The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: October twenty-fourth, standing on Mount Sinai at sunrise.

According to the Book of Exodus, Moses led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt 1250 years before the birth of Christ. The tribes of Israel wandered through the desert of the Sinai Peninsula, looking for the land of milk and honey. Eventually, they arrived at a rocky, 7500-foot-mountain set in the middle of the southern Sinai. It was this mountain Moses climbed to receive God's Ten Commandments.

In the year 50 A.D., a Roman emperor ordered the construction of a fortified monastery on an outcropping near the mountain's base. For nearly two millennia, this monastery has housed a sect of devout Catholic monks, who still guard a superb collection of ancient manuscripts and icons. Seen from above on the steep slopes of Mt. Sinai in the purple, pre-dawn glow of the desert morning, the monastery is the only earthly twinkle in sight.

In many regards, Sinai has always stood apart. Situated between Africa and Asia, its thousands of square miles of seemingly barren desert interior are still inhabited primarily by nomadic bedouins.

Due to centuries of violence and neglect rather than any ecological foresight, much of Sinai's Red Sea coastline has been preserved. In recent years, however, sections of the southern Sinai have developed rapidly. Dozens of hotels have blossomed along its flour-fine sand, sun-drenched beaches.

Yet, like the exquisite coral reefs that line the peninsula's southern tip and make it a mecca for skin divers, this is a fragile ecology. Those wishing to experience the old Sinai and the emptiness that help mankind to find God should visit soon.

FMI For information on Mt. Sinai, contact Egypt Tourism at 323- 653-8815 or visit www.egypttourism.org

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