Climbing Mount Sinai, Sharm El Sheikh

1 more image

The trip to Mount Sinai is certainly a most! Although the trip can be quite tough, it's all worth it. The walk up at night is not for the skimish and one elderly man actually got sick and could not complete the walk down by himself. This should not deter you and as long as you're somewhat fit and healthy it will be a fantastic trip! The sun rising in the early hours is absolutely amazing.

Going up the Sinai mountain is hard, but absolutely worth it! You'll start at night, at around 2am. It took me about 4 hours to reach the top and then about an hour to wait for the sunrise.
Just to think that centuries ago Moses walked the same path!
You can take a camel, it's cheap and it will make your climb much easier, but if you can walk, do it yourself, you will feel great!

You walk in complete darkness with your flashlight lighting only the nearest surroundings and the road under your feet. When I walked a while and then looked back I was fascinated with the sight of a stream of lights from hundreds of people's flashlights walking behind! And when I looked up I saw millions of stars in the clean mountain sky!
It was fantastic!

A flashlight and a bottle of drinking water were provided by our travel agency. Don't forget to take warm clothes with you - at least a sweater and a windbreaker, cause it's cold on the mountain top (around 11C). When you reach the top change into a dry warm sweater and wait for the sun!

When you walk down in the morning, it's amazing to finally see the path you walked up in darkness.

The dry Sinai half-island is covered with these sharp edged mountains that are really typical.

The picture was taken when flying back from Sharm. Impressive view, huh?

On one of these mountains it is said, that the Arche Noah landed after the flood.

On another one Moses got the ten rules from god.

And Abraham spoke to the burning bush.

So you see this dry desert landscape is religiously very important land.

There are excursions to climb the mountain where the St. Catherines Monastery is. This is suposed to be the Mountain of Moses. if you do so, start in the night, watch the sunrise from the top, then get back down, before it gets too hot.

Hard to pick which is more beautiful, the turquoise waters of the Red Sea, or the stark jagged red mountains of the Sinai peninsula...

On this particular trip I spend a lot more time underwater that on land, so I can't be a fair judge, but I would love to come back and get the opportunity to hike up in the stunning mountains of the Sinai...