Sinai Adventure Day 7 and 8: The Red Sea

Today is my day for the PHS Destination Life column so my adventures with snorkeling on the Red Sea are there. It was tremendous fun but in the end hard work. I have never been so glad for the final snorkel to be ended.

The return journey was relatively painless. Once again the guides at the airport came into their own -- seeing off a porter and then guiding us to the correct queue. You would think getting in the correct check in line would be in a cinch BUT a group in front of us waited for over an hour only to be told they had joined the wrong line!

My cold came on on that last day and my sunburn ached but we all had had a glorious time. We arrived back to a cold, damp England.

As an escape from winter cold, and gloom, you can't beat the brilliant blue skies of the Sinai.

Sinai Adventure Day 5 -- St Catherine's

By any measure, St Catherine's Monastery is remote. It is in the middle of the Sinai Peninsula and there is one road which leads to it. It is only open 3 hours per day, three or four times per week. The Greek Orthodox monks are determined that this is not a tourist attraction but a working monastery of enormous significance to all Christians, but particularly to those of the Orthodox faith.

Why is St Catherine's important?
First of all, St Catherine is the wrong name for it. St Catherine of Alexandria died in the fourth century and her name is given to the firework -- the Catherine wheel. She and her relics did not become associated with the place until some enterprising monks *discovered* her uncorrupted body etc in the area around the time of the Crusades.
Second, about this time, a document purporting to be a treaty between the monks and the Prophet was also *discovered*. The Prophet recognised the holiness of the place and allowed the monks to be there. Very enterprising and determined these monks. A copy remains in the monastery library.
This monastery was built over one of the earliest Christian chapels, founded by St Helena in the 360s. St Helena was the mother of Constantine the Great and started life as a bar maid. She is probably the person most responsible for legitimising Christianity in the Roman world. It bothers me that her contribution is often forgotten. She was either very lucky or she did her research etc. Afterall the Romans did keep records...

She built the chapel, not because of Catherine but because of Moses. The chapel which is the holiest of holys in the monastery is built over the roots of the Burning Bush. The monastery has taking a cutting of the Burning Bush, and interesting it is the only one of its type to grow on the whole of Sinai. It is a sort of acacia. Also contained within the walls is the well of Moses where he met Jethro's daughters. Behind the monastery is Mt Moses where tradition has it that he received the 10 commandments. Thus it is Moses, rather Catherine who is the focus of the monastery. But as he plays an important part in three religions and volatility of the region, you can forgive the monks for safeguarding the monastery in other ways.
Because of its remoteness, Justinian built a fortress around the chapel in the 6th century. Napoleon reinforced the walls. There is a place where they poured burning oil on to the maundering Bedouin and the walls are etched in Coptic crosses. The original Justinian doors are still there, and it also contains icons that predate iconoclasm. St Catherine's boasts one of the best libraries of old documents including codices, second only to the Vatican.

Many people also walk up Mt Moses or Mt Sinai but due to opening hours and the heat, they do it at night, taking the camel trail up, sleep under the stars and then either go back down the same track or the Steps of Repentance -- 3,000 steps carved into the mountain where you do have scrambled with your hands. As we were only in the Sinai for a week, it was far too complicated. so we opted for a fleeting visit. As it was, the day started at 6 am.
Once inside the walls, it is like a medieval village and very crowded. The silence of the desert replaced by the murmur of hundreds of voices. There are loads of Orthodox Christians who come on a pilgrimage, Russian Orthodox in particular. The women were wrapped in headscarves and they were beating their breasts, mumbling their prayers or simply bowing their heads. The guide, a devout Muslim, pointed out that it was very different to other forms of Christianity.

The church of St Catherine's which also houses the icons is very much un reconstructed Byzantine and rather over powering. The Russians were busy being pilgrims and kissing various relics. But it is utterly glorious. Byzantine as it was meant to be.
The descendant of the Burning Bush was the one spot of greenery within the walls. The monks did have another dusty garden where they grew olives etc but that was further outside, near the charnel house where the bones and skulls were displayed.
Afterwards, we went to lunch in a Bedouin encampment. The meal was lovely and they had chairs etc for tourists to sit on. As we were getting back in the bus, a little girl came begging for food. We did have food left from the breakfast boxes and so everyone gave her some. The Bedouins of the area are very poor. Their biggest trades are camels, goats and people trafficking -- mainly smuggling Russian Jews into Isreal.There is a huge problem with illiteracy as the Bedouin often do not see a point of sending their children to school beyond the state required basics. Think Travellers or gypsies, a semi-nomadic people who are struggling with modern life. The Bedouin of the Sinai unlike their cousins further to the East have not had oil discovered on their land (although the guide did mumble something about oil being recently discovered when they were digging for weater).
We then drove Dahab which is another big centre for the Bedouin as while as being a big backpacking and diving centre. The Bedouin do sell their handicrafts there. They are renown for rag rugs, think proggy mats. We did not buy any but had Egyptian coffee. Various Bedouin children scoured the beach for shells that they could then take back to their parents and have them turned into trinkets for tourists.

We returned to the hotel, exhausted about 8 pm.

Tomorrow -- Bedouins, camels and desert stars.

Sinai Adventure Days 1 - 4

Before I begin, I should explain recent history of the Sinai has been volatile. The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt as part of the Camp David Peace Accord back in 1979 and still hosts foreign observers. Out in the desert, unexploded ordinance lurks and the tourist coast suffered from three separate terrorist attacks -- Taba, Dahab and Sharm El Sheikh. The authorities do not take chances and security is high. Each hotel has its own security checkpoints and you do get screened, bags checked etc. No one can drive up to the hotel reception. If you travel outside the Sharm El Sheikh area, you do need a full visa (obtainable when you arrive at the airport) and you do have to carry your passport. There are army checkpoints that you travel through and passports are checked. The soldiers all carry weapons. In many ways, it is very reassuring and certainly, the area is safe.

To get to Sharm, the plane travelled through a sandstorm during the last part of the journey over the mountains where the light suddenly went brown. Rather disconcerting. But we arrived as the sun set, turning the desert into wonderful colours.

Because we had booked our holiday through Classic Collections, the airport arrival was a breeze. We were met off the plane, and the representative had the visas. He also made certain that we cleared passport control quickly. Given the huge crowds milling about, waiting to get visas and then clear passport control, we were very grateful as the whole process was over in a matter of minutes. After getting our luggage, we had a private transfer to the resort -- Hilton Sharm Waterfalls.


We opted for an all inclusive package as all inclusive includes drinks. And in a hot climate, one needs to keep fluids up. If one wanted, one could eat 24 hours a day. The buffets were ever changing and did have lots of wonderful things to eat. I enjoyed the Arabic breakfasts of falfel, ful (fava beans cooked with onion and lemon), feta, tahina and pita bread. The rest of the family went for more conventional English or American breakfasts.

Our rooms were next door to each other and had a sea view. The seating areas meant that it was quite easy to pop back and forth.

The biggest problem with the hotel, and if you listen to the guides is the number of Russians who visit, many of whom have never really travelled. Russians can seem abrupt in their dealing with staff. It can be very difficult to watch. The pool has to close at sunset because of the problems with the Russians getting drunk on vodka and fighting. But basically, as we were not staff and they were speaking a different language, they were easy to ignore. There were relatively few English speaking people at the resort. Various members of the staff mentioned how much they liked the English who were always polite and always smiled.

The vast majority of the workers in the tourism industry in Egypt are male. In Sharm, the cost of living means that the families live elsewhere and the staff live in company provided accommodation. The women staff in charge of the various classes tended to be Russian or German. Apparently a clash of cultures can happen when the Russian/German women marry Egyptian men without really understanding the culture. The guide we had at St Catherine's said that because he does speak several languages, he can get called in when the women show up at the Tourist Antiquities complaining about not having papers etc.

The cleaner was very kind and kept doing towel art. I think I liked the swans best. My youngest now claims that he can make them.

We spent the first three full days at the resort swimming and lazing in the sun. The resort has its own private coral reef. So if you want to go in the sea, you do have to walk out in pontoon. Walking over the coral is a good way to get cut as my youngest found out on the first day. Luckily the cut was not too deep. Later we saw a Russian woman whose heel was bandaged.

The swimming pool's water was salt, rather than fresh. The air is incredibly dry and the sun hot -- just what we needed after a cold winter. The staff were very helpful, getting towels and finding sun loungers and umbrellas and moving them to where you wanted to be. They operated a no blocking the sun bed policy and did remove unattended towels etc. This caused much dismay to some Italians who had tried to bribe one attendant. But we found there were more than enough sun loungers for everyone and the sun warm and the water wonderful where ever. Up at the lobby pool, there were hammocks but we preferred the main pool near the beach and our room. Life is far too short to exercised by where your sun lounger is.

On the third day, I convinced my daughter that we should take a belly dancing class. After all, the tiny Russian woman who organised it seemed very friendly. She may have been but she also possessed an inner core of steel. Things were done her way and she was apt to stop the class with a wag of her finger and a No, no, this way, and did not accept that it was my first time. Everything needed to be done properly and relaxed. There are reasons why Russians are good at dance. Discipline. However, belly dancing is tremendous fun. Unfortunately there was only time for the one lesson as we started to do our excursions.

Tomorrow's post -- visiting St Catherine's.

Back from the Sinai and other things

I have arrived home -- sunburnt, with a streaming cold but throughly relaxed. Egypt, in particular the Sinai Penisula was a wonderful experience from snorkelling with sea turtles and Moray eels to riding a camel into the desert sunset to dine with Bedouin and visiting St Catherine's. More on this later when I have downloaded my photos and sorted my thoughts. We all survived...no one was sold for camel and no one had difficulties in the water. The Egyptian men (they are almost exclusively men) who work in the tourist industry that I encountered were for the vast majority kind and helpful. I can thoroughly recommend Classic Collection as their service was excellent ( second to none actually, particularly at the airport arrivals) and the Hilton Sharm Waterfalls.

Yesterday, Compromising Miss Milton became available on the M&B site. You can read the first chapter. I like the cover...which is still not up on Amazon.

I also like the Australian cover for my new 3 in one. It is interesting that the Vikings are emphasised!

Finally I want to send congratulations to all the Rita finalists, in particular my dear friends and fellow Harlequin Historical authors -- Michelle Willingham for her fantastic book Taming Her Irish Warrior , Elizabeth Rolls, Deb Marlowe and Amanda McCabe. I think it is the best showing that HH has ever had. I saw that Carla Capshaw is up for the best debut with The Gladiator which I did enjoy very much. I am so pleased that I shall be going to Nashville as it will be wonderful to see these writers get to shine.

In Egypt

Currently I am on the way to Egypt -- Sharm El Sheikh to be precise. So sun, sand and sea. More Presents than Historical but I am planning on going to St Catherine's and Mt Sinai. Research for the Ottoman Empire book.
Normal service will resume on 2 April.

Congrats to all the Rita and GH finalists as they are announced today. I am looking forward to find some fantastic books to read! And to seeing the ceremony live in Nashville in July.

Kittens

Mr Darcy has taken to trying to catch shadows by climbing the walls. He has not figured out that he can only go up so far and then fall. Heathcliff spends much of his time watching out the windows, calling to the birds.
This morning Heathcliff found a bell which he rang precisely at 6 am. Annoying as I had not set the alarm clock and had hoped to sleep in. However given that sort of treatment, I rose and fed the kittens. The bell will be removed. It does make we wonder if kittens were behind the alarm clock suddenly going off a half hour earlier the other day. I could not figure out how the time had changed.

My eldest arrived home on Friday and remarked at how much like cats they now look. And how big they have grown. He also thought the collies have grown. I thought he looked thinner. Mothers are allowed to have such thoughts and to worry.

I am getting ready to go to Egypt at the end of the week. Sharm el Sheikh and Sinai Peninsula. Warmth was required when the holiday was booked. We are hoping to visit St Catherine's Monestary and Mt Sinai. St Catherine's supposedly marks the spot where Moses encountered the burning bush...My eldest is looking after the house.