Aksum
Trip Start
Aug 09, 2005
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57
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Trip End
Aug 09, 2006
Aksum, Ethiopia
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
The drive more than compensated for the zero visibility the day before.
Aksum itself is a sprawling, dusty, and rural town where camel trains and donkeys dominate the traffic. The large market is the nucleus of the town, where all the action happens on Saturday, it seems as though the entire hinterland has converged on the market to do business. Salt, spices, livestock, vegetables, coffee, furniture and spare parts are some of the items traded. One of the better guides we have had, an 8 year old who escorted us through the myriad of merchandise pointed out the local oddities, and even demanded free samples for us!
Aksum - 01
! Aksum and its environs is dominated by unexcavated ruins, tombs, and stelae dating back to the Queen of Sheba, who's residence was one of the main palaces in the ancient town. A church in the town is also reputed to house the Ark of the Covenant, but as they were charging an arm and a leg to get in, and women were not allowed in.... we decided to give it a miss as otherwise a headline such as...... "Irish woman bullies Ark of the Covenant Guardian" might have appeared in the local papers.
We visited the town of Yeha, which was built by Arabic Colonists and dates back to the 8th Century BC. On the drive to and from Yeha we passed through some spectacular Tigrayan scenery. The next morning we met up with a school teacher we had met the previous day on a bus, and he had kindly invited us for an Ethiopian Coffee ceremony at his house. The ceremony takes about 2 hours, the beans are roasted, then pounded and then the coffee is brewed and served in three separate servings, extra strong, strong and less strong as the beans lose their potency. Coffee as fresh as you can get it and absolutely delicious. Highly recommended to all you Coffee Addicts out there.
Comments
What a Relief
Glad to see Trish managed to ditch the man with the gun seen in previous photos!