A Trip to the North

Last weekend we experienced one of the highlights of our time in Ethiopia; a weekend trip to Gonder and Lalibela. Even though Caleb and Max were partially laid up with bad tummies, we were able to take in two of Ethiopia’s most important and impressive historical sites. We actually saw more than we can reasonably recap here so each of us will briefly share our favorite photos and trip experiences.

Both Gondar and Lalibela are former capitals and to this day serve as important religious and cultural centers for the country. We started our trip in Gonder, which was a capital for over 100 years in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Gonder sits about 250 km west of Sudan and the main draw here is a series of stone castles.

From Gonder we traveled to Lalibela which served as a capital during the 12^th and 13^th centuries. People from all over Ethiopia and the world still make pilgrimages to Lalibela to see the network of churches, all hand carved into stone and built below ground level. We spent two days here including, observing morning prayers at 6:00 AM. Here are the highlights:

Romi – I really loved seeing both the churches and castles. I also really enjoyed the view from our hotel in Lalibela. From one side you could see the huge Saturday market and from the other side, beautiful mountains.

Castle in Gondar

Gondar

Saturday market in Lalibela

View from our hotel

Caleb – My favorite part of the trip was seeing all of the beautiful and amazing buildings in Lalibela that were hand chiseled. It is incredible to think that these churches that were built over 800 years ago by chiseling free standing buildings out of the mountains. I also liked hearing about how angels worked on the churches at night so they would be built faster.

Sue – We were fortunate to have two wonderful guides, Getachew and Muluye, who did an amazing job leading us through the sites and providing detailed explanations of the history and architecture. In Gondar, I really enjoyed seeing Fasiladas’ Bath which was built by the king as a place for rest and relaxation and todays hosts the biggest Timkat (Ephiphany) celebration in Ethiopia every January. A highlight from Lalibela was waking up early on Sunday to witness the 6:00 am service from outside Bet Medhane Alem church. Amazing!

Our guide in Gondar, Getachew

Our guide in Lalibela, Muluye

Fasiladas’ bath

Sunday morning services

Max – My favorite part of the trip was the last church we visited in Lalibela – Bet Giyorgis (St. George’s Church).   We arrived at 4:00 pm when there were still other visitors including a large group of university students. When the church closed at 5:00 pm, Muluye suggested that we linger and watch how the changing light reflected on the church. We ended the day alone just our family and a few monkeys that decided to hang out us.

Noah – My favorite thing on our trip was the food. At our time in Gondar and Lalibela in 3 days I had three huge delicious plates of tibs (stewed meat dishes). In Addis we rarely eat meat because everyone is fasting so it was awesome to have as much meat as I wanted for 3 whole days. Here is a picture of a huge bowl of lamb tibs I had at a restaurant in Lalibela.

Yum!