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1000places > MONASTERY OF ST. SIMEON - If the outside looked bleak, the rooms inside were even more so. The monastery was originally called Anba Hatre after a religious hermit who was consecrated a bishop of Syene (now Aswan) in the late AD 300s. Tradition tells us that on the day of Anba Hatre&#8217;s wedding, he chanced upon a funeral procession that inspired him to preserve his chastity (probably to his bride&#8217;s dismay). He eventually retired to the desert and applied himself to the study of the life of Saint Antony.
1000places > SAHARA - The first leg of our camel ride brought us to the Monastery of Saint Simeon. Whatever made monks want to build a monastery in this barren desert location? Surrounded by mile after mile of featureless sand with large rocky cliffs to the west, the fortress-like structure gave new meaning to the word &#8220;desolate.&#8221;
1000places > MONASTERY OF ST. SIMEON - The monastery was founded in the 7th century, rebuilt in the 10th, and abandoned in the 13th never to be used again.
1000places > MONASTERY OF SAINT SIMEON - Saladin destroyed the building in 1173, but the features remaining look far more like a fortress than a monastery. The huge walls surrounding the building are stone at the base, mud brick at the top.
1000places > A FINAL THOUGHT - Jeanne and I traveled to Egypt and Jordan in the spring of 2007 because, frankly, we were concerned that escalating political tensions and religious conflicts could make this trip increasingly difficult in future years. We were pleasantly surprised, however, by the degree of safety we felt in both countries - on the streets of Luxor, along the corniche at Kom Ombo, in the picturesque villages of Jordan, in temples and markets, often at night and many times by ourselves. Yet we cannot help but wonder what the future holds for people who live in the midst of an ideological tinderbox - particularly the children, those that waved at us from the banks of the Nile and from the sidewalks of Madaba and Jerash, or that raced with our carriages through the streets of Luxor.The lands we visited were once lands of greatness. They are lands that still hold dear the timeless treasures of their past. Their people want to tell the world of bold feats and beautiful wonders. Yes, we left the Middle East with more questions than answers. And perhaps the one most on our mind was &#8220;Will they have that chance?&#8221;
1000places > KITCHENER'S ISLAND - Some of the multi-hued hydrangas growing on Kitchener's Island.
1000places > CONQUER A COUNTRY, GET AN ISLAND - One of our felucca trips took us to Kitchener&#8217;s Island. Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener was an Irish-born British Field Marshal, diplomat, and statesman in the 1890s. In 1899, for his part in helping to re-conquer the Sudan, he was given his own island. Kitchener was a keen horticulturist and turned his island home into a botanical garden.
1000places > CAIRO - In the Museum's courtyard rested the top of an obelisk that became separated from its lower section sometime in antiquity.
1000places > CAIRO - Touring the gardens of the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, we came upon this carving. Could these be stone portraits of the same person? Or brothers, perhaps? Or fathers and sons? Or maybe this was just a block of granite that ancient apprentice sculptors used to practice carving faces.
MONASTERY OF ST. SIMEON - If the outside looked bleak, the rooms inside were even more so. The monastery was originally called Anba Hatre after a religious hermit who was consecrated a bishop of Syene (now Aswan) in the late AD 300s. Tradition tells us that on the day of Anba Hatre’s wedding, he chanced upon a funeral procession that inspired him to preserve his chastity (probably to his bride’s dismay). He eventually retired to the desert and applied himself to the study of the life of Saint Antony.

1000places > MONASTERY OF ST. SIMEON - If the outside looked bleak, the rooms inside were even more so. The monastery was originally called Anba Hatre after a religious hermit who was consecrated a bishop of Syene (now Aswan) in the late AD 300s. Tradition tells us that on the day of Anba Hatre&#8217;s wedding, he chanced upon a funeral procession that inspired him to preserve his chastity (probably to his bride&#8217;s dismay). He eventually retired to the desert and applied himself to the study of the life of Saint Antony.
MONASTERY OF ST. SIMEON - If the outside looked bleak, the rooms inside were even more so. The monastery was originally called Anba Hatre after a religious hermit who was consecrated a bishop of Syene (now Aswan) in the late AD 300s. Tradition tells us that on the day of Anba Hatre’s wedding, he chanced upon a funeral procession that inspired him to preserve his chastity (probably to his bride’s dismay). He eventually retired to the desert and applied himself to the study of the life of Saint Antony.

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