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With its surface area of 61,000 square kilometres, the Sinai peninsula extends to the Gulf of Suez to the west, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east and the coast of the Mediterranean to the north. At the southern tip of the peninsula lies the Sharm el Sheikh tourism centre. Because the Suez Canal separates Asia and Africa, Sinai forms part of the Asian continent.
Around twenty million years ago, Egypt, the Sinai and the Arabian peninsula formed a single land mass. Immense movements of the earth caused the separation of the various sections of land. The southern Sinai peninsula became separated by two major gulfs, the Gulf of Suez in the west and the Gulf of Aqaba in the east. The major seismic movements of the past and the occurrence of eruptions have shaped the landscape of the Sinai. The entire Sinai is like a wild mountain backdrop, in which multi-coloured layers of rock from the ancient history of this land radiate with a harsh beauty. The Sinai is rich in minerals: from limestone in a range of tones of ochre and white to marl, the broad, dark-brown layers of which alternate with greenish feldspar strips; from beautiful, dark-blue azurite to granite in a range of shades of grey, pink and yellow.

The highest peaks in the Sinai are Mount Catherine, at 2,637 metres, and the 2,285 metre-high ‘Jebel Musa’, or Mountain of Moses, the place where the ten commandments are popularly believed to have been handed down. Set at the foot of the Mountain of Moses, Saint Catherine’s monastery was constructed in 537 AD. It’s well worth a visit, not least because the museum contains an outstanding collection of icons and a library. These mountains occupy the central and southern part of the peninsula and fall away to the Red Sea. Here, rugged cliffs meet colourful coral reefs, and the desert ends at the coast. Mighty granite carries soft sand- and limestone layers with concealed fossils dating from the beginning of time.
The desert and the sea are the two dominant elements of the Sinai. Often, they meet each other and, when they do, magnificent and unique landscapes of unforgettable beauty are created.