Excursion to Mount Moses and St. Catherine’s Monastery from Sharm El Sheikh

Tour Details:

We will pick you up at your hotel in Sharm El Sheikh; You will recognize our driver by the sign with your name in his hands.

He will take you to the foot  of Mount Sinai (Mount Moses), where Moses is said to have received the Ten Commandments. This is where your ascent to the mountain will begin. To light your way, our guide will give you flashlights. If you get tired from a relatively long and partly exhausting walk, you can travel the entire way or partly on a camel for a small additional fee. But before you reach the top,  you have to go through the last rungs 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.

In the early morning, you will reach the top of the mountain and 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 by 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 make a descent to the monastery of St. Catherine, where you will make a stop for breakfast before the visit. St. Catherine’s Monastery is located at the foot of Mount Sinai. The monastery is considered one of the oldest in the world, as the first mention of monasticism dates back to the 4th century AD. Saint 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.  The monastery, in its current form, was built by Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century AD to protect the 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 it is true that 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, around lunchtime, we will take you back to your hotel in Sharm El Sheikh.