Wadi Natrun, St Bishoi

A tok tok, an import from India. The Egyptian government thought it was a good idea and imported a million of them. They are only found in use in Wadi Natrun. Where is Wadi Natrun? It is on the highway between Cairo and Alexandria, closer to Alexandria than to Cairo. The guide book said, some 100 Km from Cairo, I think it was more than that. We were almost in Alexandria before we came to Wadi Natrun. If I had known it was more than 100Km, I would not have gone and would have missed the beauty of Wadi Natrun. I was scared the old taxi we hired wouldn't get us there, let alone get us back. We would be stranded on the highway between Cairo and Alexandria and would probably missed our flight the next day and would be stranded in Egypt. I like Egypt but to live there is not a prospect I would entertain. I don't think any of these would happen but I was scared anyway. When we got into our taxi, our driver started to pray in Arabic. I said to myself, I'm going to pray to my God that we'll get there and back safely. We saw an accident on the way back. Half way there I did voice my concerns and asked to return and skip finding Wadi Natrun. We finally found Wadi Natrun and the turn off on the road towards the monasteries. The reason for going to Wadi Natrun was to see some of the Coptic Christian monasteries. There are at least four of them here, scattered all over the place. All of them started in the 4th century during persecution of the Christians , especially under Diocletian. They have all been rebuilt during the 8th century and has basically the same floor plan. The most accessible of them is St Bishoi and I met an Egyptian on the flight back who told me about the legend of St Bishoi. This is the visit to St Bishoi. We invited our driver to join us, he was curious too.

The town of Wadi Natrun is primitive as is all Egyptian villages. It was raining a little during that day. It doesn't rain in Cairo but it does rain in Alexandria and since we were so close to Alexandria, it experienced some rain.

Wadi Natrun was known even in ancient times by the Pharaohs, they mine a certain salt there which they use for mummification. Today the government has supplied water and turned this place into a quasi oasis and everywhere on church compounds, the hose is running to water the flowers, fruits and vegetable gardens and Wadi Natrun looks like some lush European community.

We see a lot of visitors at St Bishoi.

Here is the drawbridge leading to the oldest part. This can raised and the invaders locked out while the Christians retreat to the secured part of the building where there are living quarters, water reservoir, kitchen and chapel and can live for a long time while the siege goes on outside.

Today, tourists from all over the world are the only people that trample on this drawbridge.

Look at the size of this door, it dates back to the 4th century.

We went on the roof top, to view the surrounding area.

Our tour guide, I forgot his name. He allowed photographs, he was very accommodating, he has to be, he wants the world to know their plight. Christians are not free to worship in Muslim countries. I told him I was from Malaysia and he knew where it was. I was a Christian living in a Muslim country.

Here is the chapel in the fortified area.

The remains of the water well.

The oven.

This is the basis for Romanesque church construction, it started in monasteries like this in the 4th century.

The Coptic Christian liturgy.

He demonstrated a few Coptic hymns.

Christian monasticism was born in Egypt's Eastern Desert and not to have visited Wadi Natrun would have missed an important component of a visit to Egypt. The monasteries in Wadi Natrun is definitely more accessible than St Catherine in the Sinai desert. The easiest way to visit is to hire a taxi and be sure the taxi is in good condition but there's no way of checking because all the taxis are old and decrepit. I would say be sure it is a Peugeot from France. The French dumps all their old cars to Egypt. Ours was some Eastern European wreck but thank God it got us there and back. I was praying the whole time.