Lalibela - Gondar - Bahir Dar and back to Addis Ababa

We woke at the crack of dawn and with Arturo in tow headed to the airport.  We didn’t quite allow for a power cut at the hotel, resulting in a return to the hotel for a forgotten handbag, followed by a flat tyre and formula 1 speed pit stop and a less than speedy queue at the airport to get through security and check-in.  Finally though we were all aboard and back to sleep for the hour flight to Lalibela.

Lalibela traditional huts

On arrival the hotel touts were out and we settled on the “Helen's Hotel” (Hels may have had a small part to play in that decision!) and hopped into a minibus through breathtaking scenery to town. Helena like her namesake hotel was feeling a little shabby and so Arturo and Izzy headed off to explore. 

Lalibela is one of Ethiopia’s holiest cities and many of its sites hark back to its founder Saint Gebre Mesquel Lalibela's childhood in the holy land and Jerusalem, including the river “River Jordan”. An undulating town, every corner of Lalibela brings another vista and its reputation with tourists resulted in lots of young boys following us and calling out “where you from?” “pen” “money” “you!”.  We took to saying we were from Mexico as this tended to avoid the inevitable conversation starter of…”London” "Manchester United” “Wayne Rooney” and any other football terms that they had learnt.  

Arturo and Izzy bought their ticket to the group of 13 famous UNESCO protected rock-hewn churches for a preview of the sites before our tour in the afternoon (with Hels) and enjoyed wandering around taking photos and encountering the priests who continue to pray in the churches. After a lovely lunch up the hill at the Seven Olives, joined by a portrait photographer who had amazing stories of far flung travels and isolated tribes, Izzy and Arturo gathered up an ailing Hels for the afternoon tour. There was no way they were going to let her come to Lalibela and not visit the churches!

 

Arturo and our guide

The best way to describe our guide was ‘enthusiastic’, without a watch and all 13 churches to see we often had to hurry him on.  The churches were built In the 12^th and 13^th centuries by Saint Lalibela with supposedly only the help of angels!  We were navigated through the different churches with explanations about their layout, fresco paintings and guided through the winding passages that connect the sites. The churches varied massively in their size and style. Some had baptismal water pools which looked incredibly uninviting and in the rockfaces surrounding the churches were caves for hermits and nuns to stay over the major festival of New Year when the site is heaving with worshippers. There were also carved buildings that represent Bethlehem and a long black tunnel that represented the path from Hell to Heaven.

St George Church

All the churches were guarded by priests who either sat and posed for photos or read from the Holy Book. The most famous of the churches is St George, with its cross form it is also one of the most ornate and best preserved.

It was a long and hot day of site-seeing and with another early start looming we ate in Helen's Hotel and were early to bed.

Saint's day celebrations

The day of our departure was an Ethiopian Orthodox saint’s day and from our minibus we watched the locals all in white process up to the Lalibela site.  We were joined in our minibus by a friendly American, Liz, who had been volunteering in a university in Gondar and on arrival she gave us a lift into town (well not quite into…just outside and a minibus ride away) and some tips for what to see.

Gondar (which used to be the capital) is hectic and dusty and on arrival a collection of ‘guides’ attached themselves to us as we tried to find a hotel to stay in within our budget. We settled in a dubious but well placed hotel in the knowledge that it was only one night and our next stop would be the time for luxury. 

Fasilides castle

We headed straight to the Royal Enclosure (Fassil Ghebbi) to the ruins of the Emperors reigning in the 17^th and 18^th Centuries. This complex of buildings included Fasilides castle, Iyasu's Palace, Dawit's Hall, a banqueting hall, stables, Mentewab's Castle, a chancellery, library and three churches: Asasame Qeddus Mikael, Elfin Giyorgis and Gemjabet Mariyam.

We were the only “Farangis” (foreigners) there and clambered around the different palaces with their distinctive architectures with the feeling that we were visiting a chateau in France.  There were a few other people touring the palaces and some locals snatching fruit from the trees, but without a guide we happily clambered over the ruins taking photos and marveling at the cultural heritage of Ethiopia. It was incredible to see a place where the emperors had not destroyed or modified the existing palaces but merely built a new building to their specification and to the taste of the day.

Debre Birhan Selassie Church

We stopped at a café for lunch and Hels (still feeling under the weather) left Arturo and Izzy who headed up hill to the church recommended by Liz; Debre Birhan Selassie (built in the 17^th Century). A short way out of town, and several directions later, the church looked rather underwhelming. Surrounded by twelve stone towers that represent the twelve apostles, the exterior building hid well the treasures inside. It was worth the climb though with an interior covered in frescos. Hundreds of angels adorn the ceiling and biblical scenes the walls, a charming priest attempted to guide us through the stories and saints depicted but most needed no explanation. We were both impressed by the quality and bright colours of these amazing paintings and set out optimistically to see the next site of the day.

 

Fasiladas' Bath

Fasiladas' Bath was not easy to find, after many directions and misdirections eventually Arturo and Izzy came upon the site which looks like something out of the secret garden.  With trees and their roots cascading down the stone walls the small building in the middle of the sunken pool which in New Year is used for a mass baptism ceremony was thought by some to be Fasiladas’s second residence. Around the moat are wooden tiered benches and on leaving the place we were shown a photograph of the site with water surrounding and hundreds of bobbing heads.  Exhausted from our walks and detours we flagged down a tuk tuk and headed back to meet up with Hels for a luxury supper in a nearby hotel (and use of their far superior facilities!).

 

Bahir Dar Lake Tana View from the Hotel

The next morning we headed to the bus centre.  We were mobbed on arrival with much prodding and gesturing and bemused we fought through the crowd to a minibus that looked roadworthy. This quickly filled and our fare paid (luckily there is no haggling or farangi price for transport) we set off on the three and a half hour drive to Bahir Dar.  The journey flew by passing beautiful scenery (for which Ethiopia is famous), shepherds, chickens strapped to minibus roofs (including ours) heading to market, horse drawn carts and even once stopping for the locals to pick up chat (a leafy drug used to enhance energy).

 

Bahir Dar is a leading tourist destination in Ethiopia and situated on Lake Tana is a stepping stone to exploring some of the island monasteries.  We stayed in the Ghion hotel which with its tropical flowers and restaurant built into the shade of a massive tree had seen slightly better days, however with an ensuite bathroom (our first since Zanzibar) we were in heaven.  

We signed up for a tour of the monasteries the next morning and chugged along with only a small engined boat. We passed pelicans and the local reed boats that traverse the lake and finally drew up to an island pontoon.  

Lake Tana Monastery

Our first monastery was not dissimilar to Debre Birhan Selassie in Gondar, with the same fresco painting style.  Ethiopian Orthadox churches consist of three parts: the inner sanctuary (inaccessible to all but priests), the inner ambulatory and the outer ambulatory. The outside walls of the sanctuary are usually covered with magnificent paintings and in the inner ambulatory the priests play drums. Our second monastery also in the same style was a similar experience to the first and at 100 birr (£4) we decided to cut short the tour of five having already seen the best two and after a quick detour to the mouth of the river where Hippos were wading we headed back to our hotel.

Injera

We spent the rest of the day and the following morning reading our books and relaxing.  The food was not great at the Ghion so we headed out to a smart nearby hotel and restaurant.  Arturo had not tried Injera before (the Ethiopian staple dish made from teff which creates the pancake which is used to grab the food) so we ordered a plate of this.  We were still not convinced and we decided to avoid it in future!  

emptying our poofs

Before heading to the airport we did some serious bargaining for some goat skin poofs. We bargained hard and wouldn't even budge when they asked for an additional £1 to have the stuffing removed but armed with our penknives we made a spectacle of ourselves as we ripped out the stuffing (we both had visions of customs in the UK questioning the dubious grass inside so weren't keen to risk it!).  We then made our way to the airport and back home to our beloved Taitu hotel.

After our whistle-stop tour of the north we were pleased to return to the hospital to carry on with our volunteering which is our main reason for being in Ethiopia.

We arrived in time to enjoy the May Day celebrations which they celebrated early in the hospital.  May Day in Ethiopia is also known as “Workers’ Day” and in the afternoon the hospital courtyard was transformed into what can only be described as a site of a school playground with children’s party games galore.   Only it wasn’t the children who were participating in the egg and spoon race or hunting for coins in bowls of flour using only their mouths, it was all the workers (doctors, nurses, cleaners, helpers etc).  The nuns had the very important adjudication roles which they took very seriously using the communion bell as the starting whistle for each game.  It was so wonderful to see the sisters and workers relaxed and having fun and the patients all watched enthusiastically (some were even hanging out of the windows!).  Fortunately we managed to avoid being roped into any of the games.  In fact the one game the sisters tried to involve us in was a version of musical chairs which became so competitive and even slightly violent that one of the sisters (who was a referee) ended up flat on her back on the ground!  Luckily no damage was caused.

Otherwise everything else at the hospital has been as we left it albeit a lot quieter now that they have discharged about a third of the patients. 

We continue to help with the orphans in the mornings and are also enjoying spending more time with the disabled girls.  We feel we have built up a good rapport with the young boys (whom we refer to as ‘our boys’) and we’ve realised, albeit rather late in the day, that colouring-in books are a massive hit (so much so we received a round of applause the other day from the interested older patients). We had rather an audience by the end of it – they were probably wondering how we had managed to keep them quiet for so long!


In our final two weeks in Addis we had a final push to explore some of the hot spots for food and drink. 

Hailu and his friend King

Hailu (since we last wrote we have learned how to spell his name!), who has become a friend of ours over the last month, took us one evening to a great bar near our hotel called “Free Town” where we enjoyed listening to good music on the rooftop terrace with a log fire.  Very cool!  We were delighted to listen to music other than that of 'Teddy Afro', a renowned Ethiopian artist who was sent to prison for 2 years for, as we're told, singing about the government/poverty and whose music has been banned from radio and television.  Saying that, we have actually bought his CD (it would be rude not to having lived and breathed his music in every cafe/minibus/taxi/shop since we've been here!).

Last weekend we treated ourselves to a night out in “H2O” a newish club in the smart area of Bole.  We were accompanied by our new friend, Uli, from Austria, who has fallen in love with Ethiopia having been here as a volunteer in this hospital and others for 9 months previously and is now back to study to become a nurse.

Alliance Ethio-Francaise with Uli and Arturo

Mad

Completely and utterly fed up with eating rice and tomato sauce or spaghetti and mince everyday, we’ve also spoiled ourselves at some better restaurants, including “The Cottage”, “The Backyard” which are both great for steak, and most recently “The Alliance Ethio-Francaise”.  We were so impressed with the latter we decided to head there again for dinner with Uli and Arturo followed by a concert by Madjo, a Franco-Senegalese singer, and her band.  It was a free concert in the open air and despite their having lost all their instruments and CDs amongst their lost luggage when they flew into Addis they were fantastic and it was a very enjoyable evening.

Limited grocery choices for dinner!

Arturo who has now left Taitu Hotel to live in a flatshare (he is here for 4 months) hosted us for a delicious mashed potato and ratatouille dinner as he wanted to show off his cooking skills in his new (cockroach infested) kitchen.  We’re not sure what cooking skills he managed to show off seeing as he was very happy to stand back and let us girls sweat over the stove!!  It was a fun evening nonetheless and so exciting to eat home-cooked food.



We couldn't leave Addis without tasting the traditional Ethiopian coffee (even Izzy who doesn't like coffee). Deliciously smooth we can see why it has a great reputation and is famous throughout Africa.

It would be a crime to come to Addis and not to visit The National Museum which houses a number of archaeological artifacts and details the history of Ethiopia from prehistoric times to the modern day.  Most importantly, the museum houses the famous “Lucy” the oldest hominid that has ever been discovered.  She is an incredible 3.5 million years old!

We also enjoyed a trip to the Ethnological Museum, held in the law block of the Addis Ababa University which is the site of Emperor Haile Selassie’s old palace.  It is a fascinating museum which amongst many things includes details about the various tribes of the south (it’s a shame we haven’t had time to visit the south as well). However, most notably we were able to walk into the bedrooms and bathrooms of Emperor Salassie and his wife (complete with a bullet hole in one of the mirrors from the 1960 coup d’etat when Emperor Selassie was away on a state visit to Brazil!).

Also on our list was a trip to the stunning Holy Trinity Cathedral where Emperor Salassie and his wife have been laid to rest.  We were extremely lucky to be shown around the inside of the cathedral by the priest himself whose grasp of the English language was sufficient enough to provide us with an interesting tour.  The priest was adorable and perhaps slightly impressed by our very limited Amharic insisted that we take a photo of the two of us with him at the end of the tour. He was chuffed with how it came out!

Finally, one of our biggest highlights in Addis since we arrived here a month ago was the opportunity to visit the Born Free Foundation which sits hidden away on the outskirts of the city.  This charity was set up by the actors from the film ‘Born Free’ and Stephen Brend (who we had been put in touch with) is now managing the ever-expanding site as project director.  The charity provides a home to rescued cats (mainly lions and cheetahs) and baboons.  We were extremely lucky to see 3 new baby cheetahs who had just been rescued in a bit of a hairy battle from an illegal trade in Somalia.  They hope to be able to eventually release these back into the wild when they’re a bit older.  All the lions seemed to have rather sad stories involving captivity and mal-treatment, whether they were rescued from the palace in Addis, cages at various army barracks or as chained pets.  They appeared very happy in their new leafy homes though.

Wrong side of the road donkeys!

Today we leave Addis and all its donkeys and goats and fly to Nairobi where we will be for a few days before Hels very sadly flies back to the UK and Izzy heads back to South Africa to continue with her trip.   Obviously there will be floods of tears as we bid each other farewell, but what a great few months!!