Mt. Sinai (Jebel Musa) and the Safsafa basins - Discover Sinai

The path from Wadi Farah becomes steeper along the way, leadingthrough a narrow gully at the end into a little basin. There are greatviews of Mt. Katherine along the climb and from the top. In the basinthere is an abandoned garden with a little church known as Kinist elHmar (5). From here the main path, the one we follow, carries onbehind the church over a pass into another basin and a junction (6)with another path. However, if you want to head straight to Mt. Sinai,skipping Farsh Safsafa, the most direct route is via Farsh Loza (9),over a solid granite hill (malaga) to the right. The correct path might bedifficult to spot, so look out for rock cairns (rojom). Otherwise you couldclimb the hill from any point in the basin, although the smooth roundsurface is a bit tricky and you have to trust the grip of your shoes.Kinist el Hmar means the “church of the donkey”. According to localsthere was a monk who lived in the garden and descended with hisdonkey every Sunday to get supplies. One day the monk died, but nextSunday his donkey descended alone – that’s how other monks knewthere was something wrong and the Bedouin name refers the event.From Byzantine times until fairly recently there were monks living onthe mountain, tending their secluded gardens in the basins. However,some of the monks wanted even more solitude and there are severalruined hermit cells in different spots. One of the most striking buildingsis a “hanging house” on the side of a cliff, near Farsh Gholf.19