Getting to Lalibela , 20 July 2018
We flew to Lalibela Friday morning (20 July) on Ethiopian Airways. Security screening is tight and a little chaotic. We first put all our baggage including shoes in the baggage screening belt and because I can't take off my bangles, was bodily searched. Again, we went through the same with our hand baggage after we checked in. The water bottle I had in my hand was not confiscated though.
The flight was for 1040 but by 1130, there was still no announcement of boarding. I went to ask staff at our Gate but she said the flight was actually for 12. I was very confused and annoyed and, told her our ticket says the flight is at 1040 and, no one told us it's been delayed. I think there was some miscommunication between us and hardly a few minutes later she announced boarding.
We posed for a photograph on the tarmac before boarding our Bombardier plane. The airplane was in a very good condition, seemed brand new. Because we had got up early for our flight, we caught an hour-long nap.
Shortly before our descent to Lalibela, I woke up and watched with wonder at the mountainous, rocky and emerald green scenery, beset by a romantic cloudy and grey weather. It was breath-taking beauty. I excitedly thought about finally visiting Lalibela and, its rock churches. On the tarmac, just outside the small Bombardier, the paved tarmac, under the pale cloudy light, seemed like it had just been freshly pressed. Its greyness sharply gleamed, in contrast with the sheer hilly greenery.
I had booked Tukul Village the night before through booking.com and sure enough, a placard with my name was visible as we exited the small but neat and clean airport.
We got into the van. Two other passengers got into the van along with the driver and staff who had my name. It was apparently a half hour to the hotel. The road up to the hotel was not paved. We passed the green countryside, small houses, and farmers tending small fields. In the distance we could see a mountain or rather a hill, it's top covered with white and grey clouds. It reminded me of a conversation in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, a novel I read in the American high school in Athens, Greece:
Did you ever see the way the clouds love a mountain? They circle all around it; sometimes you can't even see the mountain for the clouds. But you know what? You go up top and what do you see? His head. The clouds never cover the head. His head pokes through, beacuse the clouds let him; they don't wrap him up. They let him keep his head up high, free, with nothing to hide him or bind him.
I have severe vertigo. I gripped the edge of my seat as we started up the mountain. The driver dropped off the passengers. We winded around the mountain. The dirt road was being graded by machinery. It was a wide road and, part of it had a short stone wall.
We entered the outskirts of Lalibela marked by more village huts, sheep, cows and, tuk tuk's (referred to as Bajaj).
We eventually reached Tukul Village, an extremely charming hotel. The hotel manager, Alex, took to us our room. The rooms are in round huts overlooking the mountain scenery. The hotel is full is bougainvillea and, many other beautiful flowers. Because it was raining, the flowers looked even more bright. The room had stone walls, very lovely cane furniture, a beautiful white bedspread (the white woven Ethiopian cotton) and a very clean bathroom.
We had a very pleasant lunch of tomato soup and simple main dish. The soup was served with a freshly baked bread and a spicy red spread. I quickly came to realise that ordering soup is not only a safe but 'must' choice. Even in the hotels back in Addis, the soups were extremely delicious. And in all subsequent restaurants, the soup was good. Milk was fresh and, made Kavita drink 2 warm cups a day.
The room rate we got for a family room at Tukul Village was about $ 120.00. I tried to pay by card but it did not go through. The Internet was also not working. Moreover, we had to pay for our own airport shuttle : 100 birr per head. Meanwhile, during our chat to the guide (the fellow who picked us up from the airport was not hotel staff but a guide), we thought we should proceed to Gondar before returning to Addis. We also learned that it would cost $ 50.00 per person to visit the rock churches. So, Haresh went to town with the guide to withdraw some cash directly from a commercial bank using their POS machine and to re-direct our tickets to Gondar and then back to Addis. I stayed back at the hotel and napped. Haresh sent the van back in an hour.
The main commercial part of Lalibela seemed like a village, all dirt roads. After sorting out cash and the tickets, we took a little drive and then came back to the hotel. It was about 4 PM and, the Guide wanted to give us an hour's tour and then continue the next day. The rock churches close at 5 PM. He wanted to charge almost 1000 birr for 1 hour the first day and the same for the next day. We told him we did not need his services anymore. I complained to the hotel for first sending a non-hotel staff to pick us up who was then trying to over charge us for the tour. Alex apologised and then said he would arrange for a guide the next day for 700 birr. And we would also have to spend 100 birr to be droped at the churches. He told us to be ready at 9 AM and, that the churches would be closed for a lunch break from 12 to 2 PM. It was going to be a full day.
We entered the outskirts of Lalibela marked by more village huts, sheep, cows and, tuk tuk's (referred to as Bajaj).
We eventually reached Tukul Village, an extremely charming hotel. The hotel manager, Alex, took to us our room. The rooms are in round huts overlooking the mountain scenery. The hotel is full is bougainvillea and, many other beautiful flowers. Because it was raining, the flowers looked even more bright. The room had stone walls, very lovely cane furniture, a beautiful white bedspread (the white woven Ethiopian cotton) and a very clean bathroom.
We had a very pleasant lunch of tomato soup and simple main dish. The soup was served with a freshly baked bread and a spicy red spread. I quickly came to realise that ordering soup is not only a safe but 'must' choice. Even in the hotels back in Addis, the soups were extremely delicious. And in all subsequent restaurants, the soup was good. Milk was fresh and, made Kavita drink 2 warm cups a day.
The room rate we got for a family room at Tukul Village was about $ 120.00. I tried to pay by card but it did not go through. The Internet was also not working. Moreover, we had to pay for our own airport shuttle : 100 birr per head. Meanwhile, during our chat to the guide (the fellow who picked us up from the airport was not hotel staff but a guide), we thought we should proceed to Gondar before returning to Addis. We also learned that it would cost $ 50.00 per person to visit the rock churches. So, Haresh went to town with the guide to withdraw some cash directly from a commercial bank using their POS machine and to re-direct our tickets to Gondar and then back to Addis. I stayed back at the hotel and napped. Haresh sent the van back in an hour.
The main commercial part of Lalibela seemed like a village, all dirt roads. After sorting out cash and the tickets, we took a little drive and then came back to the hotel. It was about 4 PM and, the Guide wanted to give us an hour's tour and then continue the next day. The rock churches close at 5 PM. He wanted to charge almost 1000 birr for 1 hour the first day and the same for the next day. We told him we did not need his services anymore. I complained to the hotel for first sending a non-hotel staff to pick us up who was then trying to over charge us for the tour. Alex apologised and then said he would arrange for a guide the next day for 700 birr. And we would also have to spend 100 birr to be droped at the churches. He told us to be ready at 9 AM and, that the churches would be closed for a lunch break from 12 to 2 PM. It was going to be a full day.
We walked near our hotel. There were many souvenir shops. I made some purchases before we got invited for a coffee ceremony at a small shop. The shop owner explained that she often roasted coffee beans for tourists. She began with roasting the green beans on a coat pot. This took a good 15-20 minutes. We enjoyed the atmosphere at her little shop. Her daughter was being carried on the back of her younger sister. Next door was another small shop where another coffee ceremony was going on. The street was not busy with hardly a few tuk tuk's going by. We saw some tourists walk by. Some sheep also went by. Small children came to chat with us. There are two videos I made: Coffee Ceremony, Lalibela and Coffee Ceremony ii.
Mean while, she arranged the place with green leaves and tidied up the place. After the beans were roasted they were ground in a mortar and pestle. The long and slender coffee pot was filled with water and, the coffee was gradually added to the water. She would take out some coffee, mix with hot water separately and then add it back to the coffee pot. I asked her if corn was traditionally popped and served with coffee as I had seen it at coffee shops and hotel lobbies before. She said yes and asked us if we wanted any popcorn. I don't know why Haresh politely declined it. She gave us some plain bread instead. Finally the coffee was served and, it was really good. I am not an avid coffee drinker but it was very nice. I drank it bitter without any sugar. I had two cups.
We sometimes drink Lebanese coffee at restaurants in Monrovia after a heavy meal but that coffee is rather thick and heavy. This coffee was smooth. Haresh asked our host to prepare 4 bags of freshly roasted coffee and we would pick it up the next day.
We trudged home to our hotel. We had a simple but delicious meal at the hotel restaurant before retiring for the night. It was drizzling and, quite chilly. They had heavy blankets in the rooms to keep us warm. It rained heavily all night but other than the sound of the rain, it was peaceful.
I was relishing this wintry experience after the being in Islamabad where temperatures had climbed to the 40s in May and June.
Unfortunately, the wi-fi was not working. Intermittently, one could briefly go online but it was very slow. WhatsApp though was not working at all.
Lalibela, 21 July 2018
Pre-Lalibela Excitement and Thoughts
The first time I heard of Lalibela was my brother Tariq's descriptions from his sightseeing visit more than 10 years ago. They were of course very splendid but traveling through Ethiopia was not easy. He also was not able to withdraw cash from ATMs and use his card. Some photographs from my brother's Facebook Ethiopia album stuck in my mind but mainly of himself with locals and, his best friend who he was traveling with. I don't remember much of structures and sights from his photographs.
Over the years thanks to the bombardment of images and articles on the Internet, images of 'must-see' places have become lodged in our minds, including Lalibela as a wonder you have to see to believe it. I have also become much more interested in traveling and sight seeing as I grow older. So, I was quite eager and excited to finally see Lalibela.
If you linger long enough on the name of the Lalibela, you might notice what a beautiful name it is. Say it and pause on each syllable: La-li-bela.
One of my father's ex Foreign Office colleagues was posted to Ethiopia as Pakistan Ambassador and, his daughters were excitedly describing all the sight seeing they had done while posted there. They had apparently walked all night to go see a volcano. And interestingly, Ethiopia also had one of the world's oldest Muslim communities.
A SOAS classmate had spent a month in Ethiopia on assignment just before I arrived and, she shared some photographs of Lalibela but I avoided seeing them because I was soon going to visit Lalibela myself.
In one way, I am glad I was unprepared before seeing the wonder that is the experience of visiting the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. There is not one but 11 churches carved out of the mountain about a thousand years ago by the kings of Lalibela. I have not even read much about them and just seen a few token images. I have no real sense of history of Ethiopia. Nor any real visual sense of Ethiopian Christianity except for the token images that have been lodged in our heads.
The wonder that is Lalibela
Much later, towards the end of our visit in the country, I realised and understood the very moving and mesmerising experience of having visited historic Ethiopian churches, the structures, the iconography, the images, their impact: that Christianity did not come as a colonising force in Ethiopia. Christianity is as old as Ethiopia. And, Ethiopia has a long, proud history.
We started our tour at about 10 AM. The Guide, Maereg met us at our hotel after breakfast and, in a van we proceeded to the church complex. The Museum was hardly 5 minutes away by the van. We paid the $ 100.00 fees for 2 peoples. The Museum itself was just one room where another Guide only had the authority to give us a tour. The Museum was apparently set up with the help of the EU, if I remember correctly.
The Museum housed royal robes, ornaments, and very old texts. The museum's condition was a bit dingy, hardly befitting for the 1,000-year history of the area. I could only vaguely understand the Guide. I wish there had been some plaques in various languages. I also wish a simple map was provided (free or for sale) of the rock churches to give us a sense of the scale of the complex of the churches and so that we could easily remember the names. I googled a map just now. See below:
The Guide said it was in King Lalibela's time that the first Church was built. He said the churches were built in the 11th century and, the whole area was meant to be a representation of Lalibela. There was a painting in the Museum and, the Guide said it was St George. And, then St. George kept coming up in his tour. I wondered how the saint's image and martyrdom had traveled to Ethiopia. The museum guide didn't understand my question but our guide started to explain the legend of St. George to me.
Much later, towards the end of our visit in the country, I realised and understood the very moving and mesmerising experience of having visited historic Ethiopian churches, the structures, the iconography, the images, their impact: that Christianity did not come as a colonising force in Ethiopia. Christianity is as old as Ethiopia. And, Ethiopia has a long, proud history.
You really need to see the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela to believe it. During the morning half of the tour, we saw the souther cluster, north of the Jordan River. The first church you will see is Bet Medhane Alem, which means Saviour of the World. We stood on the edge and then peered below to see the magnificent structure which reminds one of a temple and then climbed down the stairs to see the first of the 11 rock churches (it should be noted 1 out of the 11 churches was under renovation and closed for visitations). Steel pillars holding up a covering or shelter from the elements have been erected (these were installed all many of the churches, not over Biete Giyorgis, though) around Bet Medhane Alem. Our Guide explained that the protective pillars had, over time, destabilised the foundation and, they would have to be removed. The Government was collecting funds to remove them and/or install some new protective cover.
We had to remove our shoes before we entered every church. Being the rainy season, the rocks were damp and mossy but we got used to it. I have normally never associated the tradition of removing shoes before entering a church (only been used to removing shoes for temples and mosques) so this was a unique experience. There was a priest or two in every church, quietly sitting on a chair, almost nodding, attired in white cotton robes, or reading. Our Guide explained the priests were on salary. I remarked that the interior of the churches was majestic as was seeing them from outside, but the shiny, cheap colourful cloths adorning the inside destroyed the atmosphere a little. Then, there were some ordinary print images of white Jesus. Maereg said guides had relayed this information to the priests a few times. There was a hint of resentment in his voice, hinting at the salaries the priests received from the tourism tax that visitors had to pay.
Maereg was very thorough and helpful through out the day. He offered a lot of history and information on every single church. I wish I had taken notes of the tour because I can't remember many details, now. He pointed out the significance of the number of pillars, the ancient fading murals inside the churches, the cisterns for baptism, botched efforts for conservation during the Italian occupation, the symbolic crevices for the graves for the prophets, which pillar or facade was original or not, and so on. Thinking about the tour, it is a little bit of a blur in my mind.
The northern cluster of churches are relatively easy to visit compared to the southern cluster. We completed our morning tour at Bet Giorgis, the most famous of them all. It is at a little distance and is in fact, the only church in the wester cluster. As we were led to it, we could see its cross-shaped roof from a high vantage point. It's roof is shaped like a cross and, as you get closer to it and peer down the pit, you can truly witness the wonder of Bet Giorgis. All the churches have been carved out of the mountain, single monolithic churches but in the northern and southern clusters, the churches are in close proximity. Bet Giorgis stands alone so the feat of its build is even more breathtaking and striking. It's facets have yellow and pink shades, caused by the elements, I imagine, in contrast to the red muddy colour of the other churches. We climbed down. It is a very tall structure and magnificnet in its glory. We walked around it and, then entered it.
The Ethiopian Christian calendar marks Christmas and Epiphany. These are 6 and 7 January. Lalibela becomes a site of pilgrimage and ceremony. There are priests with white robes conducting rituals and ceremony. One has seen these images online and in magazines and, Bet Giorgis is certainly one of the most famous of the Lalibela churches.
The southern cluster of churches is more challenging to visit. See a video I made at the start: Lalibela, starting the southern cluster of churches tour and About to start tour of southern cluster of churches, Lalibela. There are steeper stairs, a ravine you cross and even a pitch-black tunnel you walk through to get from one church to the other. The tour of the southern cluster started with Gabriel - Rufael which one could only access through a bridge which is dated much more recently. Before you cross the bridge, you peer down the side and, see wells and cisterns, at least 10-15 meters below. After we visited the church, we met tourists from Austria and Sweden. They described visiting Danakil Depression that seems like a fantastical place. Afterwards, we kept running into them, even the next day in the bus taking us to the airport. Kavita kept saying "It's those girls again!"
We entered a pitch black tunnel in which we walked for less than a minute, climbed up some stairs and came to the entrance of another church. See the video I made here: Walked through tunnels and climbing out, Lalibela, 21 JULY 2018. There was a man on a bench making funny duck sounds at the entrance of the church. After this, we saw one or two more churches, I forget.
The tour is a little bit of a blur in my head, now. We visited 10 churches in total because one was closed for renovation. At least one church may not have been a church. To write this post, I did some quick reading at online resources such as: http://www.selamta.net/lalibela.htm. It's a full-day tour and, as such, one cannot spend too much time at one church. We felt a real sense of accomplishment and wonder at having seen the whole complex. I look forward to reading more. What's more there are more rock-hewn churches to be seen in Ethiopia.
Later that evening, I bought some souvenirs from the shops close by. At one shop, a young girl showed me all the things and, spoke in English. I went next door and, another young girl confidently sold me more things. They didn't budget too much on the prices! Kavita also enjoyed looking around the shops. It turned out they were cousins and, a third girl was visiting from Addis. They both helped me to carry my things back to the hotel and, I offered them a drink at the hotel restaurant. We chatted about small things. I learned they were huge fans of Bollywood and hummed a few popular tracks. They said families are very conservative and, marriages are usually arranged. The complimented me on my shalwar kameez and, when I asked about the Ethiopian traditional clothes, they said the cloth is quite expensive. We even exchanged numbers. Since I came back, one girl, Hakyl, has been sending me hello messages.
Both the nights we spent at the hotel, the hotel restaurant was full of tourists. There were also a group of folks camping on the grounds and, cooking their food at a camp site they had made. They were traveling in a bus.
The next day we flew to Gondar.
Mean while, she arranged the place with green leaves and tidied up the place. After the beans were roasted they were ground in a mortar and pestle. The long and slender coffee pot was filled with water and, the coffee was gradually added to the water. She would take out some coffee, mix with hot water separately and then add it back to the coffee pot. I asked her if corn was traditionally popped and served with coffee as I had seen it at coffee shops and hotel lobbies before. She said yes and asked us if we wanted any popcorn. I don't know why Haresh politely declined it. She gave us some plain bread instead. Finally the coffee was served and, it was really good. I am not an avid coffee drinker but it was very nice. I drank it bitter without any sugar. I had two cups.
We sometimes drink Lebanese coffee at restaurants in Monrovia after a heavy meal but that coffee is rather thick and heavy. This coffee was smooth. Haresh asked our host to prepare 4 bags of freshly roasted coffee and we would pick it up the next day.
We trudged home to our hotel. We had a simple but delicious meal at the hotel restaurant before retiring for the night. It was drizzling and, quite chilly. They had heavy blankets in the rooms to keep us warm. It rained heavily all night but other than the sound of the rain, it was peaceful.
I was relishing this wintry experience after the being in Islamabad where temperatures had climbed to the 40s in May and June.
Unfortunately, the wi-fi was not working. Intermittently, one could briefly go online but it was very slow. WhatsApp though was not working at all.
Lalibela, 21 July 2018
Pre-Lalibela Excitement and Thoughts
The first time I heard of Lalibela was my brother Tariq's descriptions from his sightseeing visit more than 10 years ago. They were of course very splendid but traveling through Ethiopia was not easy. He also was not able to withdraw cash from ATMs and use his card. Some photographs from my brother's Facebook Ethiopia album stuck in my mind but mainly of himself with locals and, his best friend who he was traveling with. I don't remember much of structures and sights from his photographs.
Over the years thanks to the bombardment of images and articles on the Internet, images of 'must-see' places have become lodged in our minds, including Lalibela as a wonder you have to see to believe it. I have also become much more interested in traveling and sight seeing as I grow older. So, I was quite eager and excited to finally see Lalibela.
If you linger long enough on the name of the Lalibela, you might notice what a beautiful name it is. Say it and pause on each syllable: La-li-bela.
One of my father's ex Foreign Office colleagues was posted to Ethiopia as Pakistan Ambassador and, his daughters were excitedly describing all the sight seeing they had done while posted there. They had apparently walked all night to go see a volcano. And interestingly, Ethiopia also had one of the world's oldest Muslim communities.
A SOAS classmate had spent a month in Ethiopia on assignment just before I arrived and, she shared some photographs of Lalibela but I avoided seeing them because I was soon going to visit Lalibela myself.
In one way, I am glad I was unprepared before seeing the wonder that is the experience of visiting the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. There is not one but 11 churches carved out of the mountain about a thousand years ago by the kings of Lalibela. I have not even read much about them and just seen a few token images. I have no real sense of history of Ethiopia. Nor any real visual sense of Ethiopian Christianity except for the token images that have been lodged in our heads.
The wonder that is Lalibela
Much later, towards the end of our visit in the country, I realised and understood the very moving and mesmerising experience of having visited historic Ethiopian churches, the structures, the iconography, the images, their impact: that Christianity did not come as a colonising force in Ethiopia. Christianity is as old as Ethiopia. And, Ethiopia has a long, proud history.
We started our tour at about 10 AM. The Guide, Maereg met us at our hotel after breakfast and, in a van we proceeded to the church complex. The Museum was hardly 5 minutes away by the van. We paid the $ 100.00 fees for 2 peoples. The Museum itself was just one room where another Guide only had the authority to give us a tour. The Museum was apparently set up with the help of the EU, if I remember correctly.
The Museum housed royal robes, ornaments, and very old texts. The museum's condition was a bit dingy, hardly befitting for the 1,000-year history of the area. I could only vaguely understand the Guide. I wish there had been some plaques in various languages. I also wish a simple map was provided (free or for sale) of the rock churches to give us a sense of the scale of the complex of the churches and so that we could easily remember the names. I googled a map just now. See below:
The Guide said it was in King Lalibela's time that the first Church was built. He said the churches were built in the 11th century and, the whole area was meant to be a representation of Lalibela. There was a painting in the Museum and, the Guide said it was St George. And, then St. George kept coming up in his tour. I wondered how the saint's image and martyrdom had traveled to Ethiopia. The museum guide didn't understand my question but our guide started to explain the legend of St. George to me.
Much later, towards the end of our visit in the country, I realised and understood the very moving and mesmerising experience of having visited historic Ethiopian churches, the structures, the iconography, the images, their impact: that Christianity did not come as a colonising force in Ethiopia. Christianity is as old as Ethiopia. And, Ethiopia has a long, proud history.
You really need to see the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela to believe it. During the morning half of the tour, we saw the souther cluster, north of the Jordan River. The first church you will see is Bet Medhane Alem, which means Saviour of the World. We stood on the edge and then peered below to see the magnificent structure which reminds one of a temple and then climbed down the stairs to see the first of the 11 rock churches (it should be noted 1 out of the 11 churches was under renovation and closed for visitations). Steel pillars holding up a covering or shelter from the elements have been erected (these were installed all many of the churches, not over Biete Giyorgis, though) around Bet Medhane Alem. Our Guide explained that the protective pillars had, over time, destabilised the foundation and, they would have to be removed. The Government was collecting funds to remove them and/or install some new protective cover.
We had to remove our shoes before we entered every church. Being the rainy season, the rocks were damp and mossy but we got used to it. I have normally never associated the tradition of removing shoes before entering a church (only been used to removing shoes for temples and mosques) so this was a unique experience. There was a priest or two in every church, quietly sitting on a chair, almost nodding, attired in white cotton robes, or reading. Our Guide explained the priests were on salary. I remarked that the interior of the churches was majestic as was seeing them from outside, but the shiny, cheap colourful cloths adorning the inside destroyed the atmosphere a little. Then, there were some ordinary print images of white Jesus. Maereg said guides had relayed this information to the priests a few times. There was a hint of resentment in his voice, hinting at the salaries the priests received from the tourism tax that visitors had to pay.
Maereg was very thorough and helpful through out the day. He offered a lot of history and information on every single church. I wish I had taken notes of the tour because I can't remember many details, now. He pointed out the significance of the number of pillars, the ancient fading murals inside the churches, the cisterns for baptism, botched efforts for conservation during the Italian occupation, the symbolic crevices for the graves for the prophets, which pillar or facade was original or not, and so on. Thinking about the tour, it is a little bit of a blur in my mind.
The northern cluster of churches are relatively easy to visit compared to the southern cluster. We completed our morning tour at Bet Giorgis, the most famous of them all. It is at a little distance and is in fact, the only church in the wester cluster. As we were led to it, we could see its cross-shaped roof from a high vantage point. It's roof is shaped like a cross and, as you get closer to it and peer down the pit, you can truly witness the wonder of Bet Giorgis. All the churches have been carved out of the mountain, single monolithic churches but in the northern and southern clusters, the churches are in close proximity. Bet Giorgis stands alone so the feat of its build is even more breathtaking and striking. It's facets have yellow and pink shades, caused by the elements, I imagine, in contrast to the red muddy colour of the other churches. We climbed down. It is a very tall structure and magnificnet in its glory. We walked around it and, then entered it.
The Ethiopian Christian calendar marks Christmas and Epiphany. These are 6 and 7 January. Lalibela becomes a site of pilgrimage and ceremony. There are priests with white robes conducting rituals and ceremony. One has seen these images online and in magazines and, Bet Giorgis is certainly one of the most famous of the Lalibela churches.
The southern cluster of churches is more challenging to visit. See a video I made at the start: Lalibela, starting the southern cluster of churches tour and About to start tour of southern cluster of churches, Lalibela. There are steeper stairs, a ravine you cross and even a pitch-black tunnel you walk through to get from one church to the other. The tour of the southern cluster started with Gabriel - Rufael which one could only access through a bridge which is dated much more recently. Before you cross the bridge, you peer down the side and, see wells and cisterns, at least 10-15 meters below. After we visited the church, we met tourists from Austria and Sweden. They described visiting Danakil Depression that seems like a fantastical place. Afterwards, we kept running into them, even the next day in the bus taking us to the airport. Kavita kept saying "It's those girls again!"
We entered a pitch black tunnel in which we walked for less than a minute, climbed up some stairs and came to the entrance of another church. See the video I made here: Walked through tunnels and climbing out, Lalibela, 21 JULY 2018. There was a man on a bench making funny duck sounds at the entrance of the church. After this, we saw one or two more churches, I forget.
The tour is a little bit of a blur in my head, now. We visited 10 churches in total because one was closed for renovation. At least one church may not have been a church. To write this post, I did some quick reading at online resources such as: http://www.selamta.net/lalibela.htm. It's a full-day tour and, as such, one cannot spend too much time at one church. We felt a real sense of accomplishment and wonder at having seen the whole complex. I look forward to reading more. What's more there are more rock-hewn churches to be seen in Ethiopia.
Later that evening, I bought some souvenirs from the shops close by. At one shop, a young girl showed me all the things and, spoke in English. I went next door and, another young girl confidently sold me more things. They didn't budget too much on the prices! Kavita also enjoyed looking around the shops. It turned out they were cousins and, a third girl was visiting from Addis. They both helped me to carry my things back to the hotel and, I offered them a drink at the hotel restaurant. We chatted about small things. I learned they were huge fans of Bollywood and hummed a few popular tracks. They said families are very conservative and, marriages are usually arranged. The complimented me on my shalwar kameez and, when I asked about the Ethiopian traditional clothes, they said the cloth is quite expensive. We even exchanged numbers. Since I came back, one girl, Hakyl, has been sending me hello messages.
Both the nights we spent at the hotel, the hotel restaurant was full of tourists. There were also a group of folks camping on the grounds and, cooking their food at a camp site they had made. They were traveling in a bus.
The next day we flew to Gondar.
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