Serabit al-Khadim

See the Feature article on Serabit Al-Khadim

Location: South Sinai, Egypt

How to get there:

From outside Egypt
Many international flights now go direct to Sharm el-Sheikh, contact youi travel agent for details. 

From Cairo

Overland:
Buses run by the East Delta Bus Company. Terminus in Abbassia.
Tel: +20-2-24824753 Fax: +20-2-22619784 
Limousine cars: Tel: +20-2-22599813/1867/4

By air:

Egyptair: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Tel: +20-2-25750600 (Cairo)
Sinai Air Company: Tel:+20-2-776893/760948 (Nile Hilton Hotel) 
ZAS: Tel: +20-2-2918030 (Novotel, Cairo)

Description

Serabit al-Khadim is an old, mostly 12th Dynasty but as far back as the Old Kingdom, quarry.  The Egyptians mined turquoise here, and in nearby Wadi Maragha and Wadi Mukattab (Valley of Inscriptions), turquoise mining dates to the 3rd Dynasty.  Unfortunately, the British tried to renovate the Wadi Maragha and Wadi Mukattab mines in 1901, thereby destroying much of those areas.  However, Serabit al-Khadim is worth seeing, and has in fact become a popular desert safari trek (particularly out of Na'ama Bay).

There is a great temple dedicated to Hathor at Serabit al-Khadim which dates to the 12th Dynasty and lists, among its contributors, Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III.  Next to the Temple is a shrine dedicated to Sopdu, a god of the Eastern Desert.  We believe that the area was abandoned during the reign of Ramses VII.