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Advantages: A very spiritual place containing thousands of years of history and rare manuscripts. Disadvantages: Short opening hours. Traders badgering you once you leave.
St. Catherine?s Monastry. Sinai, Eygpt.
St. Catharine?s Monastry is a designated UNESCO site can be found in Sinai Eygpt at the base of Mount Sinai in a tiny little gorge which appears to be in the middle of nowhere. It is reputed to be the oldest working monastery in the world. It is of significant importance not only for Greek Orthodox Christians but also Islam.
It is primarily a Greek Orthodox Christian monastry but within the walls of the monastry there is a mosque for the passing nomadic Bedouins some of whom still live within the walls helping the monks in their day to day lives.
It is here at the base of Mount Sinai that it is supposed to be where God appeared to Moses in the burning bush with the Ten Commandments and the bush is still there today in one of the little alleyways within the monastry walls ...
Advantages: Only 35km north of Bucharest Disadvantages: Not much interest for children
I have visited Romania six times and visited many different places, a very religious country with about 80% of the population Christian Orthodox.
One of my adventures was to the Snagov Monastery on a day trip in the middle of the sweltering summer; Romania can get surprisingly hot at this time of year!
The Journey;
The Monastery is 35km north of Bucharest which took us about 30-45 mins to get there due to the very poor conditions of the roads. Most of the roads on the way to Monastery are asphalt/Tarmac but don't let this fool you into thinking you are in for a leisurely drive! The roads here hardly ever get maintenance because the government auctions the road contracts off to the cheapest bidder, resulting in poorly constructed non resistant roads which inevitably leads to new holes soon reappearing and I mean big holes ...
Advantages: Cool air, calm, away from the touristy areas, spiritual, interesting, cultural. Disadvantages: Women have to cover their legs ... take a sarong as an easy skirt.
The Kykkos monastery is a very well worth visit, especially if combined with a visit to Troodos mountain as it is only about 5 minutes away and on the same route.
An important thing to note is that women have to cover their legs otherwise will not be permitted to go in, although it's ok for men to wear shorts) which caught a lot of women out when I visited - we got around it by tying sarongs and towels around our waists as skirts.
The monks are very friendly but quietly go about their business, therefore it is important to remain respectful. It's not a 'fun' or 'touristy' place, more an interesting, spiritual, historical etc. trip, but not at all boring. It will take 1-2 hours to see the monastery if you enjoy looking at detail and enjoy the calm tranquility and the cool breeze from the mountains.
Children will enjoy it if ...
