Saint Catherine’s Monastery
There was one part of the journey that I felt I only walked away with one shot I really liked. I’ll explain that in a minute, but first, that one shot.
This photo was taken outside the walls of Saint Catherine’s Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage SIte on the Sinai Peninsula. Inside the walls is a bush revered to be the original burning bush from biblical history. It’s also the site of the oldest working Christian monastery in the world, founded in the 6th century by Helena, mother of Constantine I. It’s also a place where Muslims and Christians exist side by side. Within the grounds of Saint Catherine’s is both a church and a mosque. It’s a place of incredible and rugged beauty as you can tell from this black and white photo.
It’s also the base of Mount Sinai, and the starting point for many for the 3,750 steps of penitence. When you climb this route, you are supposed to be following in the footsteps of Moses. And that most of my group did. Frankly, I probably should not have. I was in no shape for such a climb, but I went anyway, just arriving at the top as the last of the sunset finished. And just in time to turn back around! It was an incredible trek and I’m very proud to have completed it, but I’ve done my penitence and if I was ever near Mount Sinai again, I would take the camel route up if I went up at all!
For more prints of Egypt, please check out my Egypt Gallery.
Mark,
it may be one, but it’s quality not quantity. Ansel Adams would wait hours for that one illusive shot, and that was well before the days of being able to retouch colour and enhance black and white tones. This gives me a bit of an Adams feel.
Great shot.
Hey Rachel! Absolutely, I didn’t per se expect nothing but keepers, but I guess there’s a tinge of disappointment in not getting a keeper from the mountain itself! Darn it! Wasn’t it Adams who said he only expected 1 or 2 truly good images a YEAR?
And gracias for the Adams comparison – truly a compliment. 🙂