A Fortnight in the Middle East

Two weeks was nowhere near enough to experience such a remarkable region. Rich in history and culture I had a mere taste of the sensory wonders of Israel & Palestine, only leaving to dive into Dahab to get a taste of Egypt.

Days 1 & 2

Stone of Unction

Having arrived at 4:50am on Sunday I went straight to sleep and had a lazy day of rest which was well needed as it gave me the energy to wake up early on day two to go explore the old city. We walked down through a high end shopping corridor until we arrived at the old city. Winding your way into Old Jerusalem was like walking through time as your surroundings grew increasingly ancient with every step. The cobblestone streets wind their way to various holy sites that without a map or friendly locals to help you would surely be impossible to find as the streets bursting with vendors are more like a maze than city lanes. The first place we ventured to was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This church was the perfect place to start our adventures through the controversial religious area as it is the most important church in Christendom as it was built around the site which is believed to be where Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and resurrected. It was fascinating to watch people run their belongings over the Stone of Unction which is commemorated as the place where Jesus Christ's body was anointed and wrapped after his death. Although the stone has only been there since 1810 people rubbed whatever they had, from the Holy Bible to Prayer beads from scarves to hats to handkerchiefs, all over is as though it were the stone where he actually laid as opposed to a commemoration stone. Having taken dozens of photos of the Stone of Unction, we continued into what appeared to be the main hall of the Church where Christ's tomb is located. The tomb of Jesus Christ does not contain the body of Christ himself but the rock on which Christ's body is believed to have been laid. Here there is a massive queue to enter the room that contains the tomb of Christ and due to time constraints regarding the Dome of the Rock we did not go in but plan to go back before our journey ends. We left the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to continue on to the Western Wall (Wailing Wall). On the walk down to the wall we had to pass through security checks equivalent to your standard airport security pre-body scanners. Having passed through security without any problems we continued up the ramp and paused half way up to look down upon the Wailing Wall. I paused to take photographs of the observant Jews rocking their bodies back and forth as they prayed to the sole surviving wall from the old fortress which was once the great Jewish Temple. The left side of the Wailing Wall was only open to men and one couldn't help but notice the women standing on chairs peering over the barrier that separated them from the men in order to observe the prayers being led by Rabi on the other side with some women even throwing flowers 

Wailing Wall

over the prayer groups. As we continued up the ramp to the Dome of the Rock we entered the Harem esh-Sharif which is the large plateau on which the Dome of the Rock stands. The Harem esh-Sharif is at the heart of the Muslim faith in Jerusalem as is contains not only the breathtaking Dome of the Rock but also the El-Aqsa Mosque which has less physical presence then its elder neighbor. Only Muslim's are permitted to enter the El-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock so despite the tales of the legendary beauty contained inside I was unable to witness it myself. We spent a good deal of time atop the Harem esh-Sharif taking photographs of the impressive solid gold dome. Another interesting site which I couldn't help but capture was of an iron work window which appeared to be of little to no importance but was covered by a vine of beautiful flowers illustrating the beauty and suffering which is Israel and Palestine. We left the Harem esh-Sharif and made our way towards the Via Dolorosa however despite our efforts we only managed to find our way through the maze of streets bustling with vendors to find the end of the path supposedly taken by Christ on his way to his crucifixion. Although we were unable to walk the entire passage it was impossible to feel dismayed because everywhere you looked held a feast of colours, smells and culture to absorb. We left through New Gate which led us past an old French hospital on our walk to the house. The old French hospital was particularly interesting because it was covered with bullet holes in its facade from the fighting. We continued to walk back to the House walking past the metro train and stopped in front of the municipal building to take some photographs with a mosaic of the old view of the world map in which Jerusalem was the center.



Dome of the Rock

Wall dividing Israel/Palestine in the West Bank

Day 3

Having planned to wake up by 9:30 to head to Bethlehem we got to a late start as nobody got up until nearly 11. Despite our late start we did not lose much time as we ate and got dressed quickly before zooming off in the car. We drove from Jerusalem to Bethlehem stopping to take photographs of the wall before continuing through the checkpoint. At the checkpoint Israeli military police with large automatic weapons checked our passports before allowing us to pass through freely. I had to keep my camera down at the military checkpoint however once we were safely driving away I quickly pulled it back out to take more photographs of the wall. Although the "Israeli' side was free from graffiti, the "Palestinian" side (the West Bank) was covered and we stopped by a section of the wall so I could capture the art. I took several photos before we continued on to the main attraction in Bethlehem: the Church of the Nativity.

Altar in Grotto of Nativity

After parking the car at Manger Square in front of the Church of Nativity we walked towards the Door of Humility which is the entryway to the church and is barely higher than my waist. Inside the Church of Nativity are lanterns similar to those in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, they are everywhere and appear to be dancing with the beautiful painted columns that line the nave. In the center of the nave there is a hole in the floor which exposes the mosaics that once decorated the entire church. We left the nave passing through a door and joining a queue going down a set of Stairs into the Grotto of the Nativity we shuffled down the stairs and entered into a small grotto which contained an altar with red curtains surrounding a silver star on the floor which marks the spot where Jesus Christ was said to have been born (on Right). The star is surrounded by lanterns and whilst on your hands and knees peering into this confined shrine you forget, ever so briefly, that you are in such a bustling conflicted city. You are quickly moved on so that others can say their prayers, take their photos, and light their bundle of candles. Inside the Grotto is also the location where Jesus Christ's manger is said to have sat and although the image of baby Jesus in the manger is such a popular universal image of Christmas there is not much to look at save a painting that is under some scratched plastic that is difficult to make out due to glare caused by the lanterns surrounding it. The remainder of the Grotto is filled with paintings depicting Christ, which is where we waited for the tour group to make their way out of the grotto. After about 5 to 10 minutes the Grotto was basically empty so I took photographs of the silver star and the alter above it. Having satisfied my photographic urges we climbed the exit steps into the other side of the church where I took photos of the fabulous lanterns and the church's alter. We then left the Church of Nativity walking into the garden outside St. Catherine's Church to view the life sized Nativity scene set up near the Cloister of St. Catherine's Church. From here we walked through Manger Sq. along Milk Grotto st. to the Milk Grotto Chapel which is said to be where Mary and Joseph stopped during their flight to Egypt to feed baby Jesus.

Altar in the Milk Grotto

The beautiful old white chapel was surrounded by open gardens and a modern church that overlooked the West Bank. The Milk Grotto was empty save one local praying in the pews. The main altar was focused around a statue of Mary breast feeding the baby Jesus (on Right). We took our time photographing and just generally enjoying the simplicity, tranquility, and beauty it provided. We then ventured past a man who appeared to be a Franciscan Monk sitting in the garden which we enjoyed wandering through, peering into the modern church and taking in the view of the West Bank over the Chapel's cemetery. We then wandered back down Milk Grotto St. stopping in a local shop that sells olive wood carvings. The young man and his auntie who worked there were incredibly kind and smart businesspeople inviting us in to show us how the olive wood is transformed into stunning carvings (shown below).

Olive Wood Carving

After our lesson in olive wood carving they opened a side door and allowed us to climb the steps up to the rooftop of the workshop giving us a stunning view of Bethlehem and the West Bank. On the way out of Bethlehem we stopped at a local butcher to get some meat for dinner after walking to the wall so that I could photograph the graffiti adorning it. The graffiti was fascinating, all depicting similar messages, "Freedom is not given it is taken," "To build your world you killed theirs," "A country is not only what it does it is also what it tolerates." These messages both chilling and powerful were a massive reminder that the area I was exploring was one of the most controversial areas on the globe. Having spent down to our last second photographing the wall we ran back to meet the car to drive back to Jerusalem and call it a day.

Day 4

Bedouin Village in Palestine

On the fourth day we actually managed to wake up early to head off to the Dead Sea. We had a big breakfast and packed our lunch and packed the car with our cooler and towels and drove off through a tunnel under Palestinian land towards the Dead Sea. We drove through the West Bank into the Negev, we passed the controversial Israeli settlements, the villages of the Bedouin tribes (on right), a herd of camel, massive cliffs with deep caves, miles and miles of Desert, and one checkpoint. We finally arrived at our destination in the Negev, Ein Gedi. We were now at the lowest body of water in the world and the most popular public bathing spot on the Western coast of the Dead Sea. We walked down a fairly steep bank to the Dead Sea where despite the chilly wind we decided to strip down to our swimming costumes and go for a dip in the legendary water. The stories of how amazing it is to float in the Dead Sea do not do the experience justice. The experience is unbelievable and indescribable. Having walked in to my knees I was nervous to step off the ledge which disappeared leading to a sharp drop in the Dead Sea floor. Due to the wind the water was slightly rough and all of the written and verbal warnings had made it unmistakably clear that you were not to get your face wet. However, I leaned over and pushed myself in carefully and was shocked to find I didn't sink. It is a strange yet exhilarating feeling. I couldn't help but giggle away as I bobbed around in the water. It was as if I was a buoy made of rubber and pumped full of air. I could stand vertically in the water and my armpits were nowhere near the water yet my feet were touching nothing and when I peered down at my toes the water was so clear that I could see straight down past my feet into a blue abyss, it was mind-blasting.

At the Dead Sea

Not only was the water unimaginably clear and buoyant but it was warm and made my skin feel as soft as cashmere. Another strange phenomenon of the Dead Sea was that although I was in the water for approximately half an hour my skin did not get at all pruney but remained perfectly smooth. We were incredibly lucky because the whole time that we were in the water there were only ever two other people max in the water with us at any time. After we were finished lounging in the Dead Sea we sat on the rocks covered in salt examining the incredible salt encrusted rocks all around us. The only disappointing aspect of our Dead Sea adventure was that in my nervous excitement to get in the water I forgot all about the mud and it was not until after I was out of the water and the hordes of tourists were pouring in that I remembered the legendary mineral rich Dead Sea mud. If it wasn't for the numerous groups of "Birthright Israel" Americans I would have gone and caked myself in the smelly black mud and gone back into the water. However, now that the Dead Sea was filled with a hundred tourists, the black mud, which contains the same minerals as the water in the Dead Sea, was less appealing and as my skin was starting to dry and expose its coat of salty minerals I was content observing from the shore. After enjoying our lunch (which was highly coveted by some birds) on the shore of the Dead Sea we washed off in the free showers which overlooked the water, changed, and piled back in the car to make our way back to Jerusalem. On the way back we only made one stop to photograph a couple of working camels who were dressed to impress (below) and continued on to Jerusalem not arriving to the house until dark.

Day 5

Spices in the Markets of Jerusalem

Day five started late as we slept in until eleven, ate breakfast, and then wandered into the old city, walking from the house to explore the remarkable markets with mountains of spices and buy a pair of colourful strings of camels and elephants as a souvenir for me. We wandered back through the maze of cobblestone streets peaking in all of the shops and once again crossing the Via Dolorosa and reentering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in order to enter the Tomb of Jesus Christ and to find the Centre of the World. Unfortunately this is when my camera decided to become dangerously low on battery so I was unable to use my flash and capture all of the images in the manner in which I wanted. Christ's tomb was in a tiny room that only comfortably fit 3 people. Due to the size of the room it was impossible to take a photo that truly captured the full glory of the room. As with all of the other sites for Christ the tomb was filled with lanterns that I managed to capture in a very cool slow exposure setting. From the Christ's Tomb we went to peer over the barrier up to the Catholikon Dome which had a stunning painting of Christ adorning it.

Catholikon Dome

We then wandered down to the Chapel of St Helena and the Inventio Crucis Chapel which were small and unimpressive in comparison to the sacred sites dedicated to Christ. The final place we explored in the Church was "the Centre of the World" as claimed by ancient map-makers and is marked by a stone basin. Having visited the Centre of the World, we left the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and rushed back to the house so that we could go into the car to a lookout point where we took stunning photographs of the old city before continuing through East Jerusalem which is noticeably different from West Jerusalem as it is majority Palestinian. We drove through East Jerusalem passing the City of David on our way up to the Mount of Olives where we eventually made our way to the Hotel of the Seven Arches to have another breathtaking panoramic view. Despite the stunning view it was disappointing because we spent an hour looking for the view and missed the sunset by 15-20 minutes. Having spent an hour finding the panoramic view we spent less than 5 minutes enjoying it before the cold and the horns of rush hour traffic drove us back to the house.

Day 6

Up bright and early we piled in the car and drove for 3 hours to get to Galilee passing through a check point from the West Bank into Galilee which is considered Israeli territory. We showed our passports to the military personnel and passed through quickly. We continued on our journey from there, arriving shortly thereafter at Beit She'an National Park. Beit She'an despite the pouring rain was amazing! It is an ancient Roman-Byzantine town which is located on the old trade routes between the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. The national park is particularly interesting because excavations have revealed that the location contains at least 18 cities superimposed upon each other, the first of which is believed to have existed around 3000 BC.

Roman Theatre in Beit She'an

Today it contains the best-preserved Roman town in Israel and while you can see evidence of the other cities you are unquestionably exploring a Roman town. Having entered the Ancient town we walked towards the theatre (on right) entering through the arched entryways at the back of the theatre as the people of the ancient civilization would have done. The theatre was complete with the stands still intact as well as the wall behind the stage. They had rebuilt a wooden stage where the original had once stood and it was in such amazing condition that (although they aren't) plays could be put on there today and the stands could be filled with people. From the theatre we walked past the wide main street which was lined with columns up an incline to one of the two Roman baths of the town. This was not the main bath house in the old town however it was in good condition and although it had a new plastic roof to protect the baths the rest of the bath house was in fantastic condition and I enjoyed taking shelter from the rain and taking photos of the magnificent architecture. We eventually ventured back into the rain and walked down to the main street walking past massive columns, beautiful mosaics, a ruined temple, basilica, and nymphaeum. We walked past the main bath house on our way up the hill which we climbed

Sea of Galilee

despite the wind and rain to take in the view of Galilee and the Roman ruins below. Standing atop the hill to the North your imagination fills in the missing pieces enabling you to picture the magnificent town as it once was. From here we wandered back down the hill as the sun finally peaked its way through the clouds and the rain stopped. From Beit She'an we continued on to the Sea of Galilee where we stopped at a small car park and went down to the side of the lake to take photographs. After snapping a few pics we headed to Golan Olive Oil in Qatzrin which produces various olive oil products which we were able to sample. However, as it was Friday the factory was closing early so we were unable to have a tour and learn about the production of olive oil. We left after about half an hour and went to Nazareth for dinner where were given a mountain of pita bread along with a wide variety of dips and three large platters of Shwarma with Hummus. It was fantastic and filled us up nicely before the drive back to the house in Jerusalem.

Day 7

A cold, gray, drizzly day in Israel. It was the Sabbath so Jerusalem was at a standstill and everything was closed. Due to the miserable weather we slept in and enjoyed having a lazy morning. I sat in bed reading a book and eating breakfast for a couple hours before eventually venturing out of bed. Despite the rain we were still going to head to Tel Aviv. We got dressed and piled into the car to head to Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is a totally different world from Jerusalem. It is modern and the majority of restaurants were open. As we pulled into the parking lot of a park, the sky opened up and the torrential downpour began. We pulled out our umbrellas and decided to walk. It was interesting walking the streets of Tel Aviv as it exposed me to the other side of Israel. It was a lively place with modern shops and fancy buildings. We ended up in a local American restaurant called Mike’s Place where I guiltily enjoyed sharing macaroni and cheese and a Philly cheese steak sandwich. Once we were finished at Mike’s we drove back to Jerusalem where we did some laundry and prepared to drive to Egypt before going to bed.

Day 8

Lot's Wife

Up early and out of the door by 9! An absolute miracle! We packed the boot until it was fit for bursting and climbed into the car with our pillows ready for the journey to Dahab. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the roads were quite. We drove along the motorway and through the tunnel out of Jerusalem and towards Eilat. The drive was magnificent. We passed the Dead Sea giving us a sparkling view of the salty mineral water. The views while driving past the Dead Sea were breathtaking. Unlike our previous trip to the Dead Sea the sun was shining and you could see the Mountains of Jordan. Eventually we stopped to take some photos of a rock-salt formation on the side of mountain on the south side of the Dead Sea which is called Lot’s wife (on Right) as it appears to have the shape of a woman looking out over the Dead Sea to Sodom, taking several photos before we continued on our drive to Eilat. Once we had passed the various Dead Sea 5 star hotel and spas we began to pass massive factories  that were extracting the salt and minerals from the Dead Sea to sell around the world to people in various bath and beauty products. The steaming chimneys (see below) and piles of salt continued for several kilometers and were fascinating to see and as the Dead Sea began to disappear so did they.

Factories at the Dead Sea

We were now driving in a barren desert surrounded by mountains and scattered with Bedouin villages and camels. After a while I took a nap and when I woke up the Red Sea was to our left and we were approaching Eilat. We stopped in Eilat where we left the car at the border collected all of our belongings and walked towards Taba Border control where we passed through security and had our passports stamped before walking across the border into Egypt. We then passed through Egyptian security and had our passports stamped once again before we were officially in Taba, Egypt. Here we met our Taxi driver Mohammad who was the friendliest man. He was more of a tour guide than a Taxi driver and he kept stopping to tell me about the various sights and let me get out and take photographs. We stopped next to Pharaoh’s Island which is topped by a massive crusader fortress (on right),

Pharaoh's Island

paused by Nuweiba Port, and gazed upon the “camel watching over Dahab” which is a mountain range at the entrance of Dahab that looks like a camel lying down (below). By the time we reached Dahab we had passed through three checkpoints and learnt about everything interesting along the way. We arrived at the Red Sea Relax Hotel in Dahab with the sun still shinning and after checking in and taking our things to our apartment style accommodation we went to check in at the Dive center where we met Ahmed, our Dive leader and planned our first two dives. Having organized the diving for the next day, we went for a walk along the boardwalk and explored the quaint little town before eating dinner and having an early night.

"The Camel Watching over Dahab" 

Day 9

Breakfast was included with our accommodation so just after 8 o’clock we were out of bed, dressed in our swimming costumes and eating breakfast in Churchill’s Pub (the hotel restaurant.) After breakfast we went to the dive center where we rented all of our scuba equipment and had our dive briefing. We put on our gear and did a shore entry at 10:10 am going into shallow water where we put on our mask and fins. Swimming along the sandy ocean floor which had various clay objects including pots and chests that were home to various forms of ocean life. We saw the head of one octopus peeking out of one of the pots and we later saw the tentacles of another coming out of a different pot. We also saw multiple lion fish, most of which were on their own but we did see a group of 5 together at one point which was a fabulous sight. There were also various types of wrasse fish and some amazing coral which was fascinating to watch. As well as several trumpet fish which were very strange and numerous puffer fish which had incredibly intimidating looks. One of the most interesting things we saw on this dive was a pipefish which was small and very odd. We also saw a moray eel however, it had a fish hook stuck in its mouth and a fishing line trailing out which was incredibly sad. Our dive guide Ahmed tried to get the hook out but
 the eel hid back in the coral but unfortunately he was unable to help it. On this dive we also were fortunate enough to see a scorpion fish sitting camouflaged on the sandy bottom in a strange wispy red-orange coral like organism. The 63 minute dive flew by and after our 3 minute safety stop at 5 meters we emerged from the water at 11:13 and the cold breeze chilled me to the bone having left the comfort of the 21°c water. We shivered our way about 10 meters to the dive shop where we took of our gear and took a two hour break. We met at 1:00, had our briefing and prepared for the second dive. By 2:00 we had entered via the same shore from the morning dive and we were swimming to the left towards the coral reef. The reef was staggering, I saw parrot fish, angel fish, butterfly fish, and grouper fish just to name a few. I saw several jellyfish which were amazing to watch and I took several photographs of the various life I saw. The most exciting creature we saw was a giant moray eel which was between 3 and 4 meters long and hiding inside a massive coral. If I had tried to hug it my arms would have barely made it around its body. When we got back to the shore Ahmed told us that it is the second largest moray eel in that part of the Red Sea and I couldn't believe that I got to see it! We finished our second dive at 3:00 and yet another 60 minutes had drifted by in the blink of an eye. It had been a fantastic day of diving! We cleaned all of our gear

Dahab at Night

 and put it all away leaving our wet-suits hanging in the sun to dry for a couple hours before putting them away. We went to take a short nap ate some dinner and then went for a walk along the boardwalk stopping at an Egyptian restaurant called Shark to have some dessert. The restaurant was beautiful, filled with colorful lights and cushions and a distinct aroma of shisha from the hookahs all around, you could not help but feel that you were in the Middle East. After we finished at the restaurant we sat on the beach looking at the lights of the boardwalk reflecting
off the ocean and enjoying the sound of the waves before heading to the roof of our hotel
where there were sun beds to lie on and look at the stars. From Orion's belt to the big dipper the sky was filled with sparkling balls of burning gas and although I wasn’t sure exactly which planets we could see I could definitely see 3. It had been a perfect day and we were in bed by 11 to prepare for day 2 of diving.

Day 10

Arrived at the dive shop by 8 so that I could hang out my wetsuit in the sun and hope it would finish drying so I wouldn’t have to put it on cold and wet. Once I had taken my gear out of my locker I headed back in to have breakfast before preparing for the days dives. It was going to be a very different day from the first day of diving because we were taking a truck 15 minutes down the coast to a site known as the Blue Hole. We walked from the Blue Hole exit point (shown on the 2D map on the right) to the Bells with all of our gear on where we descended through a vertical half pipe at 10:39 am. As I am only certified to dive to a depth of 20 meters, I went down to the 20 meter point with our dive instructor while the others continued down to 30 meters. Having reached our max depth we swam along the reef wall towards the blue hole. It was the most astonishing view I have ever beheld.

Map of Blue Hole Dive

The reef wall follows the deep blue ocean disappearing into a blue abyss. Here I saw thousands of fish and coral. I took a few photographs to try and capture the beauty of the dive site which I cannot even begin to explain. I enjoyed watching the anemone fish swimming in and out of their anemone and seeing the vibrant colors on the various wrasse and parrot fish that were swimming along the coral reef. At one point a cleaner wrasse with electric blue stripes came up to me and was swimming an inch away from my mask giving me the most amazing view of it. However, it then went and bit my lip which didn’t hurt but was quite a shock. As we approached the end of our dive I began to get very cold so I was glad we were getting out. We finished our dive at 11:19 in the blue hole coming out directly in front of the Bedouin coffee shop where we had left our things. Although it had only been a 40 minute dive I was cold and the strong wind stripped any of the warmth I had left from my bones. I took off my tank and went straight to get my towel as I was shivering uncontrollably. After a hot chocolate my teeth stopped chattering and I enjoyed lying in the sun for an hour before we had to get ready for our next dive. We began our final dive of the day at 12:58 entering at the same place we had finished our previous dive (on left). I had a lot of trouble equalizing the pressure in my ears. However, after about 10 minutes I was finally able to descend without any problems. This time we went to the South side of the Blue Hole swimming along the coral wall. I finished the space on my camera taking a photo of an interesting fish that I could not identify but that looked like a tiny shark lying atop some coral and some free divers that were descending the blue hole. The free divers were mind-boggling to watch because they swam much deeper than we were and had nothing to enable them to breathe. At the end of the dive I saw an amazing puffer fish with a lion fish swimming past it and I wished that I had one picture worth of film left so I could capture the two intriguing fish in the same shot. However, although the dive was amazing I found myself in a tricky situation when I began to have reverse equalization problems. As I attempted to ascend the pressure in my ears grew as I was unable to effectively equalize. Having completed the dive at 11:53 after 55 minutes of diving I was in a lot of pain and tried to get what felt like water out of my ears. After a while I gave up and drank a hot chocolate hoping that it would warm me up. They packed my gear away for me and we headed back to the hotel. On the drive back my ear was giving me a great deal of trouble and when we got back to the hotel I took some ibuprofen and tried to sleep. When I woke up from my nap I was feeling slightly better so we went for a walk along the boardwalk where we made an Egyptian friend named Hagag. Hagag invited us

Lanterns in an Egyptian Restaurant

into his shop to try some Bedouin tea. We sat and talked for an hour meeting his friend Saed. They talked of the revolution and the effect it has had on the country. Although we would have happily stayed to chat longer we had to leave to eat dinner and take a nap before our trip to the Mountain of Moses which is part of Mount Sinai. We woke up from our nap at 10:00 pm and bundled up preparing for the hike. I had not been expecting to have this opportunity so did not have any of the right gear. I put on four pairs of trousers, three pairs of socks, 6 shirts (2 long sleeved), two jumpers, a scarf, and a hat. I looked like a puffy marshmallow but there was no questioning that I was warm. We went to meet the tour group at 11:00 pm (the scheduled time) and then waited till 11:45 pm for the bus to get there so we could leave. David and I were the only two going from our hotel so we climbed on the bus and went to sleep only waking up briefly when 6 Spanish speaking tourists joined the tour bus.

Day 11

We woke up as we arrived at Mount Sinai at 3 am where we met our Bedouin guide Mohammad. After the Spanish group finished buying blankets from the various Bedouin sales people we finally began our hike. Once we passed St. Catherine’s we found ourselves in a herd of Bedouins and their camels. One of the Bedouins was in a heated argument with what appeared to be the rest of the Bedouins as he was screaming and having what appeared to be a temper tantrum for at least 15 minutes. We had to wait for our guide to get the rest of the group camels during this massive distraction before we could start walking up the mountain as you were required to go up with a Bedouin guide. Luckily, the camel situation eventually got sorted and we were finally on our way up the mountain. The hike began with a one and a half hour walk up an incredibly long, winding, steep pathway

Bedouin Village on the Mountain

which felt like it was never going to end. There were Bedouin coffee shops along the way which we used three times to rest, catch our breath, and have some water before continuing up the path. We were going at such a fast pace that we were actually keeping up with the camels and the layers which had been keeping me warm were making me over heat and the bottom layers began to get drenched in sweat. By 4:30 we had reached the end of the path and the beginning of the 758 steps to the summit. The guide let us go ahead and we climbed the steps in good time making it to the top in just under an hour where the sun was just barely beginning to show the first signs of light. We found a good spot on some steps and huddled under a blanket to watch the sunrise.

As the sun began to slowly rise the summit became more and more packed with people. There were various religious groups singing and praying as the sun rose. The sunrise was jaw dropping. As the sun came out so did the mountains which became illuminated displaying the splendor of the mountains surrounding us. When the sun was finally shining brightly in the sky the view was magnificent. The sky was a bright orange and we enjoyed sitting in silence soaking up the warmth of the sun on the cold gusty mountain top. I took masses of photos on the summit enjoying every second before deciding it was time to begin our descent. We went back down the 758 steps and stopped in a Bedouin coffee shop where we each had a cup of hot chocolate and a mars bar to warm us up and give us some energy for the long trek back down the mountain. We sat in the warm Bedouin hut for almost half an hour getting the feeling back in our fingers and toes before daring to venture back out into the cold. Once we got our courage up we began the journey down the mountain there were two choices for the journey down, the path we had taken up our some steps. After we went to check that our guide was not waiting for us in the swarm of camels at the next Bedouin coffee shop pit stop. We decided to take the “steps of penitence” back down instead of the path because it was a shorter more direct route as well as a much more beautiful one. However, this meant that we would have to take 3,750 steps to reach St. Catherine’s Monastery at the base of the mountain. This was the best decision we made on the whole excursion. The views were gob smacking and I felt on top of the world. We took our time down the 3,750 steps stopping

The Steps of Penitence

frequently to take photographs of the various views. We came across a few arched doorways in the mountain side along the stairway which were really beautiful and intriguing. There were a few viewpoints with pyramids of rocks carefully placed on every boulder within reach of an average person. These were really cool and I hope to find out the significance of them sometime soon. As we began to get closer to the bottom of the mountain the mountains parted revealing the beautiful St. Catherine’s Monastery below. With the monastery in our sights we continued the last leg of our excursion down the mountain which took another 45 minutes. By the time we reached the bottom our legs were shaking and we were absolutely shattered. It was 10:00 am and we had an hour to wait before the monastery opened for visitors and two hours to wait before the bus would arrive to take us back to the hotel. We went and sat outside the monastery coffee shop in the sun and fought of the sleepiness that was quickly catching up to us as we relaxed into the plastic chairs. We eventually got up at ten til eleven and wandered around the monastery taking photographs before it opened. When it finally opened we explored the inside for half an hour before heading to the parking lot to wait for the
 bus. Once again we had a hot chocolate at a coffee shop as we enjoyed the warm rays of the sun. A curious goat came over while we were sitting outside at the coffee shop and tried to eat my mug which was quite humorous and after I saved my hot chocolate it lingered for a while before wandering off to climb some barrels in search of something to eat. Once the bus arrived we clambered aboard quickly and went to sleep before the Spanish group even arrived back at the bus. We woke up back in Dahab as we pulled up outside our hotel. Having arrived back, we went and cancelled our final dive which I no longer wanted to do as my ear, though no longer excruciatingly painful was still giving me trouble. They were concerned about my ear so they decided I should go to a doctor who specialized in dive injuries in Dahab and told me that he wanted to take me sometime after it opened at 4:00. As it was 2:30 I decided not to take a nap and I had a massive lunch as I was famished from the mountain excursion and then I walked along the boardwalk with Mrs. Bobb looking through all of the various shops and taking photographs. 4:00 rolled around more quickly than I had anticipated and I went in a taxi with the Bobbs to the Hyperbaric Chamber Center of Dahab where I met with Dr. Ahmed Sakr. I explained to him what had happened and he inspected my ears informing me that my left ear had a bleeding membrane which had resulted in blood getting trapped in my ear canal and my right ear had the same problem but it also had a small perforation which explained why I had been in so much pain. He prescribed me with antibiotics and a nose spray and instructed me not to attempt to equalize or get my ears wet. After leaving the doctor’s office we collected my prescription from a nearby pharmacy and went back to the hotel where I finally took a short nap. I woke up, ate dinner and went for another walk on the boardwalk. We looked inside masses of light shops as they had the most beautiful lamps before calling it an early night and getting some well deserved rest.

Day 12

"Love Sinai"

Up by 7:40 am with incredibly sore legs I packed my bags in preparation for the long drive back to Jerusalem. We were at breakfast by 8:00 and after devouring my scrumptious breakfast we went for a walk along the boardwalk to take a last look at some shops. After buying a few things we rushed back to the room to collect our things and do a final check before loading the taxi van with all of our things. Once again we had a row each but unlike Mohammad (our driver from Taba to Dahab) the driver for the way back was very quiet focusing on the drive and getting us to Taba quickly only stopping for checkpoints. The most interesting thing we saw

on the return journey that we hadn’t seen on the way to Dahab was at the first checkpoint, where we came across a phrase written in stones which said “Love Sinai.”  Once we arrived in Taba we unloaded our things from the Taxi and walked back across security passing through the various security checks. The Israeli border police were very thorough asking lots of questions as to why I was coming into Israel and where I would be staying and what the people I am staying with do for a living and why they live in Israel. Once in Eilat we stopped at an Asian restaurant named Ginger house which was really modern and trendy. After filling up we were back on the road, driving past the Dead Sea and then back into Jerusalem. The drive back flew by and before I knew it I was sitting in the house eating leftovers, watching the news, and catching up on my email, before calling it an early night and going to sleep.

Day 13

A nice lazy day, we slept in getting up just before 10:00am and started working on our mountain of laundry so we wouldn’t have to travel back with dirty clothes. While waiting for clothes to wash and dry I spent the day working on this, my photographic journal, adding in all of the photographs and writing about our time in Egypt. At 4:00 we left to go back up to the Mount of Olives to watch the sunset over Jerusalem. Once the sun had set and the last shade of pink had faded we drove back to the house where we finished our laundry and had a fantastic dinner before getting ready for bed.

View of Jerusalem from atop the Mount of Olives

Day 14

Out of bed by 10:00 and ready to seize the day. It was our last day and we still had to get a few jobs done including packing. I walked to the old city to buy some t-shirts. It was a nice walk and after having the shirts made we stopped at a bread cart to get some fresh white seeded bread which was very tasty. We finished packing and shower before heading out to the airport for our 12 hour flight to Newark. The trip of a lifetime had finally come to an end leaving me with 1700 photographs, a million memories, and dreams of future adventures.