St.Catherine's Monastery (Contributed by Lesley Parry, April 2010)
Any trip to Sharm, you might be tempted to go see this place. So what do you get for your money?
Well, your journey there takes about three hours by coach. Through the Sinai and its
landscape of rock, you pass numerous Beduoin sites, before eventually pitching up in
a car park which has several souvenir stalls on one side, and a just about usable toilet
block on the other. Leave your buying til later – you got a walk on a gentle but
constant incline in the heat of the day (whether it is winter or summer). You could get
a camel ride, or even a taxi if you wanted, but it isn’t going to be a problem for
anyone but the elderly and infirm.
St Catherine’s is at the foot of Mt Sinai. Mt Sinai is the place where Moses was
handed the Ten Commandments by God (twice, having once smashed them in disgust
after the Israelites broke law one by making a statue of god before they even knew
law one!). It was also the place he had earlier in his life been told by God to go get the
Israelites from their life of slavery in Egypt. God spoke to him through a burning
bush that time – of which more later.
The first place of interest you’ll be shown is a charnel house. It contains the bones of
as many monks as have lived here. Their skulls are piled high in one part of the room.
One particular head monk is enshrined in his ceremonial gowns in a glass case
opposite the entrance to this room, like some ghoulish watchman. In desert countries,
where burial space is at a premium, it is common to bury for only a while, then dig up
and store the bones so that the burial space can be re-used. That is what happens here,
and the bones get to be stored with centuries of others.
St Catherine’s itself is a fortified religious sanctuary, which houses several churches,
a mosque, and a monastery. You’ve probably seen the pictures, which you yourself
can take by climbing up the hillslope opposite the fortification. Almost everybody
does it – so join them, they can’t all be wrong! You’ll have to dodge the boys selling
stones and carvings, but they are mainly very friendly and don’t hassle once you have
firmly said NO! They do have some nice bits of stone to sell, and aren’t charging the
earth – so they might be worth a quick glance. That shot, though, is the picture
postcard image everyone sees, so it is worth the walk.
You go inside the fortification directly into the church. It is small and packed with
furnishings and images. No photos allowed, and they will tell you off if you try.
Tourists join a snaking line which goes from the door, to the side then down to be able
to step briefly behind the iconostasis (a barrier in Orthodox churches which separates
the main part of the church from the altar – priests only there), and spot the coffins of
various people, including St Catherine herself. No time to stop as the queue pushes
relentlessly, and you are eased out into a narrow passageway. Here you can go take a
look (and a twig) at a descendant of the original burning bush. Moses was supposed
to have spotted this bush on fire, and when he went near, it wasn’t on fire – God
spoke to him via this not-on-fire-bush, telling him of his plans for Moses’ future.
Nowadays people will be standing and gazing at it, as it creates an archway above
them – it is the stuff of legends after all, and here you are looking at it. Some will
write prayers and push them into the wall which the bushes roots are protected by.
When I was there no one touched the bush itself, until one guy just reached up and
snapped a twig – shock at first, then a most unholy scramble as another fifty folk
copied him! Moses has the last laugh though – the twigs are covered in big
thorns/spikes which do draw blood if you catch them right!
From here you can go into a small museum and look at some of the artefacts. This
costs money, so many tourists just don’t bother. Other than seeing the well which
Moses was supposed to have met his future wife at, there isn’t anything else to see.
You are very restricted in how much of the fortified complex you can access. It is a
working monastery after all, and monasteries tend to be off limits to anyone but
monks.
Most tourists do have a look in the gift shops, of which there are quite a number.
They all sell the same things, so what you buy in one, you can buy in any. The
integrity of the sellers does vary though – I was asked three different prices, by the
same guy – for some stuff. Realising he was trying to fleece me, which I found
particularly offensive at a place of pilgrimage, I just left the stuff on the counter and
walked out. The prices are already quite high without someone banging their own
personal tax on the bill! Watch for that.
There is a snack shop, and you can look from above at the vegetable gardens which
the monks keep. There is always time to sunbathe too before that journey back.
On the way back from (and in the first place to) the monastery, you will be offered
stone – carved and not – by young men and boys. This is one of the ways they make
their living. Show some interest and you will be hassled, but you can get some nice
stuff from them. They also sell (copied) guide books for the monastery – much
cheaper than inside, and not much different. A firm ‘No’ usually means they let you be.
So, was it worth it? Well, yes – it is a place of legends, and has a fantastic history.
It’s one of those places you tick off – need to go, but only once. Been there, done that,
got the twig, what’s next?.....
