The monastery of St Catherine has been called the oldest working Christian monastery in the world. The Burning Bush is located inside the Monastery. Mount Sinai is the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments.
Exploring the Sinai Desert
The Sinai Peninsula of Egypt is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south. It is the only part of Egypt located in Asia. Sinai is about 60,000 km2 and has a population of approximately 600,000 people.
Since the Israeli–Egyptian peace treaty, Sinai's scenic spots (including coral reefs offshore) and religious structures have become important to the tourism industry.
Today, South Sinai has become a very popular tourist destination, due to its natural beauty, rich coral reefs, and biblical history.
The most popular tourist destination in Sinai are Mount Sinai (Jabal Musa) and St Catherine's Monastery, which is considered to be the oldest working Christian monastery in the world, and the beach resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba. Most tourists arrive at Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, through Eilat, Israel and the Taba Border Crossing, by road from Cairo or by ferry from Aqaba in Jordan.
According to the Islamic Religion, the children of Isrā‘īl (biblical Jacob) left Egypt in the year 1213 BC, The prophet Musa (biblical Moses), walked to Madyan,which is located on the western coast of the Gulf of Aqaba in the area between Taba and Dahab. It is said that Moses received the Ten Commandments of the Jewish religion (Judaism). The Greek Orthodox monastery of the God-trodden Mount Sinai, Sint Catherine is located at the very place where God appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush, beneath the Mount of the Decalogue.
Few places are as steeped in Biblical mystery as the great Wadi Feiran - the Sinai's largest wadi (valley) and one of it's most archeologically important stretches of terrain. It was here, according to locals, scholars, and legend, that Moses (pbuh) struck a rock with his staff, bringing forth a spring so his people could drink.
Feiran is also the Site of Rafadim, the fabled oasis where the Hebrews camped and battled the Amelecites. For the pilgrims and believers who have been coming to this wadi for centuries, a journey through Feiran is to pass through an entire chapter of the Old Testament itself, Exodus 17.
In Ancient Egypt times the Egyptians mined turquoise in Sinai at two locations, now called by their Egyptian Arabic names Wadi Magharah and Serabit El Khadim. The mines were worked intermittently and on a seasonal basis for thousands of years. They may be the first historically attested mines. Traces of the mines and of the people living here are still scattered all over the area.
The population of Sinai has largely consisted of desert-dwelling Bedouins with their colourful traditional costumes and significant culture. Large numbers of Egyptians from the Nile Valley and Delta moved to the area to work in tourism, but development adversely affected the native Bedouin population
Our travel agency is specialized in Adventures in the South Sinai, but can help you with all your excursions, hotel bookings, and transfers in and out Egypt
