Savanna International Hotel Asmara

... la journee de la carriere, au palais, mausolee, musee et site a obelisque.<br><br>Bien sur le site a ete christianise et comme par hasard on trouve l eglise de Zion qui contient l arche d alliance. Impossible a voir de visu (ni meme la replique) sinon une malediction s abattra (celui qui ouvre se voit bruler les mains).<br>

... which contains over 120 massive stelae (many amazingly well-preserved), including the Rome Stelae, which spent many years in Italy following Mussolini's orders to erect it in Rome, and was only recently re-erected in Aksum. Our flight to Lalibela was the next morning . . . Rebels that we are, we decided to ignore the strong recommendation of Ethiopian Airlines for once and got to the airport less than two full hours before our flight - after all, we thought, why ...

... Fogera htel - too far from the center, nice gaden with damaged rooms $15/20. The 3 of us went to Wallaka &amp; Debre church - both nice. We looked for a 1 day tour to Semeian mt. - no success yet. We ate dinner on the bridge near Circle hotel - good(specially chicken, mushtrum and vegetable). 7/3 Yona decided she miss home and went back. Eitan &amp; me went to Fasilidad caste - extraordinary. I went also to the bath - nice too. It is recommended to go ...

... and which was cause of big celebrations in Axum. We also saw Sheba's reservoir or swimming pool, probably has nothing to do with the queen of Sheba but it is a nice lake where the locals can go for a swim. As I said we took it easy today and tomorrow we'll proceed to the Simien Mountains.(PS. Uploading pictures is proving to be a real challenge so please be patient...) Robert's entry:The Road from Lalibela to Adwa. At 07.45hrs we hit the road from the very convenient Tukul ...

Med Axum er vi nået tilbage til Etiopiens første hovedstad. Her finder vi en pedant til Jellingestenene. Der er også ruinerne af hvad nogle mener er Dronningen af Saba's palads. Den arkæologiske viden peger dog nok nærmere mod en rigmands villa. Dronningen af Saba anses som moderen til den etiopiske kongeslægt. Med Kong Salomon fik hun sønnen Menelik, der i 300-tallet bragte kristendommen til Etiopien. I perioden med Axum som hovedstad ...

Pretty similar to the last airport, but with a few more interesting tidbits. Grant gave an American Dollar as a tip to someone who helped with our bags (you have to work very hard NOT to get help whether you want it or not) so as not to use up our Birr before getting to another bank. I watched this guy and a friend inspect the money for a good long time. Later, after we had checked in, he came up to Grant with an English speaking friend asking for another ...

... so we could not read them. Next door was Queen Mary's church was a re-make of one of the largest in Ethiopia - fitting over 3000 people at once! The acoustics were incredible in here, and true to form, the walls were covered with murals. Some very old bibles draped in fabric were shown to us by the only men who had authorization to touch them. Grant (being the only male with us) got to go in another older ...

... are no ATM's here and using visa costs 5% commission - bring US Dollars. Make sure you get a currency form on the way in and keep all money change reciepts and complete all paper work before you leave the country. Do not change money on the black market as you will end up in prision. Make sure you change your money back to US Dollars before going through passport control on the way out as otherwise you will be stuck with it. Go to the travel office before going outside ...

... the cheapest way to get to Eritrea was via Rome using Lufthansa (G**man efficiency right) - ain't that the breaks - I have to practice my slang in time to be hip with the kids at Xmas. It's amazing that we Africans talk about coming togeth**, one broth**/sist**hood, African Renaissance etc. and we put so many barri**s up that prevent simple travel between bord**s. I still have to fly to Europe to reach an African country which as the crow flies ...

... wall bars that line the side streets, to drink small bottles of quite decent Asmara beer. I suspect that Africa is quite the drinking continent. I spent the weekend here in Asmara and have just spent a few nights in a town to the North called Keren, three hours by bus. We passed through typical villages with a smattering of rotting military vehicles along the roads from the war. Rusting hulks perched where they were last shot at There is an ...