Day 88 - Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

 

 

Date:  April 6

 

Location:  Day 88 - Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

 

Next Port:  Suez, Egypt, April 7 (Cairo Overnight – April 7-8)

 

Quick Summary:  We spent the entire day visiting St. Catherine’s Monastery in the mountains at the base of Mt. Sinai. It was a great way to spend Good Friday.  And this pilgrimage was also meaningful to Karen as her mother had been named for St. Catherine.

 

Report:  We arrived at Sharm El-Sheikh at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula shortly after 7:00 a.m. “Sharm” is the capital of the “Red Sea Riviera” because of its fine beaches, languid waters and exceptional offshore reefs.  It attracts vacationers from across Europe with its many major hotel resorts, casinos and water sport attractions.

 

We decided to forego all of this and make the long pilgrimage to St. Catherine’s Monastery located at the site where it is said Moses saw the burning bush and returned after receiving the Ten Commandments.

 

The smallest diocese and oldest Christian monastery in the world, St. Catherine’s was founded in the 6th Century by Byzantine Emperor Justin 1. It was created around the site of the even older Chapel of the Burning Bush built by the first Christian Roman Emperor Constantine I. We were able to visit the Museum which houses one of the richest collections of icons and Bible manuscripts – the earliest dating from the 4th century.

 

It is said that Mohammed gave his personal blessing and protection to the Christian community here after they once offered him sanctuary. The monastery remains a holy place for Muslims with the inclusion of a small mosque. Because of this, the monastery was never sacked by Islamic forces during 14 centuries of religious wars. The monastery is also surrounded by immense fortified walls 40 to 200 feet tall.

 

One of the monks gave us a guided tour of the Library.  It is considered second only in importance to the Vatican library for the number and rarity of the 6,000 volumes held. Most are written in Greek with the rest in more than 10 languages. The monks are in the process of using modern digital photography to copy many of the documents for CDs that will be sent to research scholars around the world. With the CD’s, these scholars will only have to make short pilgrimages to the monastery to see the bindings, covers, etc.

 

We also saw the well that was used by Moses. It has been boarded up because tourists were taking “holy water” which seemed to be a problem. It has been a viable well since the time of Moses. Youwill also see photos of us with Moses’ purported burning bush. It is now a tree that they say will grow no other place in the world.

 

From the roof of the monastery, we were able to see the camel trail that leads to the summit of Mt. Sinai. There, the spot where Moses received the 10 Commandments is marked by a stone Chapel of the Holy Trinity. We didn’t have time (or the energy?) to make the trek.

 

After visiting the monastery, we enjoyed a buffet lunch in a nearby resort before making the return 3-hour bus trip to the ship. Both bus trips were interesting. Our two buses and a van went through many security checkpoints led by an escort truck with five tourist police. We saw some small Bedouin villages, a couple camel caravans of tourists and several wild camels. We passed through several mountainous regions. Some had sharp ragged red profiles; others were of smoother, rounded, yellow limestone. The changing colors were dramatic. There was hardly any vegetation, just some scrub trees and cactus. The vast, empty spaces were beautiful.

 

A few facts:

·        There are currently 23 monks in residence in the monastery. They will remain there for life.

·        The monk who gave us our tour grew up in El Paso, Texas. “I traded one desert for another,” he said.

·        Egypt has a population of 77 million. Some 85% are Sunni Moslems; 15% Christians (mostly Coptic Orthodox).

·        Egyptian is no longer spoken; most speak Arabic.

·        Camels are shy. They never mate in public; sometimes the Bedouins provide tents for them.

·        These “ships of the desert” can go 14 days without water. They have two stomachs – one for food and one for water. The hump is stored fat and one can tell if the camel has been traveling by the size of its hump.

 

Our first day in Egypt was a great experience. And tomorrow it’s the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx!

 

Karen and Larry

 

Photos of our cruise are available at the following web site:

 

picasaweb.google.com/larryworldcruise

 

Photos of our visit to St. Catherine’s Monastery have been added.