Mount Sinai

Mount Sinai, known in Arabic as Jebel Musa or Mountain of Moses, rises to about 2,285 metres above the monastery town of St Catherine in the South Sinai Governorate of Egypt. Tradition identifies it as the biblical Mount Horeb, the place where Moses encountered the Burning Bush and received the Ten Commandments, a belief shared by Jews, Christians and Muslims. Christian hermits settled in the surrounding valleys from the early centuries CE, and pilgrims were visiting the mountain by the 4th century, which led to the later foundation of Saint Catherine's Monastery at its base. The summit holds a small Greek Orthodox chapel of the Holy Trinity, built in the 1930s on the ruins of earlier churches, and a small mosque beside it. Two main routes lead to the top. The longer, gentler camel path winds up in about three hours, while the Steps of Repentance, around 3,750 stone steps traditionally attributed to a monk, give a steeper and shorter climb. Along the way are a gateway where pilgrims once confessed, the Chapel of the Virgin at the Elijah's Hollow plateau with a cypress tree, and a rest area with tea huts. The terrain is high desert granite, with dramatic views of surrounding red and brown peaks. Most climbers start around 2:00 am to reach the summit before sunrise, then descend past the monastery. Because the mountain is a holy site, it has no ticket office, but local Bedouin guides are required in practice, at about EGP 300-500. Conservation concerns include litter, erosion and the pressure of large pilgrim groups; the surrounding area is part of the Saint Katherine Protectorate, a UNESCO World Heritage setting along with the monastery. The summit structures have been periodically repaired, and the chapel is open mainly on religious occasions. Nights are cold at altitude, even in summer, and the climb is physically demanding.