Egypt - Mt Sinai

This mountain  is in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.
It's speculated that it is a the location of the biblical Mount Sinai.

Well worth a visit even if you are not interested in its religious significance.

Decided to hike to the summit for the morning sunrise.

The hike started at 4am. Very cold ,

mADE some friends on the way.

Ah the trusty packet of Tim Tams. :-)

I never leave Australia without at least one packet in my backpack.

They are a hit everywhere I go.

Mount Sinai is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus and other books of the Bible, and the Quran. According to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition, the biblical Mount Sinai was the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments. 

However, the earliest Christian traditions place this event at the nearby Mount Serbal, at the foot of which a monastery was founded in the 4th century.

 Mount Sinai is a 2,285-metre (7,497 ft) .... A moderately high mountain to climb but not too steep.

 This is a Greek Orthodox Chapel. It was closed.
The chapel was constructed in 1934 on the ruins of a 16th-century church.

 tHE SUMMIT  at last.

The building above is a mosque.

Waiting for the sunrise.

Cold !!! up there.

 

tHE hike back down

 St Catherines Monastery.
The monastery is Greek Orthodox and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the UNESCO , this monastery is the oldest working Christian monastery in the world – although the Monastery of Saint Anthony, situated across the Red Sea in the desert south of Cairo, also lays claim to that title.(Wikipedia)

Sadly it was also closed so couldn't explore inside.

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