Chapter 7: A couple of days in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

In the afternoon of our first day in Addis, we left our hotel on foot to visit the newest and biggest Ethiopian Orthodox Church of St Mary which was only a 10 minute walk from our hotel. 45% of the population o Ethiopia belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church which is related to the Coptic Church found in Egypt. The weather was cloudy and cool but it was fun to walk among the local population mostly just ambling along on a Sunday afternoon.

When got to the Church which is huge with 3 blue towers, we entered the main gate and walked up to the main door. The door was locked so we could not visit the inside. At that moment, a group of 25 men and women all dressed in rather strange religious garb started walking towards us. I was not sure what was going on but they passed and stopped a few yards ahead and started to take pictures of themselves in groups. One them beckoned me over as they wanted me to join the picture. So there I was, surrounded by the smiling group of mostly young men having my picture taken. I called Monique over and then they all went wild. The group doubled in size as all the girls and men wanted to be in the picture with her. You can see the results below. We found out later that they were members of the church choir.




I had agreed with the tour guide Abex, whom I had met in airport on arrival that he would be our guide to-day to show us some of the sights of Addis. At 9 AM we set off in his little car to visit the other church of St Mary which is on the top of Mount Entoto. It was about a 35 minute drive from the hotel but it gave us time to get a feel of this city of some 5 million inhabitants. The roads are really impressive with large boulevards cutting through the city. The city even has an elevated light rail system which covers the city east to west. Traffic lights were modern with timers showing the time to the next red or green light in huge numerals. Most the these facilities had been recently built by the Chinese. Traffic flowed for the most part. 

The other amazing feature of this city is the number of unfinished high rise buildings. All throughout the city these great hulks stand awaiting the owners being able to raise the funds needed to complete the job. It is a modern and clean city and one can sense that it has prospered in the last years. In fact, this country has grown at a 10% annual rate which is one of the fastest rates in the world.

We headed up to the top of the Entoto mountain which towers 3,200 meters (about 10,000 feet) above sea level looking down into Addis which is 1000 meters below. It is a good drive with wide road winding its way up to the top. At the top, there is another St Mary's church built by King Menelik,one of the country's early kings. That king actually lived up there until he built himself a castle lower down the hill. The mountain is planted with Eucalyptus trees imported from Australia by Emperor Haile Selassie. These tree supply the city with firewood for charcoal as well as building material. On the way up, we saw women carrying huge loads of wood on their backs heading down hill to sell the wood. You can see a picture below.

Woman carrying Eucalyptus wood to market.

View of Addis Ababa from Mount Ontoto

Original church of St Mary.

Monique and Abex, our Ethiopian  guide.

Eucalyptus forest above Addis.

The church was again closed so we could not visit it. We headed down the hill to arrive at Chiromeda,the second largest market in Addis. This is actually made up of hundreds of stalls along the road mainly selling traditional Ethiopian cloth. It is actively visited in this period by local women who need to stock up on new dresses and cloth after completing the local lent period. We did not want any cloth so we paid a short visit to pick up a few trinkets.

We then spent an hour visiting the Museum of the Ethnicity of which there are some 80 in Ethiopia. It is a great museum where one could spend days learning about all the various tribes and their traditions. It is on the campus of the University of Addis which in itself is worth a visit.

We lunched at the Lucy Restaurant outside the national museum which houses the skeleton of Lucy. The skeleton was found in 1974 and studies have dated her back over 3 million years.

After a nice lunch, we headed to the Trinity Cathedral which was open and we were able to enter. There was a funeral of some important person going on at the church entrance. We were told tht funerals are not done inside their churches. Inside, there was an old priest standing in front of the altar and he agreed to have his picture taken with us. We then toured this huge church which has a wonderful collection of stained glass windows. The tombs of the last Emperor and his wife are also in this church. There is a picture of Monique and me standing in front of the tombs. A bit morbid, but in keeping with Monique's interest in cemeteries...

We are standing in front of the tombs of the last emperor and his wife.

Note the beautiful stained glass window of the cathedral.

Monique and Abex with a member of the choir.

We are talking to an old monk and Abex is taking the selfie.

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We will be leaving this country to-morrow. It is a shame we did not have more time to visit this beautiful country. It is hard to believe that this is still Africa as it has such a rich and documented history with traditions going back centuries. As it was never a colony except for some 10 years of Italian occupation, the historical background of Ethiopia has been preserved despite the years in the 1970's and 80's when the country was ruled by a communist despot. The people are friendly and hospitable. I would want to come back one day. Our tour guide, Abex was a great guide and we learned a lot from him.