Climbing Mt Sinai

We are all excited at the prospect of visiting Mt Sinai.  This is the place where Moses is reputed to have received the ten commandments and where God spoke to him via a burning bush.  The place is of religious significance to Jews, Muslims and Christians who all believe in this event and hence travellers share the space with devout pilgrims who often stop to sing hymns along the way.

We had woken up in the early hours of the morning to start this 7 hour journey to Mt Sinai from Cairo.  Our old group is now down to 6 but we have been joined by quite a few new travellers.  Alan & Tracy, a couple from Brisbane, Yvonne – a young traveller from Melbourne and 2 solo male travellers in Luke (from Sydney) and Paul (from Canada).  Our new guide is Sarah, who is originally from New Zealand but also spent time in OZ.  Given the amount of Australians I have met on my travels, I wonder how many people are left back home :)!

We drive across the Suez canal and discuss the turbulent history of this trade crossing, significant for so many nations.  There are container ships as far as your eye can see, lining up for their turn to get through this narrow stretch of water.  Young soldiers guard the road along this stretch and wave goodbye as we drive past.  It must be a mind numbing job to stand guard in the heat of the middle eastern sun, but it is obviously a very strategic and sensitive location. 

When we are told after lunch that there is a threat of rain our hike up Mt Sinai might be cancelled we are a bit crestfallen.  Fortunately, when we get there, the rains are still not upon us and we jointly decide to take the risk and go up the mountain.  Our other option was to wake up at 2 in the morning for sunrise, which was not one anyone one of us really favoured.   

We walk up the path to St Katherine’s Monastery, which we will come back to visit tomorrow.  The Monastery houses a beautiful collection of medieval art, including the famed burning bush in the courtyard and has an amazing collection of ancient scripts.  A true gem of a place to visit if not for the crowds. 

The monastery traces its roots back to AD 330 and was built during Constantine’s rule and is dedicated to St Katherine.  She was tormented on a spiked wheel and then beheaded because she converted Emperor Maximus’s wife to Christianity.  This is the origin of the Katherine Wheels we once lit and spun around as kids during Christmas and New Year’s eve parties. 

There are a few options to get up the mountain.  I have passed up the 3,750 steps of repentance for a ride up most of the way on the back of a camel. 

It is a beautiful, quiet way to get up the mountain and contemplate the historic significance of the site.   We chat to our Bedouin guide along the way conscious of the fact that his ancestors also established their homes here all those years ago.  He makes sure the camels keep to the trail, while he listens to his IPOD with one ear and answers our questions. 

A few people pass us along the way on foot.  They have passed up the steps but have chosen to walk up the meandering  camel path, a slightly easier option.

After about an hour of riding, the silence of the mountain is broken by the sound of singing.  A group of French pilgrims are just ahead of us and have broken the quiet by singing praises to their God, although we are just not sure which religious persuasion they are from. 

A bit more riding and we sense we are close to Elijah’s Basin the place where the hikers and camel riders converge to climb the last 750 steps together.  The steps are steep, very rocky and uneven but we take it slowly and make it to the summit for sunset.

It is quite a spectacular view from the top of this 2,285m mountain.  We sip tea and watch the rain beating down not that far from where we are.  We are grateful to have been spared the deluge which is a truly rare event in these parts where rain is hardly ever seen. 

The sunset is beautiful and it would be glorious to spend the night here but we are walking back down in the dark and will spend the night at our hotel.

The moon lights are way down the slippery camel trail as we hike back down the mountain. 

It had been a wonderful experience and we hoped we wouldn’t be too sore in the morning. 

“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey.” – Barbara Hoffman