Exploring Ethiopia

I have finally come back from 6 days of exquisite relaxation, and exploration of some of the most beautiful places in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a jewel surrounded by stone..... people still have to realize the splendor this country contains, not only in the people and their way of life, but also in the architecture and history...... being an avid history fan, I believe I was in heaven.

Having finished work in Ethiopia last Friday I took a week off to see some of the oldest and most beautiful wonders of the world before I head off to my new assignment in Libya......

As these 6 days were jam packed with adventure and loads of things to write about, I am taking this bit by bit and posting a little bit at a time....

My journey began with a one hour flight to Bahir Dar.... The adventure actually started from Addis, I somehow went for the wrong flight. There were two flights for Bahir Dar that morning, one at 7 and one at 9, I somehow thought I was on the 7am one, which I figured as soon as I got to the airport that I wasn't, so a bit of naive ness, and a big smile, and the check in man let me jump on to the 7am flight..... ahhh its Africa.... everyone is flexible!!!

There I headed off to a hotel where a very friendly manager greeted me, offered me a most welcome macchiato, gave me a 35Birr discount on my room and explained to me the beauties of Bahir Dar.

Bahir Dar is the capital of Amharaland, and is a pretty picturesque village on a flat landscape. The roads are adorned with palm trees and greenery and the main transportation are bicycles.... somewhat like the Holland of Ethiopia.....

The most beautiful thing about traveling alone is not only the flexibility of doing what I want but also the fact that you are more open to meeting new and interesting people.... I thus made my first acquaintance of the day....... and a Spanish man, his Cuban wife and me headed off to the much talked about Bahir Dar market.

Luckily it was a Saturday, the day people from all over the nearby villages head off to the Market, and we thus got to see a market hustling and bustling with villagers, farmers, children, women all buying goats, and cows and donkey, spices, fruit and vegetable, cooking items and cloth.

Being the only white people in the market we seemed to get a lot of attention, with the usual shout of Faranji, Faranji, the frequent offer of help and excitement of having cameras pointed in every direction.

We then headed back to the hotel to get ready for our next adventure...... the boat trip around lake Tana.

The highlights of Bahir Dar revolve pretty much around the Blue Nile and Lake Tana.

Lake Tana is the biggest crater lake in Ethiopia and harbors 37 islands, 20 of which have old monasteries dating back to the late 16th or 17th century.

Unfortunately for me, most of the monasteries, some of which the best ones, cannot be entered by women, we thus decided to stick to the half day trip around the island and visit the most essential ones.

After having seen the spectacular churches in Lalibella, these monasteries didn't seem anything special for me. Though the ride on the lake the walks on the islands, the people on the islands and the scenery were more of a highlight for me.

The Spanish couple turned out to be very interesting. The man was about 50yrs or older and the wife couldn't have been much older than 35 or 38. They were very nice and had practically seen all the world. I got hints and tips of countries to visit and what to see, what to be careful for and what not.......as well as an invitation to Valencia in Spain..... after hearing that I'll be in Libya for the next 4 months, they pretty much considered that as their next destination in February.

The boat trip ended with a little cruise around the source of the Nile, which James Bruce discovered in 1770. Crocodiles and Hippos are said to be spotted there, but unfortunately I did not get to see any. The only thing I got to see where naked men, women and children having their evening bath and splashing around........

A tankwa boat, little fishing boats on lake Tana made out of papyrus (this one was actually sinking... I don't know if he made it to shore!!)

The evening ended with a pleasant dinner by the lake and a beer with the hotel manager. The hotel manager seemed to be my morning and evening buddy..... he was my morning companion when I woke up and got my daily macchiato by the lake, and my evening one when I returned dying for a cold beer by the lake..... I guess this was a sign of gratitude for teaching him how to use Excel and helping him to arrange the hotel's accounts with Excel thus using up a couple of my holiday hours!