Wadi El Natrun Trip from Alexandria

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On average, this is booked 25 days in advance.

Overview

Wadi El Natrun trip from Alexandria is a kind of spiritual tour to some of the oldest monasteries in Egypt and the birthplace of Christian monasticism that you can visit with Egypt tours. You will explore first why Wadi El Natrun is famous due to vast quantities of sodium hydroxide obtained from a chain of small lakes used for mummification purposes since ancient Egyptian civilization. Meanwhile, in your Egypt day tours, you will be able to learn about Christianity in Egypt and how Christian monasticism started.

Moreover, you will visit 4 monasteries out of 50 supposed to be in the area. You will visit the monastery of the Romans (Deir El-Baramos), which is the oldest one during Alexandria day tours, the monastery of Syrians (Deir El-Saurian), which is the smallest; the monastery of St. Pshoi (Deir Anba Pshoi); and the last one is the St. Macarius monastery (Deir Abu Makari).

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Day 1 Wadi El Natrun

Golavita travel guide will meet you at your hotel lobby to start your full-day tour to Wadi El Natrun, about 120 km to the south of Alexandria city. Wadi El Natrun is located in the western desert, 23 meters below sea level.

Your tour to Wadi El Natrun, which is one of the things to do in Egypt, will include the open monasteries or even from the oldest one, Baramus Monastery, to the smallest one, the Monastery of Syrians or (Deir El-Saurian). You will start your Wadi El Natrun attractions with the oldest one.

Monastery of the Romans: The Monastery of the Romans is the oldest of the surviving four. It was founded around 335AD until today the monastery has been preserving much of its ancient character. It has five churches. The monastery has been renovated and enlarged during its history; nowadays it contains a remarkable infrastructure and houses around fifty monks.
Monastery of St. Pshoi: was founded in the 4th century AD by Saint Bishoy the Great “The Perfect Man, the Beloved by our Good Savior. Its main church contains, among other relics, the body of its founder, Saint Pishoy, indeed, Saint Bishoy's body is still without decay to date, and without being preserved chemically in any way or mummified. The monastery has five churches and lately, it has been recently renovated and enlarged.
Deir Abu Makari: It was founded around 360 AD by Saint Macarius of Egypt, who was the spiritual father to more than four thousand monks of different origins. It has been continuously inhabited by monks ever since and contains relics of many saints, during the restoration works, two crypts have been discovered, supposed to belong to Saint John the Baptist and the Prophet Elisha.
Monastery of Syrians: It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and actually carries her name, but it is commonly known as the Syrian Monastery because it was mainly used by Syrian monks The church was built around the 4th-century cave where St Bishoi resided and tied his hair to the ceiling to keep himself awake during prayers and is worth visiting for its superb series of 11th-century wall paintings.

At the end of your Alexandria excursions to Wadi El Natrun, we will drive you back to your hotel in Alexandria.