The flight from Axum is part of same flight that goes from
Axum to Addis I believe. It stops in Lalibela and Gondar. The Lalibela airport
is actually located at much lower elevation than the town itself and at
considerable distance from the town. Luckily it is fixed price shared van to
the town. The town is situated on in hills, so it is pretty steep to go between
the sections of the town. It is also rustic, many basic village huts among low
level concrete buildings. I told the driver I am going to stay at Lalibela
hotel, but he told me that it is under construction, but I didn’t believe him
as you can’t trust most of drivers in Ethiopia as they might get commission
from the hotel they wanted to take you to. But it turned out he was telling the
truth. With my choice of hotel out the commission and I didn’t want to go for
high-end accommodation, so I just followed a sign for Heaven guest house and
popped in and asked for a room. I negotiated the price down a little as I told
him I don’t need the free breakfast.
Since I arrived after 12PM, the historic sites are closed
until 2PM for lunch break. So I went around looking for a place to eat and
location of the ticket office, but I got lost and ended up at a bank to get
some cash instead. After that I decided not to take any more random short cut
through the village. Eventually I stopped by Seven Olives Hotel restaurant for
a meal as the book said it has a nice setting, which it does. With a happy
tummy, I went to the tourist ticket office and hired a guide. I didn’t see any
other tourists that I can share guide cost with. So begins my 3-hour rush
through all the rock-hewn churches in town.
Lalibela is second holiest city in Ethiopian after Axum. It
is renowned for its world famous rock-hewn churches; they are cut out the solid
rock. Some are extricated on all four-side (monolithic church) – amazing achievement,
while others are semi- monolithic, with 3-side or front only (like that of Petra,
Jordan). The amazing part is that some of the churches are carved into the
ground and connected with various passages to other rock-hewn churches nearby. There
were also many pilgrims visiting the churches as well, some of them paraded
through the town in the early morning in their wardrobe, very devoted!
Even though the churches are all very interesting, after a
while, I got little bored listening to my guide. I was glad it to be over by
closing time (5PM). I went back to my hotel and checked out the super slow
internet café. As dinner time approached, I decided go across the street from
my hotel for the meal as I didn’t see any decent looking standalone restaurants
nearby and others are uphill from the where I were and at a distance. The food
was not bad, and atmosphere was warm and cozy.
With good food, I went back for an early sleep (not much to
do around the town). The guest house was in a quiet area and clean. Also everything
was in working order, a rarity in Ethiopia. Early next morning I decided to go
back to the churches for morning photos, but the guide never gave back my
entrance ticket, so I just wondered around the outskirt of the churches, and
because most of the churches are covered by ugly plastic structure to prevent
weathering, so not too many good photos, none the less it was nice see pilgrims
in their solitary prayers.
The ride to the airport was also fixed price shared van. As
the plane from Axum arrived I looked out the departure lounge window for Hunter,
and waved to him. He surprised me by came out the arrival hall and to say hi.
He asked if I saw all the churches in one afternoon, I said yes, and I told him
I stayed at Heavenly Guest house. We wished each other safe journey ahead and I
was off to Gondar for hopefully the not yet booked Simien Mountain trek the
next day.
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