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| St. Catherine's monastery |
One of the highlights is a visit to St. Catherine's monastery - "the monastery at the God trodden mount"- as it is described by the monks. It is two and a half hours drive away through the Sinai desert.
Here you can see the Burning Bush, where God first spoke to Moses. It is a place of peace and reverence, despite the number of tourists who visit. In the background is Mount Moses, where God spoke to Moses for a second time, giving him the commandments.
The Greek Orthodox monastery, which dates back 17 centuries, is a sacred biblical site. It is thought to be the oldest active monastery in the world. To preserve it from pillage, Mohammed, the founder of Islam, and Napoleon both took the monastery under their protection, as well as Arab caliphs and Turkish sultans. Today, 25 monks live there, including one from Sussex and another from Texas.
To enter the Chapel of the Burning Bush, the visitor must take off his or her shoes, in remembrance of God's command to Moses to "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place where thou standest is holy ground".
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| View from a terraced room, the Four Seasons Resort, Sharm el Sheikh |
The roots of the Burning Bush lie under an altar in the front of the chapel, covered in silver. The bush itself - the only one of its kind in the Sinai Peninsula - is outside in a courtyard garden. Every attempt to transplant a branch of it to another place has been unsuccessful.
Outside in the warm sunshine, one of the monks spoke of his privilege and wonder at living in such a place.
Father Ioannis looked out to the mountains beyond, then to Mount Moses, and said "Here I am closer to God."
He looked at me and smiled. "And so are you. And so is everybody else here."
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