Getting There and Away

Is the Sinai part of Africa, torn from the Asian continent at the deep Syrian-African rift that runs through the Dead Sea valley down to the Gulf of Aqaba? Or does the broad Gulf of Suez, the sea barrier encountered by Moses, land the peninsula irrevocably in Asia? Scholars have pondered this question for ages, but it doesn’t really matter: you can get there from both. Governments, though, are the powers that be today, not tectonic forces. See Essentials: Travel in the Region for important border crossing and visa information if you plan to arrive from either Israel or Jordan.