Sights in Red Sea Coast
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Monastery of St Paul
St Paul's monastery dates to the 4th century, when it began as a grouping of hermitages in the cliffs of Gebel al-Galala al-Qibliya around the site where St Paul had his hermitage.
Paul, who was born into a wealthy family in Alexandria in the mid-3rd century, originally fled to the Eastern Desert to escape Roman persecution. He lived alone in a cave here for over 90 years, finding bodily sustenance in a nearby spring and palm tree. According to tradition, in AD 343 the then 90-year-old St Anthony had of vision of Paul. After making a difficult trek through the mountains to visit him, Paul died, and was buried by Anthony's hands.
The heart of the monastery complex is the Ch…
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Monastery of St Anthony
This historic monastery traces its origins to the 4th century AD when monks began to settle at the foot of Gebel al-Galala al-Qibliya, where their spiritual leader, Anthony, lived. Over the next few centuries, the community moved from being a loosely organised grouping of hermits to a somewhat more communal existence in which the monks continued to live anchoritic lives, but in cells grouped together inside a walled compound.
In the 8th and 9th centuries, the monastery suffered Bedouin raids, followed in the 11th century by attacks from irate Muslims, and in the 15th century, a revolt by bloodthirsty servants that resulted in the massacre of the monks. The small mud-brick…
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Mons Claudianus
About 40km along the Safaga-Qena road, a signposted track breaks off northwest towards Mons Claudianus, an old Roman granite quarry/fortress complex, and one of the largest of the Roman settlements dotting the Eastern Desert. This stark and remote place was the end of the line for Roman prisoners brought to hack the granite out of the barren mountains, and was a hardship post for the soldiers sent to guard them.
It was more a concentration camp than a quarry - you can still see the remains of the tiny cells that these unfortunates inhabited. There is also an immense cracked pillar, left where it fell 2000 years ago, a small temple and some other ruins. Once the granite wa…
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Tomb of Sayyed al-Shazli
In addition to the many traces of Pharaonic and other ancient civilisations, the Eastern Desert is also home to numerous Islamic tombs and shrines. One of the best known is the Tomb of Sayyed al-Shazli, a 13th-century sheikh who is revered as one of the more important Sufi leaders. His followers believe that he wanted to die in a place where nobody had ever sinned. Evidently such a place was difficult to find, as the site was a journey of several days from either the Nile Valley or the coast.
Al-Shazli's tomb - which lies about 145km southwest of Marsa Alam at Wadi Humaysara - was restored under the orders of King Farouk in 1947, and there is now an asphalt road leading t…
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Mons Porphyrites
Mons Porphyrites is the site of ancient porphyry quarries worked by the Romans. The precious white-and-purple crystalline stone was mined and then transported across the desert along the Via Porphyrites to the Nile for use in sarcophagi, columns and other decorative work elsewhere in the Roman world. The quarries were under the direct control of the imperial family in Rome, which had encampments, workshops and even temples built for the workers and engineers here.
Evidence of this quarry town can still be seen, although not much of it is standing. A road leading to the site branches off the main road about 20km north of Hurghada.
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Wadi Gimal
Starkly beautiful Wadi Gimal, which extends inland for about 85km from its coastal opening south of Marsa Alam, is home to a rich variety of birdlife, gazelles and stands of mangrove. In ancient times, the surrounding area was the source of emerald, gold and other minerals used in Pharaonic and Roman civilisations.
Together with tiny Wadi Gimal Island, just offshore from the wadi's delta area, Wadi Gimal has been given protected status and targeted for development as an ecotourism destination. Because of its long history and abundance of historical monuments, the area has also been proposed as a Unesco World Heritage site.
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Wadi Hammamat
The high, smooth walls of Wadi Hammamat, about halfway along the road connecting Al-Quseir to the town of Qift, display a remarkable collection of graffiti dating from Pharaonic times down to Egypt's 20th-century King Farouk. The road through the wadi runs along an ancient trade route, and remains of old wells as well as other evidence of the area's long history can be seen along the way.
In Graeco-Roman times, watchtowers were built along the trail at short enough intervals for signals to be visible, and many of them are still intact on the barren hilltops on either side of the road.
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St Anthony’s
The Coptic monastery of St Anthony is open daily throughout the year from 7am to 5pm, except during Advent and Lent, when it can only be visited on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. During Holy Week it is closed completely to visitors. For enquiries or to confirm visiting times, contact the monastery's headquarters: St Anthony’s, located off Clot Bey, south of Midan Ramses in Cairo.
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St Paul’s
The Coptic monastery of St Paul is open daily throughout the year from 8am to 3pm, except during Advent and Lent, when it can only be visited on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. During Holy Week it is closed completely to visitors. For enquiries or to confirm visiting times, contact the monastery’ headquarters: St Paul’s, located off Clot Bey, south of Midan Ramses in Cairo.
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Rock Inscriptions
One of the most impressive collections of Rock Inscriptions, many of which date to prehistoric times, is found in the barren tracts fringing the Marsa Alam-Edfu road, beginning close to Marsa Alam, where the smooth, grey rock was perfect for carving. They include hunting scenes with dogs chasing ostriches, depictions of giraffes and cattle and hieroglyphic accounts of trade expeditions.
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Fortress
The 16th-century Ottoman fortress is Al-Quseir’s most important historical building. Much of the original structure remains intact, although it was modified several times by the French, as well as the British, who permanently altered the fortress by firing some 6000 cannonballs upon it during a heated battle in the 19th century.
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Aquarium
If you don’t want to put your head under the water, you can still get an idea of some of the life in the Red Sea at the aquarium. It’s just north of the public hospital in Ad-Dahar and has a reasonable, if somewhat neglected, selection of fish and other marine creatures.
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Police Station
A few blocks south along the waterfront is the picturesque Police Station, originally an Ottoman diwan (council chamber) and later the town hall. Photos aren't permitted, and it's not open to the public.
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Wadi Sikait
Wadi Sikait was an emerald-mining centre at least as early as the Ptolemaic period. It provided emeralds that were used throughout the ancient world and was the exclusive source of emeralds for the Roman Empire.
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Shrine
Just across from the fortress is the 19th-century Shrine of a Yemeni sheikh, Abdel Ghaffaar al-Yemeni, which is marked by an old gravestone in a niche in the wall.
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Quarantine Hospital
Behind the police station is another fortresslike building, formerly a Quarantine Hospital built during the reign of the Ottoman sultan Selim II.
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Wadi Miya
In the remote Wadi Miya, in what was likely an ancient mine works, are the remains of a temple said to be built by Seti I.
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