Journey to the East - Страница 2

The wedding of the Bedouins are celebrated very solemnly. Going the family of the bride and groom, and nearly all the relatives who were able to come to the celebration. Definitely one gives gifts to the young – some of the utensils, clothes, furniture, etc. According to custom the groom should secure the future of his family, i.e. to have the house fully furnished, in which he will lead his wife. Lately to make it harder and harder, and sometimes acts shelter for a few months, then the young family go to live with the parents of the groom. The wife can leave at any time from the husband, i.e. simply file for divorce if husband is not taking good care of her. The woman returns to her parents ' house and be allowed to re-marry. The children remain with the mother or with the father (by arrangement). I know several cases when children from two marriages remained with the mother. After the divorce to get child support from the father for children is as difficult as ours.

The city is situated in Dahab Bay, and stretches a strip along the coast. Morning Dahab is full of sun and wind, in the evening quiet as a tired child. Sitting in a cafe, watching the lights in the sea – reminds me of the waist of the dancer.

Dahab is filled with sun and wind.

Dahab Promenade.

Fresh breeze from the sea is like a gentle “good morning!” (Sabah Gamil!). In good weather you can clearly see the coast of Saudi Arabia. Before him there on the doorstep is no more than a hundred kilometers.

The cafe serves Egyptian Breakfast – rice with milk, felafel, Nescafe or tea. However, you can also order pancakes and English Breakfast with eggs and bacon. At lunch, definitely order the fresh fish, stuffed peppers, and garlic cooked on the grill, rice, salad and tahina.

For lunch, order the fresh fish, stuffed peppers, and garlic cooked on the grill, rice, salad and tahina.

The city has many cheap hotels and campuses. You can also rent an entire home or apartment virtually on the beach.

One of the first campuses Dahab – Crazy Camel.

Located in Dahab should not seek in this place of white palaces and luxurious hotels. This is the perfect place to relax and getaway from civilization by the way it there are few.

Fishing boats.

Five-star hotels here also have, but they are not located in the Central part of the city and on its outskirts. And the city itself is full of local color, to which one must get used to and love. Lazily wandering through the streets of the camels, returning home and their own herd of goats sleeping in the shade – a calling card of the city. The entire Dahab is like one big family – small town, and everyone here knows each other. My week goes out to greet all my friends, to inquire about the news, leisurely talk over a Cup of tea, and another week to kiss everybody goodbye until we meet again.

Goats lazily doze in the shade.

Divers well-known sites in the region of Dahab – White Canyon, Blue hole, Ras Abu Galum. Next you will see photos taken underwater at some of these sites. To get from Dahab to them by jeep or by camels.

Photo of coral (underwater).

St. Catherine’s monastery, situated on the highest mountains of the Sinai, has long been a place of pilgrimage not only believers, but also poets, artists and all those interested in the history and sights of Egypt. People from all over the world travel thousands of miles, to climb to the top of Sinai and to touch the Holy walls.

View of the monastery of St. Catherine from above.

The monastery developed a lot of legends. So, the name of the monastery is connected with the legend of the Holy Martyr Catherine (296 ad) in Alexandria. Catherine are unable to renounce their faith even by order of the Emperor, and was executed. After the death, as legend has it, her body was lifted up to the highest point of the Sinai mountains, and after three century a few monks found her body and buried it in a sarcophagus.

Now the Monastery of St. Catherine – this is the smallest diocese in the world, headed by the Archbishop of Sinai. Sinai Archbishop wears full Episcopal vestments with miter, scepter and a Golden cross. The monastery belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church. Most of the monks are Greeks and the monks of the cult of Saint Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea, representative Kappadokiyskoy school of Orthodox theology, who lived here in 329—379.

High rise in the sky the impregnable walls of the monastery.

The monastery, around which towering red walls with a height of 12 to 15 meters with watchtowers at the corners, covering the area of the square wrong. But outside the monastery is a whole town with architecture from different eras and styles.

Well-preserved bell tower of the monastery. The bells were donated to the monastery of the Russian Imperial surname.

The bell tower of the monastery of St. Catherine.

The main temple in the monastery is the Church of the Transfiguration, however, during holidays, to visitors open their doors 12 chapels dedicated to the virgin Mary and patron saints. One of them is the chapel of the Burning Bush, which is located near the Church of the Transfiguration. In the monastery there are several wells of Holy water. The most interesting is the well of Moses, about which there was the legendary meeting of Moses and Jethro’s daughters, one of whom became his wife.

The monastery of St. Catherine are not only the chapel and temple, but other rooms, which were regarded as the wound service, though are no less artistic and historical value. For example, the refectory in the Church, decorated with Gothic arches and illuminated by a single window.

The monastery has its own library, the size of only 15 x 10 meters, but how precious books are stored here – it is second in importance after the Vatican library. In this room holds about six million volumes and manuscripts in Greek, Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Georgian, Syriac languages on theological, historical and scientific topics.

Continue our journey across the Sinai.

In the region of the monastery. Catherine preserved the remains of dwellings of the Bedouins. Many years ago there emerged the first settlements? Who were the first settlers? Scientists speculated. The severe nature of this region demanded extraordinary courage and endurance from the people who settled here. We managed to find also millstones for grinding grains, various vessels and utensils. Ancient legends say that once in the mountains of Sinai was a lot of water – it rained regularly. If you get a lot farther into the mountains, one can find abandoned wells and tanks in which the inhabitants kept the water. Some of the wells are used to this day. The gorges stretch of pipe that runs water from the tops, in some places there are even waterfalls. Now in the mountains still live people (see photo), the kids easily climb on the most inaccessible slopes, not inferior to them in neatness and adults.