The Famous Mount Sinai, St. Katherine's Monestary, and the horrid 7 hour drive back to Cairo

This post is about day 18, Saturday 12/18

Today was probably the most brutal day in Egypt in terms of being the most strenuous on my body. We woke up around 1:30am to begin the trip we had all been anticipating ever since we all got accepted into the Egypt Mini-Term abroad; The hike up to the top of Mt. Sinai. As we all know, according to the Bible/Torah, Mt. Sinai is where Moses received the 10 commandments from God and therefore this was definitely a momentous experience.

Oh, before I continue, I did NOT sleep well in the hotel in St. Katherine; not only were the beds extremely uncomfortable, but there were mosquitoes in the room that would not stop flying in and around my ears. Needless-to-say, I woke up with a ton more bug bites, including a number on my face! The best part about this is that Prof. Ghaly told me that there was this device in all the rooms that was supposed to repel the mosquitoes, awesome.

Anyway, we got to Mt. Sinai at 2am to start our hike. We were told that it would be a pretty easy hike and that the trail was like a ramp; let me tell you, there was nothing easy about this trail. First off, I woke up feel extremely sick this morning, probably because of the lack of sleep, and as I started the hike I was feeling extremely nauseas. Because of this, I quickly fell behind the majority of the group because I needed to take it easy, and for some portions of the hike, Ben and I were alone on this trail in the pitch black with nothing but our flashlight. This trail was extremely rocky and rough on the knees. There were a number of rest stops on the way up where we would sit for a few minutes before continuing, but the hike was extremely exhausting. It was also very cold out, but we were all sweating at the same time.

In the end, Ben and I caught up to the group at about the 2/3 mark where the 750 steps until the top begin. We were told that the steps would be the hardest part, but these steps are definitely not what I imagined; they were just rocks pilled in an organized way that sort of resembled steps, but I digress.

Eventually I did make it to the top, which believe it or not I wasn’t sure I would be able to do considering how sick I felt. We made it to the top around 5:40am and waited for the sunrise. Eventually the sun did come up and it was probably the most amazing view I’ve ever seen. With the scene of the mountains and the sun coming up and watching the most incredible starts I’ve ever seen slowly disappear, I realized it was definitely worth it. Speaking of worth it, it was SO COLD on the top that I got myself a cup of hot chocolate for 10 Egyptian Pounds and just holding the hot cup on my numb hands felt like salvation! After spending about an hour on the top, it took us about 2 hours to make it down to the bottom, which was the location of St. Katherine’s Monastery.

Once inside, we learned that St. Katherine’s Monastery is one of the oldest Christian Monasteries in the entire world. The Monastery was built around the burning bush, which we were able to see inside. Apparently there is some evidence that this is the actual burning bush that told Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt by God. I am still unsure how I feel about this being the actual burning bush, but it was very cool to see nonetheless.

After this we headed back to our hotel for a quick breakfast and then packed our bags to start heading back to Cairo. Because we were still on the Sinai Peninsula and Cairo is at the mouth of the Nile Delta, we had a long drive to go, 7 hours to be exact! In the process we visited an old military base, which was used by Israelis during the Yom Kippur War (or Arab-Israeli War of 1973). We also drove through the tunnel under the Suez Canal, which brought us back to the African part of Egypt. After a number of stops, including dinner, we arrived back the Mercure Cairo le Sphinx, the last hotel of the trip. It is crazy how fast this trip went by and we still have 2 more jam-packed days, which include Alexandria and the Egyptian museum. Today was probably the most exhausting day of the entire trip; I don’t think I even described the hike well enough to get my point across. Looking forward to the last few days to come!