The Places
Lalibela
Lalibela
is often referred to as Africa's Petra or the new Jerusalem because of its
numerous, hardly credible churches hewn
into solid rock some 800 years ago.
Craftsmen initially dug vertical trenches into the red volcanic rock leaving a
solid rock in the middle which was then chiseled out from the inside to create a
freestanding church inside a well of solid rock. At left is shown Bet
Giorgios, shaped like a Greek cross. 13 of these churches exist in the
town and various others lie in the surrounding hills.
The
interior of each church are each quite different, some with elaborate wall
murals, others quite simple, all with remarkable wall paintings done in Byzantine style,
all with ancient illuminated manuscripts and priests holding their ceremonial
staffs suitably adorned with a cross. Carved into the outer
walls of some of the churches live ancient monks, like the man on the right, who spend their lives reading
and chanting the scriptures.
Gondar
If
Lalibela is Africa's Petra, Gondar is Camelot, complete with ruined castles and
wonderful churches. Surrounded by rich and fertile land, Gondar became
Ethiopia's capital in 1636 and flourished for 200 years. It may have been
designed and built by Portuguese craftsmen, who remained after the expulsion of
the Jesuits. Here at right we see Emperor Faslidas' palace complete with parapets
and domed towers made of basalt. The
palace is part of the large Royal 
outbuildings, connected by tunnels and raised walkways.
Not far away
is the famous Debre Berhan Selassie Church, covered from floor to ceiling in
awesome Byzantine murals and topped with its famed ceiling seen here at left.
Lake Tana
The
town of Bahar-Dar with its wide palm-filled avenues is beautifully situated on the southern shore of the
holy Lake Tana, seen
here at sunset.
On the lake are about
20 lakeside and island monasteries and it is said that it was to one of these that
the Ark of the Covenant was brought for safekeeping for over 800 years.
Many of the monasteries date from the 16/17th Century although most were founded
far earlier and must have been rebuilt.
Overlooking
the lake is the summer palace of Ethiopia's last emperor, Haile Selassie and it
is to this spot overlooking the lake that newly-married couples come with their
friends and families on Sundays to take photographs, dance and celebrate.
The Blue Nile
For
hundreds of years, Europeans searched for the source of the great Nile
river. There are two Niles, the White and the Blue (Abbay), which join
together at Khartoum in Sudan. Most of the
water which empties into the Mediterranean comes from the hinterland of Ethiopia
where the Abbay has its source at Lake Tana. Shortly after leaving
Lake Tana, the river thunders over Africa's other great waterfall, Tis Isat (water
that smokes) and
becomes a great wild maelstrom cutting deep into the earth in a gigantic canyon
all the way to the Sudanese border. There is only one other place in
Ethiopia where this wild and furious river is accessible by road,
the Blue Nile Gorge on the road to Addis Ababa.
Standing on the soaked and slippery
slope opposite the falls, ankle deep in mud, I experienced the awe that
the the Scott
ish explorer James Bruce must have felt when he wrote, after his
visit in 1790 - "It was a most magnificent sight, the ages, added to the
greatest length of human life, would not efface or eradicate from my memory; it
struck me with a kind of stupor, and a total oblivion of where I was, and of
every other sublunary concern".
Over 400 yards wide and 45 yards
deep, the falls has created its own micro climate around the gorge. It is
a most magical place. For when the sun is in the east, the rainbow always
makes its appearance.
Bati
Market
The large and colorful Bati
Market occurs each Monday. Try to imagine the dust, pungent smoke from burning incense and
countless fires and the equatorial heat that goes along with the press of
humanity that you see here. Colorful and businesslike, everyone goes about
the business of buying and selling.
Everything
is for sale from camels to incense, salt
to umbrellas, cloth to sneakers, bottles to khat - a plant that is chewed
and produces a mild high and is widely available.
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Unusual Journeys
