In the footsteps of Moses

Once Cairo was done and dusted, we headed for the Sinai. Getting there took us a good part of a day. We drove almost 450 km, passing through Cairo’s sprawling suburbs, under the Suez Canal, and along the resort-speckled Red Sea Coast (where we stopped for a distinctly unmemorable lunch), before finally turning inland towards Mount Sinai, our final destination for the day. 

On the outskirts of Cairo, our tour bus passed through Nasr City (which translates as the New City). From the window of our bus we caught a fleeting glimpse of the amber-hued Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It’s an impressive open pyramid structure, more than 36 metres high, elevated by a broad, low-rise podium. This intricately embossed concrete memorial was commissioned by Anwar Sadat after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Sadat's tomb was subsequently installed here after his assassination in 1981. 

I’ve included an image below ripped from the web. I had to include this to give you a sense of how elegant this structure looks close up. This incredible detailed facade was all but lost on us as drove by.

Sadly, for an infrastructure geek like me, sighting the Suez Canal was an all too brief experience. Our route took us through the Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel. However, security restrictions on both sides meant that our bus couldn’t stop at any point. The tunnel’s typography also meant our viewpoint was never elevated enough to see the waterway itself. Instead, as we approached the tunnel, we caught a brief glimpse of a container ship gliding through the desert sands. Watching this partially hidden sea-going vessel miraculously traversing the barren dunes was simply surreal.

Our tour group stayed overnight at a simple hotel in St Catherine, a tourist village located a few kilometres from its famous namesake, the Saint Catherine's Monastery. I later learned that this is the world's oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery. It opened in the year 530 which means its 1500th anniversary is fast approaching. According to tradition, it sits on the site where Moses saw his biblical burning bush. 

We set off from this isolated Byzantine outpost at 3:00am. Although, if truth be told, we actually hired camels to take us most of the way before dawn. Riding up the mountainside in the early twilight proved our least touristy trek in the Middle East.

While I'm not one for walking in the dark at 3:00am, at least another 500 people were happy to do so, singing hymns and Christian ditties until dawn. Again, the cellphone signal was solid on the summit. If only Moses had had such an option. The Lord could have just phoned in the Ten Commandments rather than carving them in stone.

While Mount Sinai was unforgettable, my strongest memories remain those of the stark, red, and purple-hued desert valleys we drove through. These hillsides grew all the more spectacular as the sun began to set. Perhaps the most magical moment though, was a brief stop we made in a date palm oasis sitting quietly in the middle of nowhere.

From Sinai, we headed to the coast to catch the Hydrofoil in Nuweiba. The descent to the harbour was an experience in itself. The road literally drops from more than 1200 metres to sea level in just a few short kilometres. The brakes on our bus overheated as our driver struggled to negotiate the steep incline. I've never been so happy to see a sturdy boat in all my life. The rest of our journey to Jordan was rather uneventful.

One final comment. You may have noticed that many of the images in this post are a little blurry. That's the legacy of my unfortunate spill in Alexandria. I had my camera lens extended on full zoom at the time and the knock it received threw its focus out of alignment. This seemed to mainly affect scenes shot with the zoom lens. It took me several days to realise this and adjust my photography to compensate.