Ethiopia

The 2 week tour of Ethiopia was really good. It was a good group to travel with and we got to see lots of great sites.
After Addis Ababa next stop was Bahir Dar where we visited Blue Nile Falls (although the falls were only a trickle as they have built a dam there) and 3 monestaries on Lake Tana which were good. We then headed to Gonder where on the way we stopped at a local village which was excellent. In Gonder we visited another church, the castles and a King's Baths. When then spent 1 night in Simien Mountains where we did 2 * 3hr walks which were good but also quite hard as there are no paths and you are walking on the side of an enscarpment.
Next stop was Lalibela where we visited the rock hewn churches in town and one outside of town. These churches are amazing as they have been chisled out of solid rock. Some of them now have cracks in them and so are covered by scaffolding and steel roofs, however the Church of St George is still uncovered and looks amazing, the design and the accuracy of work is amazing.
We then flew to Axum to see the Stelae, the large one that is still standing looks amazing, the one the Italians stole is still in 3 parts waiting to be put up and the fallen large stelae would have been amazing if it ever stood, we also visited St Mary of Zion Church, which is where the Ethiopians believe the Ark of the Covenant is, and saw some historical inscriptions, tombs and the ruins of Queen of Shebas Palace.
We then headed back to Addis where we had time for shopping and also visited St George Church.
It was a great trip and we have many fond memories, the people in Ethiopia are very friendly however there is alot of begging which is disturbing.
Tourism isn't as developed as in Kenya and Tanzania which was very nice as at some of the sites we visited we were the only tourists there.

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