Diary of Trip
HISTORICAL ROUTE
A 9-DAY TOUR TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE UNKNOWN, MYSTERIOUS AND ANCIENT HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA
DEPARTURE FROM ROME TO ADDIS ABABA.
DEPARTURE AFTER MIDNIGHT TO ADDIS ABABA, THE CAPITAL OF ETHIOPIA, WITH A NIGHTTIME AIRLINE-FLIGHT.
1° DAY Addis Abeba
Early morning arrival at the Addis Abeba Airport, welcome by the Rocky Valley Safari Staff, transfer to the hotel. Lunch at the hotel. In the afternoon, visit to the city, the Railway station, Churchill Road, the Piazza shopping area, St. George’s Cathedral, the Trinity Cathedral (also called Selassiè Church) where lots of funerary urns and representations of the life of Jesus are preserved.
At the end… of the day, visit to the National Museum, where a copy of the hominid who lived three and a half million years ago is exhibited. This museum permanently displays the ceremony clothes worn by the queens and the kings that reigned in this country during several centuries. Addis Ababa became the capital of the Empire in 1889; it is located on a 2.500 m. height surrounded by a vast forest of huge eucalyptus. Despite this, the climate is favourable all through the year.
Welcome dinner in a typical restaurant with local music and dances
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2° DAY Lalibela
Breakfast at the hotel and transfer to the airport. Departure to Lalibela with the Rocky Valley Safari tour operators. The biggest monoliths in the African continent are visible at an altitude of 2.500 m. King Lalibela, ( 1181 – 1221 ), whose existence is mysterious, ordered the construction of a holy city, for which he invested all his fortune, his own life and his children’s. He ate herbs, slept in caves, until his majestic dream was concretized, one of the eighth wonders of the world. It was only in 1500 that this place was reached by Francisco Alvares, a Portuguese Franciscan missionary.
Lunch.
In the afternoon, visit to the first group of monolithic churches deeply excavated from single volcanic- pink tuff blocks. These were expressly styled on the outside to arrange numerous prayer- halls. The roof of the 11 churches is at ground level. These are majestic architectures, whose building technique is still unknown. Prince Lalibela had these churches built in 1200, by drawing inspiration from Copt Egyptian churches. After the legend, they are so imposing because the Prince got the help of angels for their construction. They are still used for cult, especially on Copt feasts. Many churches are masterfully frescoed and connected via underground , still perfect tunnels.
Dinner and night at the hotel
3° DAY Lalibela
Breakfast at the hotel. Visit to the Na’ akuto La’ ab Church , 7 km from Lalibela. It is a steep church built in a cave by the last descendant of King Lalibela Dinasty. Inside hang stalactites from which water drips into small stone bowls. The room temperature is obviously low. Priests jealously preserve some valuable finds, including manuscripts dating back to more than 600 yrs. Ago, as well as crosses and crowns of the Zagwe Sovereigns. Lunch in Lalibela. In the afternoon, visit to the second church-group in town, incl. St George’s, famous for its unique architecture. Its cross-like plan (overall, Copt crosses are 42 and all different to each other) is dug in a 13 m. deep cleft in the rock with walls thicker at the bottom and thinner towards the vault. Some caves host the mortal remains of those who chose to be buried over there. The church is spectacular especially if seen from above. It was built by king Lalibela upon the express wish of St. George appearing in a dream.
Dinner and night at the hotel
4° DAY Axum
Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to the airport and departure to Axum Expected arrival in the late morning. Lunch at the hotel. In the afternoon visit to the obelisks. Axum is famous for its steles in memory of the Great Emperor of Axum and and the Queen of Sheba. The legend says that the Queen was born here about in 1000 b.C. The power of her kingdom, ranging from the South-Arab Peninsula to eastern Africa down to Zimbabwe was reportedly due mostly to the trade of spices, perfumes, jewels, ivory and fabrics from the East to the West, which made the Kingdom of Sheba more and more powerful, and as famous as Rome, Byzantium and Persia.
Dinner and night at the hotel
5° DAY Axum
Breakfast at the hotel. The program of the day includes the visit to numerous monuments, like the bath and the palace of the Queen; the ancient cathedral of St. Mary of Sion, dating back to 1655 and founded by King Fasiladas. Near the church there is the site where an old guardian is believed to preserve the Ark of the Covenant. Lunch during the visit. The day finishes with a visit to the necropolis and to the National Museum. Dinner and night at the hotel.
6° DAY Axum Gondar
Breakfast at the hotel.
Early-morning departure to Gondar by car or minibus. Stop at Gobedra for the visit to the leonesse carved in the stone. The trip continues to Debark through the Simien Park, one of the most spectacular landscapes in Africa. The Park hosts a great variety of endemic species, animals and birds. It occupies a large surface at altitudes between 1900 e 4400 m. After a series of gullies, slopes and steep walls, arrival at Gondar. Short before Gondar, visit to the Woreka village, where the Falasha community lives, the last Ethiopian Jews. Expected arrival at Gondar in the evening.
Dinner and night at the hotel
7° DAY Gondar
Breakfast at the hotel.
Gondar is the ancient capital of Ethiopia, established in the XVII century by Fasiladas the Great, almost certainly the most famous king of the Salomon line. His descendants embellished it with numerous monuments. At the feet of the mountains, among the ruins of imperial castles, are churches, abbeys, and baths whose architectural style is unique in Ethiopia. Visit to the castles and palaces built by the emperors during the XVII and XVIII centuries, witnessing all the magnificence of the Empire. The visit to the castles is an impressive experience of the mysterious, splendid past of the empire. Visit to the “ Fasiladas Bath”, a fortress encompassed by a tub where on Jan 6. (Little Christmas) the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates christenings. The program ends with the visit to the Debre Birhan Selassiè Church, otherwise known as “The light of the Trinity”. In this church there are beautiful wall paintings representing biblical and medieval scenes. Lunch during the visit.
Dinner and night at the hotel.
8° DAY Gondar - Bahar Dar
Breakfast at the hotel.
Early-morning departure to Bahar Dar by car or minibus. Nearly 31 kms to Bahar Dar, visit to the Blue Nile Waterfalls. This spectacular site is known world-wide mainly because of the morning-rainbow phenomenon due to the light refraction. Lunch; in the afternoon, visit to the church on the Zeghiè Peninsula : Ura Kidane Mehret ,which is open to men and women. Inside this church are valuable wall paintings. Nearby, the House of Treasure, where invaluable treasures are kept, like manuscripts, icons, holy crosses, clothes and crowns belonging to kings and feudal lords of the past. The river is navigable by the typical “tanqua”, slim-papyrus canoes designed for the transportation of agricultural and handicraft products by the citizens of Amara and Agau . Arrival in the evening at Bahar Dar.
Dinner and night at the hotel.
9° DAY Bahar Dar – Addis Abeba
Breakfast at the hotel.
Bahar Dar overlooks the Tana Lake; it is in the South of the famous heart-shaped lake, the source of the Blue Nile, the most important Ethiopian water-basin. Together with the White Nile it flows into the Nile, the sacred, historical river. The Blue Nile begins its long flow to the sea with a 50 m. fall, just a few kilometres from the Tana Lake, which is 14 m deep, 75 km long and 60 km wide. More than 30 lush islands are scattered on the lake. Many of these host mud and wood monasteries and churches dating back to the XIV century. Visit to the city at the end of the day. Transfer to the airport and departure to Addis Ababa.
Accommodation at the Ghion Hotel. Farewell dinner in another typical restaurant in town
NOTES:
We have decided to recommend air transportation to reach historical cities (Lalibela, Axum, Gondar and Bahar Dar) in order to accelerate transfers and to include the visit to the Omo River Valley. All this in just 9 days.
For travellers with more time available and just with two extra days, it is possible to complete the Historical Route Tour by off-road car. This option includes the visit to the Semien Park.