Addis Ababa and Lalibela, Ethiopia

After breakfast, we transfer to the domestic airport for our one-hour charter flight to Lalibela (altitude 9100 feet). We are flying Ethiopian airlines, but we have a very American sounding pilot. Oh, I am loving the Ethiopia calendar. It’s only 2008 here so I’m 7 years younger here! It’s like having the fountain of youth on my side!!   Lalibela is a town in northern Ethiopia famous for monolithic rock-cut churches. This rural town is known around the world for its churches carved from within the earth from “living rock,” which play an important part in the history of  rock-cut architecture.  Lalibela is one of Ethiopia’s holiest cities and a center of pilgrimage. The population of Lalibela is almost completely Ethiopian Orthodox Christian.  Ethiopia is one of the earliest nations to adopt Christianity in the first half of the fourth century, and its historical roots date to the time of the Apostles. These are designated World Heritage sites. Upon arrival, we begin our exploration of the cave churches. These are rock-hewn churches, chiseled into the bedrock 900 years ago.  Ashu (pronounced A-shoe) is our guide today. He’s great. He shares a few more facts about Ethiopia: Per capita income is very low The average Ethiopian only makes about $550 US Dollars per year Literacy rate is only 40% School dropout rate is high with more girls than boys dropping out We drive along very rocky roads in our bus from the Lalibela airport. The airport is out in the middle of nowhere. New roads are being constructed and there is a very modern bridge across a small valley near the airport. About 1/3 of the way into the drive, our road changes from the rocky stones to a paved one. It is a very winding, steep and hilly drive up to Lalibela. The terrain is very brown and rocky with green trees and shrubs dotting some of the landscape. It’s very mountainous and quite breath taking. Apparently, once the rains the landscape will grow green and more lush. We see sheep, goats and some cattle on the hillsides. Most of the people in the village do not have access to transportation so they have to make long walks every day to do their errands or go to school. They do have access to public, potable water. We have passed 2 elementary schools on our way in. Lalibella village population is 35,000. We were treated to the most amazing Welcoming Ceremony at Beite Mariam Church. There were numerous men dressed in ceremonial robes. They performed ancient traditional chanting and singing and dancing with sistrum and drummers accompanying them. It was so beautiful and touching. The Ethiopians love sharing their customs and ancient traditions. When we returned to the airport shops, we purchased an antique silver Sistrum like the ones all of the performers were using. The 12th century churches we are touring today were built by King Lalibela. They are still active churches so it is necessary that knees, shoulders and heads are covered and shoes are removed. The 11 churches we toured were carved from the top down. In each church there are always 3 chambers: the Chanting chamber, Service chamber, and the Holy of Holies chamber that only clergy are allowed to enter. The Cross of Lalibela is brought out for us to view. The cross is rarely shown to outsiders. The churches are connected by subterranean passageways and very uneven steps throughout. It’s a bit treacherous to climb through. If this were located in the US, there would be guard rails all over the place! We had lunch at a local restaurant in Lalibella called Ben Abeba. It is the most startling piece of architecture. I feel like we’re entering George Jetson’s house in space! There are the most stunning views all around. Pretty funny though that we’re eating Scottish food in the top of a mountain in Ethiopia! A home economics teacher and caterer from Scortland came to Ethiopia and partnered up with a local to open a restaurant that would serve locally sourced food and provide job opportunities for the locals. We had great music and dancing entertainment during lunch. Also had a little baby dik-dik come up in the restaurant for a visit where we were sitting at lunchtime. Not sure how in the world he got up that high. Then we drove a short distance to visit St. George Church. We descended the steep stone steps into the grand structure to walk through the church’s interiors. It’s a treacherous descent into and through all of the stone churches today. And, they all require removal of your shoes, so we spent the day taking our hiking shoes on and numerous times. This afternoon, we transferred back to the airport for our Ethiopia airways charter flight back to Addis Ababa. As luck would have it Group 1 has to fly back last and our plane was over an hour late. We missed our Italian dinner reservation, so we opted for burgers and beer in our room. We are loving the regional Ethiopian beer. We had a few minutes pre-security to shop at the airport. I’m finding it very interesting that throughout this entire trip, the vendors and shops want US Dollars and not credit cards or local currency for payment. We’re rapidly depleting our spending money on this trip buying little memento’s along the way. Delta is going to love all our heavy baggage! We found out that the reason we have to stop in Larnaca, Cyprus tomorrow on our way to Jerusalem is not for a tech stop. We are required to stop there to go through a rigorous individual security check and for the plane to be cleared. This is required by Israel’s Ministry of Transport. ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH St. George’s church is hewn out of solid rock. The extraordinary church represents one of the wonders of the ancient world. Dating from the late 12th or early 13th century AD, the construction of the church is ascribed to King Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, one of the last kings of the Zagwe dynasty. It is located near Lalibela, which is situated roughly 640 km north of the country’s capital, Addis Ababa. This town contains a remarkable collection of monolithic, rock-cut churches. Eleven in total, these buildings were erected in and around the year 1200 and are a testament to the skills of Ethiopia’s medieval stone masons. The church of St. George stands in a 25m by 25m wide pit that is carved out of solid volcanic rock. The construction of the church involved excavating a free-standing block of stone out of the bed-rock and then removing all the waste material from around it. The stone masons then carefully chiseled away the church outline, shaping both the exterior and interior of the building as they went. A number of the windows are embellished with carved semi-­palette cross motifs, while the roof of the structure contains a sequence of Greek crosses in relief, one inside the other. The church grounds are accessed via a descending trench and tunnel, which allow access to a sunken courtyard surrounding the building. This contains a small baptismal pool, while its vertical walls have a number of caves that are used as basic housing for priests and as burial tombs.  Still a place of pilgrimage for members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, St. George’s now forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sheraton Addis Hotel