we left cairo on the 2nd for the sinai peninsula, but i thought it was worth mentioning our dinner in cairo on the 1st (happy birthday dad!). we decided we had to try pigeon, an egyptian favorite, before we left cairo so we headed to the islamic quarter to find the little restaurant which had been featured on anthony bourdain's "no reservations" for those of you who watch that. when we got to the place it was packed so the owner had a wait in a nokia mobile phone shop/stall for a table. he was able to round up enough plastic chairs for the five of us (shannon, marshall, mon, an aussie named melissa, and myself) and plopped us down at a shared table wedged into a 5 ft wide alley with shoppers passing by us. the poor guy next to us kept getting calls on his cell, but with greasy pigeon fingers he dropped his phone on the ground several times and then finally resorted to awkwardly answering it with his hand wrapped in a napkin. we each got a whole pigeon (except mon the vegetarian) stuffed with rice. it was delicious! like a darker chicken, not a lot of meat though. we also got some salad and the best tahini we have had yet (and we've had A LOT of tahini). it was altogether a great dinner.
the next morning we said goodbye to cairo for good and left our hotel at 630am for a 7 hr drive to the town of st. katherine on the sinai peninsula. the drive was actually really nice with our first glimpses of the red sea and driving under the suez canal. we also passed through several rugged mountain canyons in the style of utah, or what i would expect afghanistan to look like- really dry with lots of really remote and lonely looking villages. when we arrived in st. katherine we went straight to our hotel which was a group of little villa type buildings in a valley between the mountains. st. katherine is just below 5000ft above sea level so it was more a temperature all of us were used to. after getting settled in our rooms, we headed towards st. katherine's monastery and mt. sinai. for all of you that arent familiar, st katherine's monastery contains moses' burning bush and mt. sinai is where he received the 10 commandments. needless to say it is an important [pilgrimage site for christians). the hike up mt sinai was great for shannon, marshall, mon and i because we've started going crazy from a lack of exercise (walking alot just isnt the same as hiking and running of course). the trail winds up out of the valley with the monastery and climbs the mountain side with really amazing views of all the surrounding mountains. it is surprisingly rugged in this bit of egypt. there were several stone tea houses along the way which just added to the views and the general atmosphere of the place. after you have climbed 2000ft and turned a corner tyo elijah basin facing south, there are around 800 stairs to climb to the summit. these stairs were no joke and are meant to inspire repentance in those that climb them. i think many people in our tour group were definitely repentant at the end of that climb. at the summit there is a church literally perched on the last bit of rock on the mountain. there are sheer drops on 3 sides and the views were just amazing. it was cold up there though! we were completely bundled up and huddled together on top of a boulder for warmth, but were able to stay for sunset. although none of us are all that religious we definitely decided that if one was to speak to god, that was a good place to do it. so peaceful and i just cant say enough about the view down mountain valleys and up really rugged peaks. the summit was 7200ft so we were pretty high. after sunset we headed back down with our headlamps. the hike was 14k roundtrip with about 2400ft elevation gain so it was great for all of us. once we got back to the hotel we had a 35 LE (about 6 dollars) all you can eat buffet with 7 main courses, 3 different salads, fried eggplant and then about 6 different desserts. delicious!
the morning of the 3rd we headed to st. katherine's monastery at the base of mt. sinai. it is only open in the mornings as it is a living monastery with 20 monks. the chapel and monastery itself was built in 300AD as a memorial to st. katherine who was eventually buried there. it was fortified with 1.6m thick walls in 600AD. the stone work was gorgeous and with the mountains in the background it was quite a place. inside the walls, monks have planted beautiful gardens over the centuries with cypress, juniper, grapes, olives, several different types of fruit trees and lots of flowers. there were lots and lots of birds which made me happy! the church itself was really ornate with lots of gold work and murals in the style of eastern orthodox churches. there were all kinds of gold, copper and brass lamps hanged from the ceiling and a really ornate mosaic behind the alter. the tomb of st. katherine was also in the back along with a few other coffins with unknown inhabitants. after being herded through the church, the next stop within the walls was of course the burning bush. it was huge! i always pictured this little burnt stub, but this was a very industrious vine of some sort (looked sort of like a blackberry). it was huge! it was taking over the roof of one of the buildings. people were touching it and crying and kissing the ground so i think it was a really powerful place for some people. after this we were able to look into a crypt of sorts that contained all the bones of all the monks who had lived and studied at the monastery since it was finished in 600AD. thats 1400yrs worth of bones! the skulls were all stacked in one area and the rest of the bones were just piled and stuffed into various holes, cracks, and corners. overall, i think this has been one of my favorite parts of the trip just because of the mountains and the monastery. it was so beautiful! after the monastery, we headed to nuweiba on the coast of the gulf of aqaba (a finger of the red sea).
