Excursion to Mount Moses and St. Catherine’s Monastery from Hurghada

Tour Details:

We will meet you at your hotel in Hurghada; you will recognize our representative by the sign with your name in his hands. He will take you to the airport for a flight to Sharm el-Sheikh, where the driver will be waiting to take you to the foot of Mount Sinai (Mount Moses), where, according to legend, Moses received the Ten Commandments. This is where your climb up the mountain will begin.

To light your way, our guide will give you flashlights. If you get tired from the relatively long and partly exhausting walk, you can ride the whole way or partly on a camel for a small additional fee. But before you reach the top, you have to go through the last steps on your own (“Ladder of Repentance”). Our guide will accompany you all the way to provide you with the necessary assistance or information if necessary. To take a break, you will be able to make several stops.

Early in the morning you will reach the top of the mountain, where you will see the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, where you can rest while waiting for the sunrise. During the sunrise, the view is incredibly beautiful! You will be delighted with this beauty and the surrounding spiritual atmosphere, and you will surely come to the conclusion that it was not in vain that you made such a long and difficult journey, which was worth the maximum effort.

Remember that the ascent will be at an altitude of 2300 meters!

This means that the temperature will be low, so you need to bring warm clothes!

Remember, for this walk, your physical and mental fitness is essential!

After a while, you will descend to the monastery of St. Catherine, where you will make a stop for breakfast before the visit.

The Monastery of St. Catherine is located at the foot of Mount Sinai and is considered one of the oldest in the world, as the first mention of monasticism in this place dates back to the 4th century AD. St. Helena, the mother of Constantine I, the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, ordered the construction of a chapel on the site of the Burning Bush in the early 4th century AD.  was built by Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century AD to protect monks. For centuries, the monastery was not attacked from the Muslim side, as it enlisted the patronage of the Prophet Muhammad. It is for this reason that you will be able to see not only  the buildings, walls and decorations almost in their original form, but also countless valuables that have been preserved to this day and are a true historical heritage. The library, with its unique and huge collection of ancient manuscripts and manuscripts, is second only to the library in the Vatican!

In the monastery you will have a unique opportunity to see the world’s largest collection of antique icons, which survived the times of Byzantine iconoclasm, but, however, some of the icons of the early period were destroyed. Also in the courtyard you will see a bush that is considered the Burning Bush.

The monastery is still inhabited by monks and has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2002.

Remember, it is forbidden for women to be on the territory of the monastery with their heads uncovered, their shoulders bare, their arms and legs bare.

After visiting the monastery, you will have a delicious lunch at one of the restaurants in Dahab, after which you can take a short sightseeing tour of the city, before we take you back to Sharm El Sheikh airport for your flight to Hurghada. At the airport, our driver will meet you and take you to your hotel.