The Drive to the wonderful Galala Plateau
starts with the pick-up from your accommodation in Cairo by our Sempre Travel Egypt tour guide to two of the most beautiful Coptic Monastery in Egypt, the Monastery St Anthony Egypt and the St. Paul Monastery. The history of these two hermit monasteries goes back to the 4th century when 2 young men sought the solitude of the rocky Galala Plateau for their meditation. Enjoy the ride in our small group through the Galala Mountain to our first destination
St Anthony Monastery
In addition to the Sinai St. Catherine Monastery in Egypt, the hermit monastery of St Anthony is one of the oldest monasteries in the world. In 250 AD, a young man, son of Christian parents, moved at age 19 from his hometown Beni Suef towards the desert. Anthony has always been fascinated by the words of God and preferred the hermit life to his previous life.
In 356 AD, his successors built the St Anthony monastery below the cave where Anthony lived until his death. Visit with us the church in which St Anthony is buried and the cave above in which he lived until his death, and then follow us up 1200 steps to the cave, from where you will be rewarded with an impressive view of the mountains, the Red Sea and desert landscape. You won’t regret the effort of reaching this point in the mountains!
Hopefully with some nice souvenirs photos and wonderful impressions we make our way to the next monastery the
St. Paul Monastery
St. Paul Monastery is also located in the Galala Mountain and separated from the St Anthony Monastery by the southern fork of the Galala Plateau. The monastery had its prime during the 12th to 15th century and was used by monks to translate theological texts into Arabic.
St. Paul escaped Roman persecution from Alexandria and was the youngest hermit at only 16 years of age. In the 4th century, hermits built the St. Paul monastery and 4 churches were built on its site, including the cave church (the place where St Paul lived from 251 to 325 AD) of St. Paul in the middle. The walls of the cave church, in which his bones are still preserved, are decorated with beautiful frescoes.
After the interior of the monastery, including the library with all manuscripts, was destroyed by Bedouins in 1483, the ARCE (American Research Center Egypt) started restoration work from 1997 to 2005.
We make time for a lunch break close to the Galala Plateau before we start the return trip from our Cairo excursions to St Antony Monastery and St. Paul Monastery to your accommodation in Cairo.