This mega-city’s constant buzz and noise is a product of its 22-or-so million inhabitants simultaneously crushing Cairo’s infrastructure under their collective weight and lifting its spirits up with their exceptional humour. A visit can jangle your nerves, but it’s a small price to pay to tap into the energy of the place Egyptians call Umm Ad Dunya – the Mother of the World.
This ancient monastery traces its founding to about AD 330, when Byzantine empress Helena had a small chapel and a fortified refuge for local hermits built beside what was believed to be the burning bush from which God spoke to Moses. Today St Catherine’s is considered one of the oldest continually functioning monastic communities in […]
