Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Feiran Oasis
8
Road map
E6. Sinai, 60 km (37 miles)
W of St Catherine's Monastery.
This is the largest and most
fertile oasis in Sinai, verdant
with date palms, tamarisks
and cereal fields. Just south of
the Bedouin village of adobe
houses is a small, modern con-
vent built with stone from the
Byzantine bishop's palace
which formerly stood here.
The oasis was the earliest
Christian site in Sinai. Many
chapels already existed here
when, in 451, it became the
seat of a bishopric. This gov-
erned St Catherine's Monastery
until the 7th century, when
Feiran's bishop was deposed
for heresy and the city fell into
ruin. Excavations have revealed
its fortified walls, several
churches and many other
buildings. Feiran is said to be
the place where Joshua defeat-
ed the Amalekites (Exodus 17).
Chapel of the Holy Trinity on the summit of Mount Sinai
summit offers grandiose
views, but is often crowded.
If you join the many who go
up to see the sunrise or
sunset, take a flashlight and
warm clothes.
The mountain lies at the
heart of the St Catherine
Protectorate, a conservation
area recognised as a Unesco
World Heritage site. The area
is ideal for trekking. One of
the longer hikes is to the top
of Mount Catherine (Gebel
Katarina), Egypt's highest
peak. Angels supposedly
transported St Catherine of
Alexandria's body here, away
from her torturers' wheel.
Hikers can pick up
informative booklets to trails
in the area at the Protectorate
Office in the village of El-
Milga, 3.5 km from St
Catherine's Monastery. All
treks must be done with a
Bedouin guide, which is also
arranged through the office.
Mount Sinai
7
Road map
E6. Sinai, 90 km (56 miles)
W of Dahab and Nuweiba.
According to tradition, Mount
Sinai (Gebel Musa, the
Mountain of Moses) is the
Biblical Mount Horeb, where
Moses spent 40 days and
received the Ten Command-
ments (Exodus 24). Two paths
climb to the 2,286-m (7,500-ft)
summit from behind the mon-
astery, both requiring three
hours' walking. The route said
to have been taken by Moses
is the most tiring as it consists
of 3,700 rock steps called the
Steps of Repentance. There
are several votive sites along
the way.
A cypress-shaded plain, 700
A
steps below the summit, is the
so-called Amphitheatre of the
Seventy Elders of Israel, where
those who accompanied Moses
stopped, leaving him to go to
the top alone. It is also called
Elijah's Hollow, as Elijah is said
to have heard the voice of God
here. It contains
St Stephen's
Chapel
and is where people
spending the night on the
mountain are asked to sleep.
This is also where the second,
longer but easier, path joins
the first. Camels can be hired
to this point, but the final 700
steps have to be done on foot.
On the summit is the small
Chapel of the Holy Trinity
(often closed). It was built in
1934 on the ruins of a
4th-5th-century church and is
said to be where God spoke
to Moses from a fiery cloud.
Nearby is a small, 12th-century
mosque and the cave where
Moses spent the 40 days. The
Shaded gardens surrounding the
convent in the Feiran Oasis
THE BEDOUIN OF THE SINAI PENINSULA
In Arabic the word
bedu
means “desert dwellers” and refers
specifically to the nomadic tribes that live in Saudi Arabia, the
Negev and Sinai. For centuries the Bedouin have lived in
close contact with nature, depending for their
livelihood on the breeding of sheep, goats and
camels. Those in Sinai descend from the
peoples who arrived from the Arabian
Peninsula from the 14th to the 17th cen-
tury. The last 20 years of the 20th
century have seen a drastic change in
their customs and traditions. Today,
about 25,000 Bedouin live in Sinai.
Many are still nomadic livestock
breeders, while others live in perma-
nent camps in wood and corrugated-
iron dwellings, making their living as
guides, desert tour operators, or by
working in large hotels on the coast.
