When someone mentions a trip to Egypt, you naturally think pyramids, mummies and the Nile.  Well I have quite literally been there and done that, so my latest trip to Cairo was more of a laid back adventure.  Once again I was staying with friends; a former colleague that I had taught with in Portugal and her new fiancée, whom I would be meeting for the first time.  In a return to normal, I was thankfully picked up at the airport.

The reason for a return trip to Egypt was to join a Nina, and Julien, for their engagement party, a sunset cruise down the Nile.  She would also need my blessing for the wedding, since we were close friends who have travelled extensively together in the past, I needed to give Julien the seal of approval.  He had beer waiting in the fridge when we reached the apartment, and we were off to a good start.  I had just completed two months of travelling India and Pakistan, and I was ready for a little more European flavour that Egypt had to offer.  I decided to explore the nightlife of Cairo, or as much as Nina and her friends had discovered.  I even was able to suggest a dinner out at a nice French meat restaurant I found during my last adventure.  Of course while I was out socializing with the I was relentless at dropping hints and inquiries of where to visit in Egypt.  The overwhelming consensus from the people I met was to put me on a plane to the Sinai Peninsula for snorkelling in the Red Sea.  Who am I to argue, I left Cairo only a few days after the engagement party.

Plans were made and my flight to Sharm El-Sheik landed early in the morning.  Once again a driver picked me up at the airport and then we drove two hours to my hotel in Dahab.  Friends arranged my stay at Diver’s House Hotel, and I felt at rested and rejuvenated before my bags were unpacked.    As you can imagine by the name of the place I was there for a dive, it was arranged for later that afternoon.

If I had more time (or next time) I would have taken the three-day diving certification course.  Diving is amazing, the Red Sea is amazing, the coral reef is amazing, and diving could become a new cool hobby.  However I was only given one tank of air for a lesson and the dive that followed.  The two lessons are short and simple, learn to depressurise your eardrums and clear your airways.  Other than that I was told to just breath normally.  Saying that on land and doing it in the water are different things. We also had to learn some quick hand signals for underwater communication.  Once I had that mastered the basics, we were off.  I can’t describe the fish and corals and things I saw, it was fascinating.  The feeling of weightlessness under the water was intriguing as well.  After our short lessons, I stayed under water for 70 minutes without going up for air and dropped to a depth of 10 meters.  It was like slow motion flying through another world.  I didn’t want it to end, but I raced through three hours of air in 90 minutes.  Not exactly Jacques Cousteau, but a start.

I would have gone back diving again if it weren’t for my other adventure.  You can’t dive 24 hours before going on a plane or climbing a mountain because of the pressure changes.  Well the next night I was planning on climbing another mountain. 

            On my last night I made the epic pilgrimage up to the top of Mount Sinai to where Moses received the 10 Commandments from God.  Myself and a thousand other people, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, hippies and more, all made the midnight march to the sacred spot, hoping to witness one of the oldest pagan rituals known to man; the daily rising of the morning sun.   It could be considered a spiritual journey to one of the holiest sites of the Abrahamic faiths, in actuality I stared at the wrong end of a camel for most of the trek.  I climbed the four hour dirt path in sandals and shorts, others seemed to fight for every step along they way.  I was amazed at the will of many of the elderly people who came here to walk this path.  At 4:50 in the am, at the auspicious moment when the sun god appears ready to drive his golden chariot across the sky, the peace and quit of the event was broken by the click of hundreds of camera shutters repeatedly trying to capture the moment.  Even I reduced the breath-taking emergence of the golden sunrise to a Kodak moment.  Afterwards I waited for everyone else to leave so I could try to enjoy the peace of the shrine to myself before I left.  Four plus hours of hiking for most of the people there, followed by an hour of more of waiting, and then place was cleared out in twenty minutes after sunrise. 

            At the foot of Mount Sinai is St. Catherine’s Monastery.  The original monastery was built in the sixth century, only about 20 or so monks live within it walls today.  Most of the monastery is closed off to the public, but visitors can see what is claimed to be a distant relative of the burning bush and the well where Moses met his future wife Aipporah within the walls.  If you are a little into the macabre, there is a room full of skulls in the basement.

            After the Monastery we reaced back to the hotel to rush off to the airport and back to Cairo. I could have stayed three weeks in Dahab, not three days.  It was a perfect spot to just chill out and enjoy.  Each night I had seafood at the ‘Three Fishes Restaurant’ and then just watched the stars rise over the Red Sea while I sat on the beach.    The moon rose over a little port town across the sea in Saudi Arabia each night after midnight. 

            Upon returning to Cairo I felt a pain of guilt for not doing any real touristy sight seeing.  I mustered up the courage and energy to visit the one place I missed on my last trip; Coptic Cairo.  A few years ago on my Easter vacation in Portugal I flew to Egypt, I should have visited this area during holy week to see the Easter celebrations.  Well I am a few years (and a few weeks in the liturgical calendar) late.  Nonetheless I stole away a few hours of wandering through the old streets and churches in the afternoon.  Coptic Cairo is one of the oldest parts of the city, dating back to the third century AD, its museums and churches remind us of a time when Christianity had as great an influence on the Nile Valley as the Romans and the Greeks.  The Coptic Museum and records form a large part of the primary records of the church for those centuries.  But I don’t read Roman, or Coptic, or Arabic and my plane to Istanbul left that evening so my tour was cut short.

            I have had two very different experiences exploring the Nile Valley; the first as a determined tourist and now as a casual observer with a taste for the Red Sea.  Lets see if the third time really is a charm, I may never come back.