Religious Pilgrimage in Sinai
Trip Start
Feb 28, 2009
1
6
10
Trip End
Mar 31, 2009
Dahab, Red Sea and Sinai, Egypt
Monday, March 16, 2009
I spent my first day in Dahab just taking it easy in one of the beach front cafe's and getting back in contact with the rest of the world. Dahab is a vastly different town from the rest of Egypt. You still hear the call to prayer occasionally and there are still very few females in plain view, but there is a much more relaxed attitude towards life. Food is cheap, alcohol is much more available and there's not much else to do other than relax and take in the the beautiful surroundings. Not too hard to see how tourists that visit here get caught in the hedonistic lifestyle. It was a good day to recover from non-stop traveling of the previous two weeks. The only difficulty came as it started getting dark. I had booked an overnight trip to Mount Sinai so I had nowhere to really base myself while passing the time until eleven at night.
I caught the late evening mini bus to Saint Katherine's Protectorate along with a group of people who I would get to know as the night progressed. It took about two hours to reach the base of Mount Sinai and we started up the camel trail around one o'clock in the morning. The ascent wasn't too difficult but your could feel the temperature drop the further up you went. We arrived at the very top around three hours later and it was freezing cold. I was wearing all of the warm clothes that I had brought to Egypt and was wrapped in a sleeping bag. I spent about half an hour feeling miserable before the sun started to rise. It started with just a strip of light on the horizon and it was another hour before the sun had fully emerged.
Sunrise on Mount Sinai was an amazing experience. I'd rate it up there as one of the best things I was able to do in Egypt. As the sun begins to rise, it casts a surreal orange glow on all the surrounding hills and you can see the outlines of mountains way off in the distance. There were three or four hundred people all there just to watch the sun rise and when you can first see the sun the crowd lets out a gasp like it is the first time they've ever seen it. Adding to the spiritual experience, there were many religious groups singing throughout the morning in all different languages.
Coming down in the light was much easier than the way up. I chose to take the steps of repentance which is a trail consisting of a total of 3750 steps. There were amazing views on the way down and towards then end you get an aerial view of St Katherine's Monastery. Once at the bottom I had the opportunity to go into the monastery but I didn't really make it much further than the entry courtyard. After being up all night and having little sleep from the bus from Cairo the night before, I chose the option of having a much needed nap in the bus. I don't remember anything about the return journey to Dahab. I slept the whole way.
Back in Dahab I checked into the accommodation that I would be spending the next six nights in. This place was booked by the company that I would be diving with. I told them I didn't care where I stayed as long as it was cheap. What I got was a little hut on the roof of a building, and the only other people that seemed to be staying there were middle aged German tourists. But right then, I didn't care. I had a bed to sleep in and thats where I spent the rest of the day.
