Bye Bye Addis Ababa! Hello Gondar!

Last night I set my alarm clock for a 6:00am wake up call, but it wasn't needed. By say 5:00am, Asha, myself, likewise others who roomed next door, heard locals praying.

It was a beautiful sound. In fact, it encouraged me to say a few prayers too.

Soon after, Asha and I got dressed for our trip to Gondar. Gondar is the largest and supposedly the most impressive of Ethiopia's three major ex-capitals.

Unlike Addis Ababa, it has a more laid back city feeling. Oh, so I'm told.

By road it's a 12 hour trip, so we took a plane.

After a quick breakfast, we jumped in a van and headed back to the airport. This time we were flying domestically so security didn't check passports and visas, only plane tickets.

The ride lasted about an hour. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous during take off. But, twenty minutes into the ride, I came to the realization that I had no other option but to enjoy the view.

Some parts of the land seemed to be more developed than others. The river paths were also quite interesting as well in terms of where they flowed and stopped.

There were other parts of the land that seemed to have no inhabitants. Just blame my far-sighted vision if I am wrong about this observation. Lol.

It was a smooth landing at Gondar Airport.
We hoped in a van and drove to the Lammageyer Hotel. We passed through local markets and Gondar University. Before there were only a few universities in Ethiopia, but now it's grown to 32 around the country.

Also, the domelike architecture on the streets that divide both sides relate to the castles in Gondar. Represents royalty.

In this town, there is a new and old divide. The old side is in the mountains, very much elevated from the streets. The new Gondar for example is where Gondar University is located. There seems be a lot of construction.

Our hotel is located in new Gondar though most of our sites seeing will be in the old.

Asha and I got keys to our new room for the night. The setup of the hotel is condo style. Our front door leads to a compound outside. It's really neat.

Time for lunch!

Wendiana can get used to this!

Yours Truly,
Wendiana Jones