Historical route of Ethiopia: Gondar

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Hi,

My mother was here for two weeks recently, and when you have visits, it is a great opportunity to go sightseeing in the country you live. You never get around to it otherwise.

So, after a couple of days in Addis, we went on the so called "historical route" to visit some of the world class wonders that northern Ethiopia offers for tourists. Ethiopia is not a place (obviously!) for beaches and relaxing holidays, but it is a great place for more "academic" and informed tourism. Ethiopia is the cradle of christianity and has played a crucial part in past-time historical events. Just to get your interest up i can throw out a couple of hints: Queen Sheba. King Salomon. The lost Ark of the Covenant. Moses stone tablets. Haile Selassie. Ras Tafari. Byzantine Empire. The list goes on.

We chose to go with domestic flights covering three historical sites in four days. We went first to Gondar (picture), then continued to Axum and finally to Lalibella before heading back to Addis. I will write a piece on each place.

GONDAR is the city of kings of old. In the 16hundreds the Solomic kings of Ethiopia went from keeping a nomadic lifestyle with no fixed capital (for security reasons) to establish themselves more permanently by lake Tana in northern Ethiopia and founded Gondar. Over time, each new king or queen build him/herself a new castle on the same grounds as the older one. Eventually the "royal enclosure" came to contain 7 castles and 3 churches, plus stables, bathes, sauna and a lot of other amazing constructions. To me, the closest comparison to this area is the Alhambra fortress in Granada, Spain.

This place would have been intact until today had it not been for the italians, who during the occupation wanted to drive out the Ethiopian forces that had established themselves there and fire-bombed the place for the purpose! Great job! So, now they are ruins. Although many of the palaces are mainly intact and you can enter them and have a look inside. Others are ruined.

When we arrived in Gondar, which is just as high up as Addis above sealevel (2300 something meters), the guide took us to Goha hotel which is situated at the very peak of one of the hills surrounding the castle area. It was an amazing view, and the terrace of the hotel is like taken from the White City of Gondor in the Lord of the Rings. And then it struck us: Of course a lot of the inspiration for Tolkien came from these historical places! All the myths surrounding this area. Gondor/Gondar. The castles. The layout. The city of Kings, Minas Tirith! (later we continued to Lalibella, and the old historical name of Lalibela is Roha, and the people are called Rohan!)

Anyway, after the tour of the castles we also checked out the King Fasilides baths, which is still used to celebrate Ethiopian Timkat, or the Epiphany for the Ethiopian Orthodox church. Another amazing site which is filled up with water every year for massive baptism ceremonies.

Check out the link in this post for more info!

Axum next...

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