Touring Ethiopia

by Dr. Hanna Rubinkowska
The world has its seven wonders naming the rest ‘the eighth’ without really paying too much attention to which and how many of them there can be. Among the eighth wonders, however, I would put Lalibela churches in the first row.

The 13th century eleven monolithic churches, serving their religious purposes until today, induce feelings of a highly spiritual nature.

Lalibela is situated in a mountainous Lasta district, where the center of an Ethiopian empire survived after the decline of the Aksumite kingdom.

Not much is known to historians about this period of Ethiopian history.

What is known (except for the legends) is mainly deduced from examining the churches, their architecture, the art of decorating walls and all the rest of the pieces that move imaginations to re-construct the past.

The churches were carved in a red, soft, volcanic rock and most of their roofs are leveled to the ground. They are carved down the rock, deep and huge. To see how huge they are you need to look at the shelter made by UNESCO to protect them. Concentrate on one support and then you will see what I mean.

The New Jerusalem
As is often said, there purpose was to build “New Jerusalem” in the midst of the Lasta Mountains.

It was also to underline the continuity of ancient Aksum kingdom and its connection with Semitic culture to the other side of the Red Sea.

Even though the dynasty of Lalibela rulers was not lined to those who were in power in Aksum.

The idea of the both state continuity was strong; strong in the perception of the rulers as it was among their subjects.

The temple of Mariam Tsiyon at Aksum was supposed to be a symbolic continuation of a Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.

And this idea was further continued to Lalibela, the mountainous and new capital of the then Ethiopia.

This symbolical continuation can be traced also through architectonical details many of which can be seen in the red-rock churches also on their Star of David decorated walls.

Indeed, both pilgrims and travelers visiting Lalibela may find what they were suppose to find in Jerusalem. In addition to the eleven churches, the builders carved a bed of the Jordan River. There is even an olive tree over the dry river’s bed which according to legends, was planted when the churches were built.

Before the reign of Emperor Lalibela, who built the churches in the 12th and 13th century, the place was called Roha. According to legend, Lalibela was taken by an angel to visit Jerusalem and then instructed to build churches according to its pattern.

Even though the Zagwe dynasty, the line of Lalibela, is perceived in Ethiopian tradition as usurpers (as were not originated from the mythical Menelik I), he is still recognised a saint who built the monolithic churches by the power of God.

A Destination for Pilgrims and Tourists
All the eleven churches are preserved until today being a destination for pilgrims and tourists coming from different corners of the world.

The churches are placed in two groups situated on the banks of the rock-carved Jordan River. One is placed a bit further away in the western direction of the two clusters.

All other buildings of sacred historical Lalibela are connected with a maze of corridors.

Whilst one part of those underground passages is collapsed, the other part still exists; serving as a passage for pilgrims and tourists.

The churches offer a great experience not only for art, architecture lovers or for those who are fascinated with traces of history, but also for pilgrims.

There is a feeling of mystery in a maze of corridors taking you up and down through different sections.

Also a bit of scary feeling as you go on some paths that are very narrow and go directly above more or less a ten meter-high wall.

The cluster situated in the north from the Jordan River is composed of six churches. The biggest of them is Bet Medhanie Alem (redeemer of the world).

Others are Bet Meskel (Church of the Cross), Bet Mariam (Church of Mary), Bet Michael, Bet Golgotha and Bet Denagil (Church of the virgins). On the same side of the Jordan River there is a carved chapel of the Holy Trinity and a symbolic tomb of Adam.

The other group is composed of four churches. And this group is situated south of the Jordan River. The churches are: Bet Emmanuel, Bet Merkoriyos, Bet Abba Libanos, which according to the legend was built in a night, and Bet Gabriel-Rufayel.

Crosses, Symbols and Icons
Another striking thing in Lalibela is the plentiful symbols and icons you find either on the walls or on crosses. Though Lalibela is situated in the middle of Ethiopian mountains and somewhat isolated, one can see the symbols having reflections of different parts of the world.

There are crosses of all types:
St. Andrew’s cross, Latin cross, Maltan cross, Greek cross, St. George’s cross, also the Indian symbol of sun (swastika), David’s star etc.

The symbols came to Lalibela from the distant lands which influenced Ethiopian culture over the centuries.

There are also traces proving broad contacts between the African Christian kingdom and the rest of the world. These symbols are attractive parts of Lalibela among many others.

Generally speaking Ethiopian crosses are a wide and fascinating topic. The Ethiopian church, being a part of Eastern Christianity, collected different symbols from the whole of the Christian world and arranged them together with symbols of other cultures.

Such a marriage has resulted in the Ethiopian crosses. Some do not resemble crosses that western Christians are used to. The patterns are very rich in details and highly symbolic. The different shapes and designs stand for different interpretations.

The Lalibela cross looks more like a representation of a fountain than anything else, but above all it presents a distinguished beauty of a century-adorned object.

Astonishing, Spiritual and Sacred
There are just too many different aspects, objects and histories about Lalibela. To mention a few there are the 13th-century paintings and frescos, the old manuscripts, the different types of Ethiopian (a bit Byzantine, a bit Aksumite style) architectures.

There are also other monasteries surrounding Lalibela which can be reached within a days travel by either mule or car. All of them are astonishing, spiritual, sacred, and surrounded with breathtaking views.

And then a night in the little town, you will experience a fast growing village with more and more hotels being built almost every year. The village stands opposite the truly sacred red rock in which more or less 800 years ago, Ethiopians carved those huge and beautiful churches.

What more is there for a tourist to expect?

It is heaven! As my friend and tour companion often exclaims.

Dr. Hanna Rubinkowska has plenty of travel experiences to Ethiopia and is a contributor to our site.

She has specialized in modern history of Ethiopia and currently lectures at Warsaw University, Department of African Languages and Cultures.

Dr. Hanna Rubinkowska (Ph.D.)

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The first part of this report is at Exciting Trip to Ethiopia Part I.

Early morning we organized our selves, ate breakfast, and started the trek to Geech.

It didn’t take us long to find another species of baboons called Hamadrayas.

The Hamadrayas are shy of humans, unlike the Gelada baboons.

However we had a rare opportunity to take their pictures.

As we were trekking, we found about ten people carrying a woman hurt by an ox. They were taking her to a clinic, a journey that could take them almost a day.

They asked if there was a doctor among us that could treat her. It was sad, as we could do nothing for her, since none in our party was a doctor.

Normally the villagers think a white man or woman could be doctor and ask for treatment especially if they are sick. We advised them to take her to a clinic as none among us could treat her.

We continued our trek passing through the spectacular and amazing landscapes.

My guests were busy taking pictures and asking us almost every type of bird and flowers. We saw several bird species such as Lammergeier, Wattled ibis, Alpine chat, Pied crow, Chestnut-winged staring, White-collared pigeon, and Augur buzzard.

After trekking for almost two hours we reached the beautiful water fall of Jinbar Falls descending more than 500m.

It is a very beautiful spot for someone heading either to Geech or Chenek. We also had a chance to buy some handicrafts from shepherds who put their products on the street waiting for trekkers to buy them.

After we crossed a river around 2pm, we found that our cook, who had gone on ahead to prepare lunch, was already waiting for us. We had a delicious lunch at the river side and continued the trek to Geech.

The weather during the day was very cloudy and the rain kept catching us in different places. This meant we were wet when we arrived at Geech.

We reached Geech around 4pm after a long but wonderful trek.

The Geech camp site was situated approximately 48km north east of Debark town on a plateau at 3,600m with a mean annual temperature of 7.7c.

It comprised the scenic mountain range, an impressive escarpment, superb view points and near by mountain summits such as Seha, Kedadit and Gidergot as well as the endemic mammals, birds, and plant species.

Its vegetation is part of the afro mountain ever green bush land and mixed afro alpine communities. The lower part of the plateau is dominated by Erica arborea and Hypericum revoltum.

Lobelia rhynchopetalum, Helichrysum and Fastuca gelbertiana (an endemic grass in the Simien Mountain National Park) species are dominating the high plateau.

We arranged our tents for camping and went inside the hut for our dinner and to sit by the fire. We sat round the firewood taking hot drinks and snacks until dinner was ready. We had a delicious meal and Ethiopian spirit for dinner enjoying well into the night.

The weather was foggy, so much so that we couldn’t even see each once we stepped outside to go to our respective tents. During the night it was stormy and the rain lasted almost for the whole night.

The next morning our guests complained that they couldn’t sleep due to the storm and refused to stay in that area the next day and night. They were also irritable from a lack of sleep which caused some frustration in my team as we could do nothing about the unexpected storm.

Our initial plan was to rest at Geech and stay there for two nights before heading to Chenek, the last camp site. However, as our guests refused to stay at Geech the next night, we had to rush to Chenek taking another road.

On our way we had to cross a river. My guide Semma and I carried our guests bags across and also helped them to cross the river.

Chenek
Around 3pm we arrived at Chenek where it was nice and sunny, unlike at Geech and that made us all happy.

There was a lodge, recently completed, that had not yet opened for service, but I asked the manager to allow my guests to stay the night.

Luckily the manager agreed and they became the lodge’s first guests.

The support team and I stayed in a hut in our sleeping bags.

Chenek is located approximately 58km north east of Debark town in the Simien Mountains range at an altitude of 3,600m and with a mean annual temperature of 8.8c.

The lower part of the plateau is dominated by the Giant Lobelia and Erica arborea and in the high plateau the dominant and common species are Helichrysum and Fastuca species. The endemic Rasularia Simensis is also found in this camp.

It is extremely spectacular with a scenic mountain range, the summits of Imet Gogo and Buhit, an impressive escarpment and super viewing points.

Surrounding this campsite are to be found the endemic Walia Ibex, Ethiopian Wolf (Red Fox) and the Gelada baboon. There are also small mammals among them the white toot shrew, narrow headed rat and unstriped grass rat, endemic to Ethiopia.

The next morning my guests had agreed to stay at Chenek. It was their last day to enjoy the Simien Mountains especially to see Walia Ibex and to see the spectacular scenery.

Here also we saw several bird species such as Lammergeier, Thick billed raven, Wattled Ibis, and Alpine chat.

After breakfast, we went in search of Walia Ibex.

This wild and beautiful goat species is endemic to Ethiopia and found only in the Simien Mountains.

After an hour long search we found them around twenty in number and in different groups at the peaks.

Late in the afternoon, to our surprise, the Walias came to our camp site to pick leaves.

The Gelada baboons also came in large numbers picking the grass in front of us until they were full.

The next morning we had to trek back to Sankaber where our 4WD awaited to take us to Gonder for the next day flight to Addis.

After breakfast, we trekked down to Sankaber where the whole team said goodbye to my guests. Although it was shorter than the previous days, it was an exciting trek during which we also spotted a few Klipspringers at the bottom of Mount Imet Gogo.

At Sankaber, we concluded our five days trekking at the Simien Mountains massif.

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It has been a month since I came back from an exciting trip to the north of Ethiopia around Gonder and the Simien Mountains National Park. Of course I have been to these places several times, but I always find them new and amazing. I believe many travelers who have been there more than once, share the same experience.

I think this is the reason why we see people coming back to explore Ethiopia. I don’t have data of visitor returns, but I can guess that three quarters of visitors hope to be able to come back again.

My main reason to go there was to help four of our guests and to make especially sure the trekking arrangements and facilities were in place - like tents, cooking gears, mules, lodges, meals and of course the support team, nine people including myself.

Our guests were experienced trekkers who had trekked at the Andes, Alps, and Nepal, but had never been to Africa. The whole trip was a 13 day package including Meket, Lalibela, Gonder, and the Simien Mountains.

First Day in Addis
Though it was not included in the package, I wanted my guests to experience Addis Ababa on their first day of arrival. Thus we had a city tour including the Menelik mausoleum, museum, and the Entoto mountains.

From the Entoto Mountains any one can enjoy a bird’s eye view of Addis Ababa at a glance. One can appreciate Emperor Menelik and his wife unlike past Emperors, for their great vision in choosing such a suitable and large place for a capital.

My guests enjoyed the treasures of Menelik and the city he and his wife founded. After the city tour we made our way to Kaldis, a place where we found excellent fruit juices.

Kaldis is an excellent café and perhaps even a prototype of Starbucks. It is a bit expensive for the average person to have a casual visit. But they provide an excellent and wide selection of fast foods, juices, and coffee with a very good service.

Anyone can find mango, avocado, banana, orange, or sprice juice almost any thing at Kaldis. After our juices, I invited them to dine at the Crown Hotel, situated at the east of Addis and a thirty minutes drive from Bole International Airport.

Their coffee house is built in the shape of an Ethiopian coffee pot - “Jebena.” We savored an excellent coffee served in typical Ethiopian style, with burning incense, freshly cut grass, pop corn and roasted coffee, all made and served in a traditional manner.

The dinner at the traditional restaurant was accompanied by beautiful cultural dances. I can honestly say that words fail me to describe my admiration for these colorful dances performed by highly skilled dancers wearing different Ethiopian cultural costumes.

My guests, to their surprise said “What a wonderful introduction!” as it was their first time to Ethiopia or even to Africa.

I recommend the Crown Hotel for any one who wants to see Ethiopian cultural dances and listen to Ethiopian music. We enjoyed four or five shows which represented the major cultural diversities of the country.

My guests left for Lalibela on the third day, after spending one more day in Addis.

Leaving Addis for Gonder
I left Addis on the fourth day to meet my tour party at Gonder, after they had concluded their trips to Meket and Lalibela.

As “African Petra” is for Lalibela, “African Chameleon” is the nick name of Gonder. It is a name given for her beautiful castles and royal enclosure.

I had guest reservations at the Goha Hotel situated on top of a mountain.

From there one can see the whole city below, just as one can see Addis downtown from the Entoto Mountains.

In the morning the group visited the royal enclosure and the bath of King Fasiledas which has become a center for an Epiphany ceremony. After lunch in a beautiful garden of the newly built Lammergeyer hotel, we visited the Kusquam complex and the famous Debre-Birhan Silassie church.

That night we dined at one of the best traditional restaurants in Gonder. My guests enjoyed a local brewed beverage named Tej, made with honey and served using a special flask named a “Birille.”

They enjoyed the taste and wanted to stay and have more, but time didn’t allow as we had to rest for the next day’s trip to the most exciting part of this tour; five days trekking at the dramatic Simien mountain range.

Just a few kilometers from Gonder, on the way to Debark there is a beautiful viewing point named Kossoye.

It has spectacular scenery especially for tourists who don’t have the time to fully experience the Simien Mountains can have a glimpse of it from Kossoye.

We also stopped for a short time at Wolleka, a little village of Ethiopian Jews where the villagers display their souvenirs for tourists.

Around noon we arrived at Debark, the largest town in north Gonder and where the park headquarters are to be found. One can feel the cold chill of the Simien Mountains starting from Debark.

Luckily my guests arrived refreshed after staying at a newly completed, very clean and beautiful hotel, named Imet Gogo. They were also lucky enough to be invited for coffee at the house of the parents of our guide Semma.

We arranged four mules and an eight supporting team for the five days trekking. On the first day we trekked for almost a full day having some breaks and stopovers at various viewing points.

In addition to the beautiful scenery, we enjoyed watching a large troop of Gelada baboons on our way to Sankaber.

After a picnic lunch, we had coffee at the Simien Lodge, an excellent place and said to be the highest in Africa.

It is situated at 3,260m above sea level and located 22km from Debark.

We continued our trek up to Sankaber, 38km from Debark at an elevation of 3,300m above sea level. The weather was good until about 3pm and then came some stormy rain that lasted for more than half hour. We continued our trekking and had the chance to see another troop of Gelada baboons, which could be numbered in hundreds.

It is so exciting to watch these animals whatever they do; like helping one another in picking out the ticks from their thick furs; males dominating and disturbing the group; little ones playing and wrestling with each other. We also had a chance to watch some Klipspringers standing alertly on higher cliffs, where predators can’t easily catch them.

We reached Sankaber around 5pm whilst our support team had arrived ahead of us. After changing out of our wet clothes we enjoyed taking hot tea, coffee, and milk.

That night by the camp fire our excellent cook had prepared us delicious soup, a main course dinner and dessert.

We went to our tents for a good night’s sleep to wake up early for the next days trekking.

Our next day we were to trek to Geech 3,600m above sea level, but that will have to wait for my next report at Exciting trip to North Ethiopia Part II

Eskinder Hailu
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by Dr. Hanna Rubinkowska

Wherever you are planning to go in Ethiopia you need to leave early, or at least what is early for European standards. It’s a bit tricky in Ethiopia, as you need to start at twelve o’clock according to the Ethiopian way of counting time.

In Ethiopia twelve is the time of sunrise and sunset, and on foreigners’ clocks this time of day is six a.m. or p.m. The country is situated not far from the equator which makes the difference between day and night only slight.

At twelve, all the buses start their journey. Traveling takes lots of time in this mountainous country. Moreover, after sunset roads are far from being safe and continuing the journey is not a wise habit.

Every hour is precious if you do not want your trip to last forever. Tourists usually have very limited time and in these circumstances it does not matter that Ethiopia makes you feel like staying for longer. The more so, that for a traveler reaching the destination is an obvious temptation.

All the travel guides recommend the so called “northern circle.”

This means visiting places located to the north of Addis, like the modern town of Bahir Dar.

Or to take a boat trip on Tana Lake and see paintings and treasures in the monasteries located on the islands there.

Also to visit the source of the Blue Nile and art-deco Gonder, to experience ruins of castles resembling something between Disneyland and Harry Potter’s school, or other fairy-tale buildings.

Then there is Axum, with its history and monuments spanning several hundred years of history B.C. and Lalibela with its monolithic churches constructed in red rock.

The travel guides also recommend to take the direction starting from Addis Ababa in the western direction and approaching east. Polish people love to do everything in a way opposite to recommended, and I also left Addis in the direction of Lalibela.

There were also other, more down to earth reasons for doing this, not just because of my rebel nature. Among them the fact that if you plan to visit southern regions after the northern circle it seems wise to take this direction.

Bahir Dar is the only spot in the northern part of the country where malaria is a danger.

Reaching Bahir Dar at the end of the first part of the trip allows you to start taking anti-malaria tablets in the end of the northern circle and continue when you go south.

Moreover, Lalibela is the most expensive spot in Ethiopia. If you start there, you spend less and less money with every place you visit in the country.

This gives you a nice feeling of constantly saving money which adds to the attractions of traveling.

To reach Lalibela from Addis Ababa is always a long journey through spectacular and dangerous mountains. However, the way you choose can provide you with less or more spectacular views.

Probably the easiest and shortest route leads through Dessie and Woldia.

Like everywhere in the country, there are Chinese builders who are responsible for the construction of the roads.

It is partially newly built, though in many parts there is still no hard surface.

On those parts of the road where the work has not yet been finished, you loose all the time which you managed to save on the already constructed part.

Another option is taking a side road, with no Chinese people working there, but offering unforgettable experiences instead. Even though Lalibela seems to be one of the most spectacular places in the world, spending some time on the way there is worth a while.

Ankober and Maqdela
Ethiopia is full of historical places, and there are also many of them on the way from Addis to Lalibela. Going in this direction there are at least two mountainous residences of Ethiopian royal settings. These can be visited if you have a good four-wheel drive vehicle and lots of enthusiasm to go quite deep off the beaten track.

The two remote places are Ankober and Maqdela. The first, is situated in the central province of Shewa, 40 kilometers from the town of Debre Birhan.

It takes only half a day by bus to get to Debre Birhan from Addis. The final 40 kilometers is much more challenging if you do not travel by car.

There is an option of going further by bus, but it leaves the town early (only a slight chance of getting the bus the same day on which you started from Addis) and climbs the hills for another three hours before it reaches Ankober.

On the other hand, taking this option you experience being strongly enrooted in the passengers society by the time three hours are gone. This includes getting involved in long discussions in Amharic, even if you do not understand a word of the language.

Obviously, traveling by car makes it possible to reach Ankober without this experience, but instead quite fast and comfortable. The village is situated on slopes of the hills dotted with traditional Ethiopian round churches.

In the 19th century, a palace of powerful Shewan landlords was located on the top of one of the hills, the same Shewan dynasty which started ruling Ethiopia when Menelik II was crowned Emperor in 1889. The power remained in their hands until the fall of the empire in 1974.

For many years a bit of a wall which used to surround the palace was the only monument of the royal power, which could have been traced in Ankober.

However, Ethiopia is changing and not many years ago a traditional-style building resembling a palace was built again on the hill and “Ankober Lodge” was opened.

The site is still not functioning as a tourist destination and the lodge did not attract many tourists, but for those who decide to visit Ankober it provides a wonderful place to stay in a surrounding of a traditional Ethiopian village.

Another historical destination reached with the help of a four-wheel drive (up to a certain point) and by mule or your own feet, is Maqdela. This 19th century residency of emperor Tiewodros is located in the center of the Ethiopian Highlands.

We tried to reach Maqdela by car, but too much fresh air below our wheels persuaded us to go further on foot. You need at least three days to get there from Addis.

Dessie to Tenta
Tenta is a village situated about 17 kilometers from Maqdela and the furtherst point which is possible by car. Further there are mountains and an up and down bendy road which leads from Dessie to Tenta.

The road to Tenta provides breath-taking views which make one forget about being afraid of the bendy road.

Then there are the incredible precipices and challenging bends that make one forget about the beauty of the landscape.

Like always, in Ethiopia, when one is sure that nobody can live that high and in those rocky surrounding, one passes people on the road who walk from nowhere to nowhere, as it seems.

And then, when the car reaches the top of the world there is another surprise: a big flat area. What is more, it is inhabited.

After more ups and downs and a few more hours there is a marketplace…

Where do all these people come from to meet at the marketplace?

It seems like there is nothing all around.

It looks strange for European eyes… Surprising and beautiful. Above all, just beautiful.

Dr. Hanna Rubinkowska has plenty of travel experiences to Ethiopia and is a contributor to our site.

She has specialized in modern history of Ethiopia and currently lectures at Warsaw University, Department of African Languages and Cultures.

Dr. Hanna Rubinkowska (Ph.D.)

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by Dr. Hanna Rubinkowska

Ethiopia, its culture and people have been part of my life for many years. But it is different every time I come here and it makes me realize how little I know about this country.

It is most probable that if you fly to Addis from another country, you will arrive at night and your first glimpse of the city will be at its dark side. Do not pay too much attention to your first impression. It will get better when the sun rises.

Not many people appreciate the capital city of Ethiopia and many tourists try to escape from there as soon as possible. Of course it is not easy to see the best of the city if one is in a rush. The city is like a woman whose charm you are able to see only after a while.

It does not strike you at the beginning but soon you are under a spell and have no idea how it happened.

Addis - the New Flower
Most tourists come to Ethiopia because they heard about its ancient sites, old churches and thousands of years of history. It is true that many of them are ancient sites but not Addis. This city is new as its name implies “New Flower.”

It is bit over a hundred years old. But this doesn’t mean that the mystical Ethiopia is not there. And it is worth taking a risk to try to make friends with Addis Ababa.

When Menelik, the powerful king of Showa, whose aim was to rule the whole of Ethiopia moved into the area of today’s Addis Ababa, he settled on Entoto, a mountainous province of the country. He was accompanied by his wife, Taitu.

The couple were powerful, perceived by their subjects as beautiful and divine. Moreover, Menelik and Taitu had a blueprint of how to rule the country.

When they settled on Entoto they were already on their way to fulfill their dreams. Not much later Menelik was crowned niguse-negest meaning Emperor and Taitu was crowned Itege or Empress.

She was not only the Emperor’s wife, but also a crowned wife, an Empress with her own rights. The couples influenced Ethiopian fate in almost all of its aspects. The administrational and geographical shape of the country changed completely. What was old Ethiopia constituted one third of the area of the country in its new shape.

The couple also realized that contrary to Ethiopian tradition, they need a permanent capital, a place to settle and to rule.

Entoto was good, but not perfect. Cold at night and dry. Taitu used to travel down the hill to cure her aching back in the hot springs of Fil-wo-ha.

It was her idea that the lower plain was good not only for her back but for a permanent settlement too. It was then that Menelik and Taitu decided to put up their tents and grow Addis Ababa (the new flower) there.

A view from Entoto and the two churches
It is good to go to Entoto when you are in Addis. The view from above shows the city in a completely new perspective. It is quiet, without smoke with no one to bother to you and you can enjoy the eucalyptus forest and the breathtaking view over Addis.

There are also two churches on the hill, Raguel Church and Entoto Mariam Church. Both of them are reminders of the imperial couple.

One was founded by Taitu and the other by Menelik. Both are splendid but there is something extraordinary about the one founded by Menelik - the paintings.

Actually, whichever church you visit in Ethiopia, the churches and their murals do not let you leave before you carefully study each and every representation.

Aba Lukas who painted the murals of the church was an Ethiopian monk from Gonder. A very talented monk, whom I deeply believe one day art historians will admit into the gallery of the most remarkable artists somewhere between Bosch and Broughel.

Inside the city
The marriage between Ethiopia and her coffee has been hailed by many to be the best in the world and with an Italian style. Italians occupied Ethiopia for five years (1936-1941) and whatever harm they did to the country, they also left a bit of their habits behind which turned out to go very well with Ethiopian habits. Coffee places are the best example of this combination.

There are a lot of places to be visited in Addis, providing that you do not run away from this place too soon. Churches each with their own spectacular history and some of them witnessing the most spectacular moments of Ethiopian history.

Like the coronation of Haile Selassie I or another one ‘Selassie Cathedral’ which places the Emperor’s body buried in the year 2000, twenty five years after his death.

From the three imperial palaces in Addis, only one can be visited. The first palace of Haile Selassie I has been housing Addis Ababa University since 1960.

After a failed coup d’etat which was supposed to deprive the Emperor of power, he offered this palace to the University and moved to the new one. Now it is one of the governmental buildings.

Unfortunately, neither the old Menelik’s Palace located next to the Menelik Mausoleum can be visited since the office of Prime Minister has its seat there.

Churches are not everything and being a typical tourist it is good to learn a bit and visit some museums. In Addis there are quite a few of them.

The National Museum with a replica of Lucy is the best known but there are others, like Addis Ababa Museum.

The building of the museum is an old residence which allows visitors to imagine Addis Ababa’s aristocratic life style from before.

A mug of Menelik, one of his daughter Zawditu and lots of pictures are there.

If someone doesn’t find it fascinating, it is better to stay in the nearby Meskel Square where huge white pigeons have been constructed to meet the New Millennium.

According to the Ethiopian Calendar year 2000 has started on the 12th of September 2007.

Addis Downtown
Addis Ababa is a very joyful place with some quarters even more joyful than others. Piazza, the center has the most shopping and nightlife areas and used to be called ‘Arada’ before the Italian occupation. Now it is a name which is only inserted in some lyrics referring to the busy district.

There is another part of Addis that is now struggling to be the most occupied place on Saturday nights. Bole, a district spreading towards the airport is full of modern shops, restaurants and busy night clubs. The list of bars which are recommended by those who know it well will keep you there for the whole time.

At Piazza you feel more of Ethiopian life-style in comparison to Bole; especially, if you decided to stay in Itege Taitu Hotel. It is the first hotel in Ethiopia founded by Menelik’s wife. It is still offering something of the feeling of an imperial era in a very shabby, yet charming style. It is like one of those places which get old and fall apart with dignity.

Crowded streets and people calling you is what imagination brings when we think about African cities and Addis Ababa is no different. Ethiopians often talk freely to each other no European standard of pretending that we don’t see each other.

And foreigners or ‘ferengi’ I say this because it is a term applied by Ethiopians for foreigners. It is not meant to be offending even though some ferengi may feel like killing the 100th person who has called them by this name on the street. It can be tiring when used a lot, but this is one of the cultural differences that we want to experience as we travel. It seems ridiculous to complain.

Merkato
This is one place in Addis that missing it would be a big mistake. Not only for shopping but for visiting, seeing, smelling and touching. Merkato is a place that you will love to go back to.

It is one of the biggest market places in the world. It is a whole district with a huge number of tiny streets, big and little shops offering you anything you want.

As in all traditional markets, each profession has its own sectioned area. You walk through sellers offering a variety of strange parts of odd machines, threads, garments, fruits, spices, colors, aromas, and you see the people excited, smiling, talking, touching …etc. Touching is also a way of noticing…another piece of culture that we come to experience.

One may ask how many days are needed to enjoy Addis before getting tired of the crowds, cars and smoke. I say, for some two minutes might be enough while others believe that this is the place where they may find a sense for their lives.

But all are tempted to go further to explore Ethiopia out of its capital. Of course whatever you may find in Addis, the real experience and real Ethiopia is waiting for you when you leave the city.

But what can be a big surprise is that when you return to the city before your next trip or to fly back to your country, you realize that you feel at home there.

The man at the corner who is trying to sell you pots from Gambella even though you bought two from him already, seems to be your old friend. It does not matter how ugly Addis Ababa may seem to be for some, you like it more as time passes by.

Dr. Hanna Rubinkowska has plenty of travel experiences to Ethiopia and is a contributor to our site.

She has specialized in modern history of Ethiopia and currently lectures at Warsaw University, Department of African Languages and Cultures.

Dr. Hanna Rubinkowska (Ph.D.)

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