Next stop: Gonder

We wanted to see as much of Ethiopia we could during our vacation, so as planned we packed our bags, went off to the airport and flew one of Ethiopian Airlines' Fokker 50 turbo props an hour north to the city of Gonder. Throughout the centuries Ethiopia has had several different capitals and from 1636 to 1855 it was Gonder's turn. A royal enclosure with several palaces was built in the 1600's, and most of these impressive buildings remain in good condition today. We spent a full day with a local guide, Fekadu Abera, and a driver, Yonase Stifanos. They were both extremely nice and knowledgable and made us feel right at home. Fekadu showed us three historical places in Gonder: the royal enclosure, Fasiladas' Bath (an outdoor pool where the emperor used to chill out), and the colorful Debre Berhan Selassie Church. The royal enclosure has six palaces and two old lion cages. Abyssynian lions were kept through the centuries in those cages, all the way until 1991 when Ethiopia's Communist rulers fell and the local strongmen in Gonder who had worked for the regime had to flee; the two remaining lions were then taken to the zoo in Addis.
Fasiladas' Bath (seen in the picture above, with Yonase to the far left and Fekadu in the middle) is beautiful despite currently undergoing renovation. Norway's government is financing the restoration project. However, when we visited it was quiet with no workers in sight. Fekadu, our guide, told us that Norway's and Ethiopia's diplomatic relations had entered a crisis mode in recent weeks, with Ethiopia throwing out several Norwegian diplomats and Norway cutting aid in response. (I later read that Ethiopia has accused Norway of supporting "terrorist groups" in neighboring Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan, something which Norway denies.) Any case, one casualty of this diplomatic stand-off between Norway and Ethiopia appears to be the restoration of Fasiladas' Bath. At least for now.
The church known as Debre Berhan Selassie (pictured above) is famous primarily for its amazing paintings that line the inner walls and ceiling. Among other things it has 104 angels looking down on visitors, each one seemingly with a slightly different expression.



Check out this video clip of sunrise in Gonder. Louise filmed it outside the hotel while I was snoozing inside. Who can tell us what type of bird that is?