, but the air conditioned bus seems like a better option.
Truly great photos with informative comments. Thank you!