Day two's activities started at 4:30
AM; these flights and bookings have turned me into an early bird, if
only temporarily. A quick domestic turboprop flight brought me to the
airport in Gondar, where I took advantage of free shuttle service to
the Goha Hotel.
This booking has brought me up the
mountains a bit, overlooking the city. The ride up showed me more of
the things I thought to expect: people carrying baskets on their
heads or using donkeys to carry things, horse-drawn taxis, and
slightly less modern looking things. In the midst of this, you get
rough metal fences painted blue and emblazoned with Pepsi logos to
serve as billboards.
The back patio of the Goha offers a
wonderful view, so I unpacked the camera and got started. In addition
to spotting a castle compound amidst the other scenery, I spent a
fair deal of time chasing the best possible shot of large birds of
prey which soared past.
The way things currently look, I am
heading to Simien National Park tomorrow—hopefully right after
breakfast. I am excited for that journey. On the third day, I intend
to visit the local market.
Gondar was once the capital of the
Ethiopian empire. It was pillaged in the 19th century by
the Dervishes from Sudan and bombed during the Second World War, but
plenty remains to be seen.
Life conspires to make me do
things
I planned to space out the visits,
because doing everything at once would leave me with nothing to do on
the third day. However, the tour package involved seeing three
attractions bundled together: the Fasil Ghebbi compound, the
Fasiladas Baths, and Debre Birhan Selassie Church.
I agreed to this, making it the second
"travel day" wherein I actually went out and did a lot. It
would happen after lunch, though. About lunch, consider this: for a
similar price to a sandwich combo and drink at a Tim Horton's in
Canada, I had a three-course meal in a nice clean restaurant at a
table waited by well-dressed and polite staff; a songbird sang in the
rafters and came to visit me, and since the bird didn't ruin my meal
in any way, I was quite fine with that. Think about the return on
value there.
Yes, even when I set aside days to do
nothing at all, life finds a way to keep me busy. I have no problem
with that if it involves seeing such sights.
Fasil Ghebbi
They call it the Camelot of Ethiopia.
It's a compound of seven castles, each of which has its own history
and original function; Scottish explorer James Bruce lived in one of
them for a time.
When I first took a picture of it from
the Goha patio, I didn't know I would stand in the compound and have
the guide point out my hotel. I now have a pair of pictures showing
both perspectives.
During the occupation of the country in
the early 1940s, places with thick stone walls and castles like Fasil
Ghebbi were used to house the occupying Generals. That unfortunately
means the British bombed the compound in the process of freeing the
country. While UNESCO has worked hard to rebuild this world heritage
site, you simply aren't going to get the gold and gem encrusted
ceilings or original art work which used to be there.
I am fine with paying to visit what is
left. Ruins are wonderful places with stories to tell, which is why I
enjoyed so many of the castle remnants I visited in Scotland. My tour
guide in particular could have worked a seminar about the meaning of
everything to be seen; as long as those stories are remembered, there
is something of value. He said more than I could remember. Fasil
Ghebbi had music halls, dining halls, places to pray, hot saunas
(where you can still find the nooks where one would place jewellery
and hang clothes) and even a lion cage no longer in use.
Fasiladas Baths
If I visited in January, during the
famous Timket festival, I might have seen the way Ethiopians annually
use this place today. As it stands, even empty, there is plenty to
see.
The history of this facility as I
understand it begins when Ethiopia had a Catholic king. He built the
place for baptismal purposes. When he died, his son took power and
set about moving the country back toward Orthodox Christianity; in
the process, this massive pool (a river 500 meters away was
originally redirected to help fill it, but it was dry when I visited,
giving a visual idea of the volume of water that place can contain)
changed purposes.
There are banyan trees growing roots
down the walls. There is one massive fig tree with roots extending
down both sides of the huge compound wall on which it sits, becoming
some sort of natural pillar to the wall; a second fig tree is
starting to do the same, having roots down one side of the wall and
far fewer roots down the other side.
Elsewhere on the grounds is a building
which stands in memoriam of a horse. The building had a different
function at first if I recall correctly, but that horse was mourned
by the most powerful man in the country at the time. I mentioned
Alexander and Bucephalus to the guide and he laughed knowingly.
Debre Birhan Selassie Church
This building sits next to the Fasil
Ghebbi compound; given the bridges which once allowed people to roam
from the castles directly to the church (the bridge where you
traditionally doffed your hat if you were heading church-side out of
respect). It became the last place I would visit because they were in
the middle of a ceremony while I visited the castle compound; the
visit to the Baths then became the second thing in the order, to see
interesting things while eating up time.
I did see the end of the ceremony. I
was terribly afraid that something I might do would offend the masses
of people outside the building who participated with great devotion.
They tolerated my presence fairly well, and I did my best not to be a
disruption.
The grounds are big enough as they are
enclosed by massive walls. It is a church, not a cathedral, but size
is not what you go there to see. Places like this are why I bought
boots with a zipper: to facilitate quick removal of footwear out of
respect.
Flash photography is not allowed in the
building, which suits me fine because I am not yet a fan of using
flashes. All the walls are painted to illustrate the lives of Jesus
and Mary and the stories of saints. Some of the images are more
familiar than others if you know a bit about the New Testament, but
others are quite special to Ethiopia.
I felt goosebumps at a particular
moment. Ethiopia is a deeply religious place, and something about
that gave me a feeling. All this art is meant to express things so
deeply loved... I am not quite sure how to put into words the effect
on me, even though I am not a particularly religious person. I was
witnessing something central to the identity those people.
Sunset
I returned to that Goha patio and sat
there with a bottle of local brew, thinking: "Did I ever believe
I would be sitting in Africa, enjoying a beer?" Ten years ago I
might have claimed I doubted I would ever travel to this continent.
The view of the sunset from that
vantage is brilliant.
I am glad to give the camera some work;
97 photos total.
Now I am off to dinner, and to prepare
for another early waking. Tomorrow is all about Simien.
D. Madeley
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