Jerusalem Guest House Lalibela

C est l image de l ethiopie que l on a dans la tete. Il s agit des eglises creusees dans le sol rocailleux, avec la plus belle des eglises : l eglise de St george en forme de croix grecque.

Le site a ete concu au 13s pour servir de substitut au pelerinage vers jerusalem. C est un territoire sacre ou les habitants se battent pour ne pas avoir de mosquee (or a harar mosquee et eglises cohabitent sans souci majeur)

Bon alors comme d'hab dans mon blog précédent je me suis un peu emballée vu qu'après 2 mois de soleil radieux, me voila qui revient de WE dans un Addis pluvieux juste à temps pour apprendre que c'est le début de la « petite » saison des pluies...Tranquille, ça dure juste un mois... Bon heureusement on a eu un WE très sympa à Lalibela. Simple lever à 5 h du mat pour un coucher à 1 heure, la fête. Mais bon, ça valait le coup. Lalibela, c'est LE site touristique ...

Have you missed me?Since you last heard from me I've been traveling through northern Ethiopia visiting the historical sites. From Bahir Dar I took the 4 hour bus north to Gonder.  The main site in Gonder is the Royal Enclosure, 17th Century castles surrounded by high stone walls. The main castle, Fasiladas' Palace, is 32 meters tall and was built by an Indian architect. A couple kilometers north of the Royal Enclosure is the Debre Berhan Selassie Church ...

The road to Lalibela We have just passed through the most amazing scenery we have ever seen. The Ethiopian highlands must have some of the most breathtaking views in the world and the road is breath taking in more than one way. Leaving Addis on the Dessie road we didn't remember that it was in such bad shape, at least until Mussolini's tunnel at the Tarmabir escarpment just before Debre Sina. We finally made it to Shoa Robit on the ...

... af mennesker. Her er nemlig 11 kirker hugget ud i klipperne og de regnes for verdens ottende vidunder. Kirkerne er udhugget af Kong Lalibela i slutningen af det 12. eller starten af det 13. århundrede - ved englenes hjælp?? Efter at den ortodokse kirke havde fået sit tag i etiopierne, begyndt mange at tage på pilgrimstur til Jerusalem, men en del bukkede under og kom aldrig retur. Lalibela skulle være et alternativ - og er det fortsat i dag.

... passengers wait for the original plane to be fixed...Now our estimated departure time is pegged at 6:30pm. Thank goodness the white-man is keeping us all entertained! On a side note, Krista is getting quite upset. Today's originally itinerary involved returning to Addis and going to the transition house to meet her son for the first time. Even if we do fly tonight, it will be too late to go. With no way to contact the staff at ...

Upon returning to the hotel in the evening, we decided to go for a little walk. This is the first hotel we have stayed at that hasn't been perched up on to of a hill, so it was easily accessible and seemed to be on the edge of town. Also, being a smaller town (only about 1700 residents) it felt very safe to us. We knew we weren't going to get mobbed if we went outside. Along the road there were some children who came out to walk with ...

Lalibela, Lalibela - one of the 8th wonders of the world. Filled with churches carved out of rock. These buildings are not erected from the bottom up, but carved from the top down. Many are even carved our of a single piece of stone! There are 3 main types, and we were able to see them all: monolithic (1 piece), semi-monolithic (several pieces together), and cave (carved into caves). Standing on the ground staring into a ...

... visitors and historians alike. Mafiz was our guide: 26 year old, a biology teacher by profession but due to the fact that Lalibela residents can make more money by being a tour guide, he decided to go to Tourism College for two years, and after passing his examination, has been working as a qualified Lalibela guide ever since. His wish is to make enough money, get more qualified as a teacher and return to doing what he truly loves. Our day consisted ...

... Lalibela and very unpredictable, so you better shower tonight." He didn't need to tell me twice. Although we are camping in their garden, we got given a hotel room to use the shower and toilet. What an impressive hotel it is, with a sit-down toilet that actually flushes (we all cheered when water came gushing out!) and a bathtub and shower head that spouts hot hot hot water at full ...