At a height of 2,285 metres, Mount Sinai, towers over St. Catherine’s Monastery. It is identified with the biblical Mount Horeb, where Moses spent 40 days and received the tablets bearing God’s commandments. Some archaeologists and historians dispute this claim and place Mount Horeb variously in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, but that hardly seems to deter the hordes of pilgrims who turn up here each day.

There are two ways up the mountain. For the fit, there are the 3,750 Steps of Repentance, supposedly hewn by a penitent monk; this is the most direct route. There are several votive sites en route, including the Gate of Confession, where a monk once heard pilgrims’ confessions. More meandering but slightly easier on the leg muscles is the camel path, which begins behind the monastery.

On the summit itself is the Greek Orthodox Chapel of the Holy Trinity, built in 1934 on the ruins of a 4th century church. It contains beautiful paintings and ornaments, and a small mosque. However, these were so desecrated by tourists in the 1980s that the chapel is usually kept locked. The summit also offers a breathtaking panorama of the whole southern Sinai right across to the Gulf of Aqapa.