World Travel Stories

Tag: Egypt

  • Climbing Mt. Sinai

    DAHAB – SINAI, OCTOBER 2004 – We were staying for 5 days in Dahab in Sinai, on the Red Sea coast.  From Dahab I made a trip to Sinai mountain, which is an hour or so away, and climbed this holy mountain… at night !The reason many people climb this mountain at night is obviously to see the sunrise at the top, which is, I must admit, absolutely stunning.  Some people tend to forget that it gets cold at night in the desert of Egypt, especially on top of a mountain.

    Mount Sinai (2285 m)
    The stairs on mount Sinai
    Our trip started at the hotel at 23:30, I had taken a short nap before I went to diner, so we went shortly after diner, already in complete darkness, on the road with the small bus that would bring us to the base of the mountain.  The temperature was a pleasant 27 degrees Celsius.  When we arrived at the parking lot near the Saint-Catherine monastery, we started walking the ‘camel route’, which is the easiest way to get on top of the mountain.  There exists also ‘stairs’, some 3000 of them, which is not only the shortest route but obviously the strenous route and at night a little bit dangerous route.  After escaping from the camels – obviously someone taking the camel route wants a camel …? – we arrived after an hour or two at a small tea house nearly on the top, we drank a tea and ate a sandwich, and were ready to go the last part – here you have to take the last part of the stairs route, which took another half hour.  We were the first persons on the top this night, so we had a good spot to sit behind a rock, protected from the wind, and I started to get dressed for the night, which means get out the gloves, woolen hat and down jacket out of my bag… The temperature : near to zero degrees Celsius.  It was a clear night, and it was so quiet up here – till the masses arrived… it was getting soon too crowdy to stand and more and more people were hiring blankets from the bedouins, some people were only dressed in T-shirts , shorts and slippers…
    Sunrise
    Sinai mountains

    The wait till sunset was still a couple of hours, but the spectacle during the last half hour when the sun slowly came from behind the mountains was spectacular.  After the last stars were gone, the mountain silhouets were becoming visible, but only faintly – it took still quite some time till the sun was appearing, first as a tiny dot , then in all its grandeur and brightness.  The mountains were coloured in red all over now and only at this moment one could see how fantastic this point was we were standing…  Most people hurried down immediately, I stayed a while to enjoy the feeling, and to go to the worst bathroom of my life on top of Mt. Sinai (highly not recommended).

    Saint Catherine Monastery
    Saint-Catherine Monastery

    The road down was easy and no problem at all for me with the hiking boots, the ‘hikers with the slippers’ had more problems.  And it is getting hot very soon ! When we arrived at the parking lot again, we waited to be allowed inside the Saint-Catherine monastery, which is an orthodox monastery and has a nice collection of old icons – too bad the monks don’t allow you to look carefully and the lighting is really bad inside.  Also inside is the burning bushes that Mozes encountered.
    A great way to end the climb of a holy mountain.
    By the way, after you have visited the monastery, there are some cafés around, so relax, have a drink and wait till your bus arrives.  Another refreshing experience.

  • Ras Abu Gallum

    DAHAB – RED SEA, OCTOBER 2004 – We were staying for 5 days in Dahab in Sinai, on the Red Sea coast.  This place is often referred to as the Ibiza of Egypt.  But we found it a very relaxing place, an ideal base for trips into the surrounding mountains, learning about local culture, and of course swimming and snorkeling.  It was our first snorkeling experience and it was really and eye opener – the beauty of the underwater world is truly amazing !On one of the excursions we made, we started in a place called ‘Blue Hole‘, near Dahab, and from there on , the only way further is by camel or by foot – but we even encountered one mountain biker !

    Camel Ride
    Camels , The sea and Rocks
    The path winds along the shore of the Red sea, in the shadow of the rocks of the Ras Abu Gallum National park.  Also the camel ride was a first time experience for us – our total time on the camels was 3 hours, which is actually quite enough (at least to me it was more than enough – I walked the last hour).  Each camel had its camel driver, which were in our case a boy of 10 and one of 14.  They were from a bedouin family, which we would meet later,  understood only the words ‘pen’ and ‘money’, and I hoped they went to school instead of doing this job… I already started to feel guilty because participation into this excursion meant they were succesful in their job and this meant… right, no school – on the other hand with the money they got maybe the parents could pay for school …Like so many situations in the world, also here exists no clear answer.
    Bedouin Village
    Bedouin Village
    All of the bedouin people used to be nomadic people, trekking with camels in the Arabian desert. Although a lot of the bedouin live nowadays in a ‘modern way’, the bedouin culture remained alive in the Sinai.  The bedouin are one of the most hospitable and enjoyable people we met during our stay in Egypt.  When we arrived in the village – which lives of course mainly from tourists and divers – we were welcomed with the typical bedouin tea, which tastes just great and is really bringing energy – in fact some herbs are used that bring this effect.  In any case, this is the best tea of Egypt ! 
    The food these people made for us was not only delicious, there was also plenty !

    Of course they also tried to sell some stuff, but without being agressive sales people , like in the rest of Egypt.

    Snorkeling
    Underwaterworld

    So we went a lot of snorkeling, and this place was just fabulous !  As soon as you get into the water and put your head under water, you are in a different world, a world of colours and full of life.  We saw many of the species which were in our book, even the poisonous ones we discovered later in our book.  Main rule stays: don’t touch anything, only leave your footprints on the beach.  We had our own hut on the beach, which was ideal for relaxation after swimming and snorkeling – the bedouin manage to make huts that not only protect you from the sun but also provide a natural air conditioning effect – no matter how hot it is in the sand, it is cool inside ! just great !
    After swimming, a bedouin man came with hot water, to rince the salt from our bodies ! A real luxury place ! And then it was time to get on the camels again and go home …

  • Mount Sinai

    Mount Sinai
    Mount Sinai

    Egypt, 2285 m – visited october 2004.

    The biblical holy mountain, easily climbed using the camel track , at night, to reach the freezing temperatures on top and admire the stunning sunrize. (Do not visit the toilet on the top – don’t)

    At the bottom , on the way back , visit the Catherine monastery.

    If you want more pain, take the steps all the way up (not recommended)