So Friday night/ Saturday morning, despite very very stiff and rather painful quads (step aerobics Weds eve, then circuit training Thurs eve), we set off to climb Mt. Sinai. With a load of Russians.
It took us 2 hours of solid walking (including the 750 steps after Elijah's Basin) to get to the summit. And we only just made it for sunrise. Along with a Canadian army man, Keith, Alice and I were proper trekking at the front of our group. Our guide would make us pause every now and again to wait for the rest of the Russians, who would come huffing and puffing 5-10 mins later, "Go slower! Go slower, ah?"
We didn't go slower.. Slower was more painful on the legs! Half-way up, our Bedouin guide informed us that half of the group would never make the summit in time for sunrise and that we should just power on if we wanted to make it. Apparently our bus had arrived 45 minutes late, so we HAD to be fast if we wanted to get there.
Dawn over one of the many small coffee shops on the Camel Trail on route to the summit.
Sunrise over Gebel Musa. (And lots of coupley coupley gayness!)
So after spending a good 30-40 minutes up at the summit, we re-grouped at the bottom of the steps (Elijah's Basin). Our guide told us there are 2 ways down:- the Camel Trail (the same way we came up) or the Steps of Repentance. The rest of the group all chose the Camel Trail. We decided to do it as the Lonely Planet suggests and took the Steps of Repentance.
The Steps of Repentance consists of 3000 steps, all the way down from Elijah's Basin to St. Katherine's Monastery (which is situated at the foot of Mt. Sinai. They were laid, single-handedly, by one monk as a form of penance.
Down the Steps of Repentance
?Significance of Rock Stacking
Once we reached the bottom, we had a bit of a wonder round St. Katherine's. Despite being absolutely manic at the summit, by the time we got down to St. Katherine's my brain and eyes were beginning to suffer from the complete lack of sleep.
St. Katherine's
The Burning Bush, believe it or not.
After that we went to a nearby restaurant for "breakfast", which consisted of a boiled egg, fried vegetables, feta cheese, and bread rolls with jam and/ or honey. It was one of the *weirdest* breakfasts/ meals I've ever had. THEN, we chilled the fuck out:-
More piccys here. Boogie (work) time. Cairo and the Pyramids soon..
Saw some of these + those of the Pyramids just now with Mum.
ReplyDeleteI thought they've repaired the Sphinx, my favourite.
Splendid.