Day 9: Wednesday May 11 Drive to Mt. Sinai

Day 9, Wednesday May 11 Drive to Mt. Sinai

We left really early for our drive to Egypt. The big suitcases stayed at the hotel and we just brought day bags for one night at the hotel in the town of St. Catherine. Joseph drove with us to the border.  As always,
on the way there he told us detalis about the past and the present. As we drove past the Dead Sea, he said that the only way to traverse the desert was using a camel. You could not do it on foot, not even on a horse.
This is why the camel is called the "ship of the desert".

He pointed out accacia trees. The Arc of the Covenanat was made from accacia wood. The presence of accacia tree in the desert indicates that there is water in that area, this is where one is likely to be successful in digging a well.

We look for ibex goats on the slops of the mountains we pass.

First short stop was to dip our toes in the Dead Sea. We stopped at a resort complex and walked to the beach. Joseph warned us that if we stayed too long, your toes would get picked and shrivel away :). The water is very salty, it tastes almost acidic and stings if you have a cut or a mosquito bite. We took some pictures and off we went.

We drove by Mt. Sodom and a statue of Lot's wife, who turned into the stone after looking back.
Dead Sea Works is a factory on the shore of Dead Sea where they extract lots of minerals. Dead Sea is one of the biggest deposits of many minerals. We leave Dead Sea behind and keep driving through the desert.....

Lunch stop is at Yotvata Kabutz. THis place is famous for its dairy products and especially ice cream.

As we keep driving, Joseph said that we went by the Timna National Park, with King Solomon mine, where copper for the Pharaohs came from, and also malakayt (sp?) stone.


THen we reach the Red Sea and the city of Eliat, a resort with many attractions such as Imax theartre, underwater observatory, shopping malls. This resort city receives very little rain and has no water source near by, so all its water comes from desalination. The Red Sea has beautiful coral reefs, warm water and sharks! On the other side of Eliat is Jordan's city Aquaba, which is I think their only sea access.

As we get closer to the border with Egypt, we say goodbye to Joseph. Fr. Meletios offers him a beautiful cross as a gift, one he will be able to use when he becomes priest!  Joseph tells us that each one of
us is now a "hadji", a pilgrim blessed throught his/her visit to the Holy Land. And it is up to us to pass that blessing to people in our lives who have not been here yet....

We go throught the border crossing with Egypt, mostly without too much excitement, but its a different experience. We walk with our luggage, through Israeli security to Egyptian land boarder crossing of Taba.
On the other side there is a new bus and drive Mohamed, a new guide Osama, his assistant, a police security preson in plain clothes.  I think we have a car escort for a little while too.   Our guide is very eager to tell us all he can.
Our drive is 1/2 hour from Taba to Nueba and then 2.5 hours from Nueba to the monastery.

We stop to look at some ancient pictures on the granit rocks in the desert. That's were some Bedouin women came to sell us some souvenirs...

He tells the story of St. Catherine's monastery fairly well. The first Chapel was built in the year 330 by St. Helena on the spot of the Burning Bush. The mountains of this area are granite, In the 6th century the walls were built first, and then the Basilica. The Church is dedicated to Transfiguration.  The actual Burning Bush has been carbon dated to be 3500 years old. `

THe story of St. Catherine is the most beautiful, even as Osama tells it.

We arrive at the city of St. Catherine, and after a short bus tour of the Bedouin city, we arrive at our hotel. Fr. Meletios and Fr. Martin continue on to spend the night at the monastery. Food here is not as great as in Israel, and we were told by Joseph not to eat anything uncooked. After dinner we went shopping for souvenirs in the boutiques of the hotel, and there was a ton of them!