Joel in Ethiopia Historical Routes 2010: Lake Tana and the Monastries

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Lake Tana and the Monastries

Entos Eyesu Monastry (all pics above)

Kibran Gabriel Monastry (below), only men are allowed to enter. Miss J had to wait outside the Monastry.

(Below) This priest used to live in the US, but called by God to live in this Monastry. The book is made from goat skin.

The boat is made from Papyrus.

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Summary

Finally I got my revenge to enter Ethiopia, after being deported 2 years ago coz I could not get the entry visa.
There are 3 areas that I want to travel in Ethiopia, 1) to see the only permanent lava lake on earth, Erta’Ale, 2) to see the minor tribes, including the famous Mursi people with plate in their lips at Omo Valley, 3) to see the historical world heritages in the North.
Since Erta’Ale was too hot to visit during summer, and I couldn’t find someone to travel with me to share the cost to Omo Valley, this time I decided to go to the historical routes since it is the shortest, the easiest and the cheapest, even I took a lot of domestic planes.
I visited 5 cities, the capital, Addis Ababa, Lalibela which is famous for the rock-hewned churches, Bahar Dar with the monatries in Tana Lake, Gondar with the castle, Axum with the stelae (obelisk) in 6 days.
Except for Bahar Dar to Gonder, which by bus, all I went with airplane.
This time I traveled the first half of the trip with my pretty friend, Miss J.
In Addis Ababa, my host from Couchsurfing Kume, guided us around the city. We tried to chew Chat or Qat in a coffe shop, we tried also traditional food and honey wine called Tej. We drank the famous Macchiato also. The day we were there was university graduation day. We met also few wedding ceremonies.
In Lalibela, we hired a guide and visited the famous 11 rock-hewned churches. It was amazing to imagine how in the old times, people dig and carved the massive hard rock to make the churches. We enjoyed also the hotel Tukol Village and the village there. The lunch with rice in Jerusalem Guest House was a good relief from Ethiopian traditional sour bread, injera.
In Bahar Dar, we stayed in Ghion hotel near the Lake. We chartered a boat and visited 2 monastries on the islands in Tana Lake. It was good to know the life of monks in the island. In the afternoon, we chartered a car to go to Blue Nile Falls. The trip to this falls was better than expected. The hiking was nice, and the falls were huge. At night, we went to an Asmaric House, where the local enjoy the comedian and drink. Miss J enjoyed the evening dancing in front to the public in the club. I separated with Miss J and continued my travel to Gonder.
After frustating waiting the bus to depart from Bahar Dar, finally I arrived in Gonder afternoon. I went to the famous Gonder castle and hired a guide there. The young guide took me around the castle, and then we went to Debre Berhan Selassie church famous for the Monalisa-smile angels and Fasilada Bath. I had also a nice chat with a French Madam and few Spanish.
The next day, I flied to Axum, where I meet Canadian-British gentleman, Iain. We went together to the famous St.Mary of Zion church, hired a guide and watched the monthly ceremony there. Then he guided me to the famous Axum stelae and tombs. I made a good chat with Iain and I guessed we are now officially friend.
The next day, I flied to Addis and a promised to meet Iain in the afternoon at the famous café Tomoca. I met Kume in the airport, had lunch together, and visited Ethnographic Museum inside Addis Ababa University. The city had black-out and the museum was dark. I met Iain again in the café, had a chat, and headed to the airport together since he had to see his girlfriend in the airport. We stopped at Boston Daily Spa for me to have massage, while Iain waited at a restaurant in the same building. After the massage, we walked together to the airport.