The 18 days I traveled through Egypt and Jordan with GAP Adventures in 2009, were filled with adventure, excitement and wonder.

Our group of 14 people from across the globe, typically traveled by private van, but we did take a night train from Cairo to Aswan.  Here is a map of our route…

This photo is of the back of the Citadel, which was originally built during the 12th Century to be a fortification…a wall surrounding Cairo, but was never completed.  It is now a preserved historic site, with mosques and museums.

We wandered through the Khan Al Khalili bazaar.   It was an endless maze of sidewalks filled with little shops, selling clothing, jewelry, anything you could think of.  It was so colorful and intriguing!

There had been a bombing one month prior to my arrival…a French girl died and others were wounded.  Of course my family thought it would be too dangerous to visit…

Our hotel at Mt. Sinai was very nice and the pool looked inviting…but it was too cold to swim.   I think the scenery was so simply stark and beautiful!

I was so happy to be able to climb to the top of Mt. Sinai.  For those of you who don’t remember the significance of this area.  According to the Bible, it is where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God.

It took about 3 hours to reach the top and it was timed so that we could see the sunset.  The temperature change was amazing.  By the time we reached the summit, it was freezing.   We waited about 15-20 minutes to witness the sunset…with my teeth chattering uncontrollably…I’m asking…do we really want to see the sunset??  It was pretty…but we then ran down the mountain, partially in the dark, in about 30 minutes.

 I loved this Greek Orthodox Chapel at the top.

The following photo is St. Catherine’s Monastery, which was built in the 6th century and is the oldest continuously functioning Christian monastery in existence. It is built on the site of the original burning bush.

Cats were everywhere!

Our last stop was  Nuweiba, Egypt before boarding the ferry to cross the Gulf of Aquaba to Jordan…this was the beach area where our hotel was located…it was eerily deserted!

This little girl was selling jewelry on the beach…but only five people were on the entire beach!  We couldn’t speak to each other, but you don’t always need words to communicate.  I took her hands and swung her around and around…and we laughed!

Next we’ll explore Indiana Jones’ territory…

Related articles

• A trek through egypt (photos.mercurynews.com)