Hundreds of travelers make the trip toward St. Catherine's Monastery.

The Other Egypt

Sanai Offers More Than Just Pyramids

On a recent visit to Egypt I took an excursion into "The Sinai" and had the opportunity to visit the UNESCO cultural heritage site of St. Catherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai. If Egypt is considered the cradle of Western Civilization, Sinai is without a doubt, the birthplace of three major religions -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Sinai was the place of the biblical exodus, a place of wandering for the children of Israel and the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments.

Sinai is a triangularly shaped land bridge linking the African and Asian continents. It borders the Mediterranean Sea on the northwest, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal to the west and the Sea of Aqaba to the east. There are long stretches of sandy desert lining much of its coastline and the core of the peninsula is landscaped with the tallest, most rugged mountains in Egypt, rising to as high as 8500 feet. Water is a precious commodity and oases are few and far between.

It was to this vast forbidding and unforgiving land that Moses led the thousands of slaves escaping the pharaoh's chariots. It was here that their transformation into an independent culture took place. And, it was also here in this barren wasteland, that monotheism finally took root.

St. Catherine's Greek Orthodox Monastery is the smallest diocese in the world and the oldest working Christian monastery. It's history dates to the fourth century when Emperor Constantine's mother, Helena, dedicated a chapel at the holy place where she believed Moses saw God in the burning bush. A larger basilica replaced the chapel in the sixth century and the massive fortifications we see today were begun to protect the monks and hermits from the bloody massacres carried out by the nomadic tribes of the area.

After the Arab conquest of Egypt, the monastery was given an order of protection by the prophet Mohammed, a copy of which is still in the monasteries archives. There is even a mosque within the walls to accommodate Islamic pilgrims and the religious needs of the Muslim personnel working at the monastery.

Because of its isolation, the Crusades did not impact the monastery and its valuable collection of art and ancient manuscripts was spared. Today the Library of St. Catherine is second only to the Vatican in importance, number and rarity of its volumes. The collections contain over 2,000 icons and 6,000 manuscripts, which are not only in Greek, but ten other languages, and, while mainly theological, there are also historical and scientific texts.

About 20 Greek Orthodox monks continue their work at the site, though there were as many as 300 to 400 monks at a time from the 10th to 14th Century. Their day begins at 4 A.M. and they spend at least five hours in prayer each day, with their only meal coming after evening prayers. Because of their rigid lifestyle, visiting the monastery is strictly controlled so as not to interfere with their schedule.

During the middle ages the entrance to the monastery was bricked up to protect the facility from raiders. After that, the only access was via a rope and windlass, or winch, which hoisted pilgrims, monks and supplies into the monastery via an opening near the top of the fortress wall. Thankfully, there has been a narrow entry carved into the fortification at ground level so a visit is much easier for today's traveler.

Once inside, the complex seems like a medieval village with narrow passageways and buildings of various architectural styles, shapes and sizes nestled side by side. There are tiny courtyards, balconies and vaulted arcades as well as a minaret and bell tower. Built in 1871, this tower houses 9 bells that were the gift of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. The monastery's main church dates to AD 527 and is one of the few remaining churches surviving from that period in the region. This Basilica of the Transfiguration takes its name from the stunning 6th Century mosaic of the Transfiguration on the ceiling of the apse. Decorated in gold and rich woods, the interior of the basilica is lighted by silver lamps and candelabra with numerous priceless frescoes covering the walls and icons on painted panels and pillars.

The most sacred part of the monastery is the Chapel of the Burning Bush, built over the roots of the bush said to be where Moses was commanded to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt by God.

Just outside this chapel is an evergreen believed to be from the same stock and found nowhere else but in this region.

Another of the significant historical parts of the monastery is its well, which is the main water source for the installation, and where Moses first met his future wife, Zipporah.

The paths that lead to Mount Sinai begin just beyond St. Catherine's six-foot thick perimeter walls.

Most visitors opt to time their trek to the top of the mountain to be at the summit for the sunrise. On a clear day you can see the spectacular red granite mountaintops and the entire southern portion of the peninsula from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba.

To get to the summit by daybreak our wake-up call came at 1:30 A.M. and our van pulled out of the hotel lot fifteen minutes later. Because the summit is at 7500 feet above sea level and it can be quite windy, we were advised to wear warm clothing. The second necessity for our foray was a flashlight or lantern and the last essential was bottled water.

Feeling like we were about to assault Mt. Everest, our group arrived at the staging point to meet our guide and pick up our camels. There are two ways to start the climb, the first on foot and the second on camelback. Our thought was to save ourselves for the 700 stairs that would be the final part of the ascent and to take camels to that second phase. We each had a twenty-second lesson in getting on -- and staying on -- our camel and were led out into the darkness of the camel path.

There were no flashlights allowed on this path so the animals would not be blinded by the light and lose their footing. This gave an almost surreal sense to the experience -- in the distance you could watch the continuous stream of thousands of flickering lights as far as the eye could see, like a reverse flow of lava, ascending the mountain -- while we were lightly swaying back and forth aboard our caravan, almost in another dimension.

The night sky was cloudless and the Milky Way was in full array with the stars so bright it seemed you could reach out and touch them. There was even a shooting star to highlight the experience.

After a couple hours, as the terrain became more treacherous, the camel path ended and we rejoined the thousands of trekkers about to take to the steps. It was quite cold, hovering somewhere around freezing, and the "steps" were anything but regularly spaced or of a standard height. Our flashlights came out and we began the demanding task of making it up the steepest part of the mountain.

There were numerous languages and accents being spoken by our co-travelers. Our group shared a guide with about twenty Korean nuns. There were also Australians, Canadians, Germans, Japanese, Nigerians, Scandinavians, and other languages that I couldn't identify. All were brought together in a common effort to reach the top of Mt. Sinai.

The exhilaration of the experience with several thousand other aspirants overshadowed the puffing and panting of the climb and the first rays of sunlight made the hours or effort worthwhile.

We then had the no less daunting challenge of getting back down the mountain and, now that we could see the way, we stood in awe of what we had accomplished in the dark of night. Whether you see Mt. Sinai as a mountain to conquer or as a religious pilgrimage, it is an odyssey that many thousands of people have embarked on over the centuries.

The next time you review your "Bucket List" and find Egypt on it, think about adding an adventure into Sinai to the destination. It is as authentically Egyptian as the pyramids, the sphinx or the temples at Abu Simbel. And, you might just make it to the summit for sunrise.