Our Ethiopian odyssey (5): our first rock churches
Day 3 (MondayOur ) actually began in the night when the alarm in our hotel room went off at the crazy time of 4.30 am. It was a case of wash, dress, pack and have a “grab and go” breakfast before the Cox & Kings group boarded our minimbus at 5.30 am. We were soon at Addis Ababa’s Bole airport where security was very tight because of the constant threat of Al Shabab. We had our luggage – including jackets, shoes and belts – screened once as we entered the airport and then again when we had gone through passport control.
It was a short flight of just 50 minutes from Addis north to Mekele on a Boeing 737. A different minibus and driver awaited us. The vehicle was barely large enough to take all our luggage on the back seats and all the members of the group in rather cramped seats and there was no air conditioning, but this is a hardy group and ŵe managed fine.
During the reign of Emperor Yohannes IV (1872-1889), Mekele was the capital city of Ethiopia. Today it is the regional capital of the Tigray province and one of the country’s principal economic and educational centres with a population of around 140,000. It was the focal point for refugees and the relief effort during the 1984-85 famine and hosts the headquarters of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Our starting point as tourists today was a visit to the main market in Mekele where we spent half an hour wandering round with our guide Dawit. This is very much a local market and we were the only white people there. It is an open air market which has no roads or pathways but simply dusty earth or rocky spaces between stalls for locals to view and purchase mainly foodstuffs. Many of the women had their hair tightly braided in the Tigray style and several young men strode around with a pole across their shoulders from which hung a couple of dozen live chickens for sale.
From Mekele, we drove north to the town of Wukro and then took a dirt track out of town heading up to the hills. We came across a group which had attending a wedding and were waiting by the roadside for local transport and we gave a lift to four of the young women with their children slung in a cloth shawl on their back. Smiles were exchanged and photographs were taken. We dropped off out companions at their local village and headed to our destination – our first rock church of the trip.
The Church of Wukro Chirkos was built of sandstone carved out of the high rock face. Like all such churches, it looks nondescript from the outside but magical on the inside. The most striking feature is the decorated 15th century pillar depicting pictures of saints and angels. Like all Ethiopian Orthodox churches, it contains something called a ‘tabot’ which is a replica of the Ark of the Covenant allegedly located in Axum but no guests are allowed to see it. We were excited to find that the white-clad, bearded priest of the church made an appearance for us, holding his prayer stick and shaking his prayer rattle. An excellent photo opportunity.
After this lunch, we returned to the little town of Wukro where we had lunch at the Lwam Hotel. We sat outside in warm sunshine at one long table located In the plain hotel courtyard.
This meal was our introduction to the Ethiopian staple food known as ‘injera’. This is a flat spongy bread made of a very fine grain called ‘teff’. It has a rubbery feel and a slightly fermented tangy taste. Ethiopians have ‘injera’ spread thinly over a large plate and then pull off bits to scoop up the accompanying food. We had our ‘injera’ cut and rolled up with the other food on the side on a normal plate. The side dishes included chickpeas, lentils, split peas, spinach, tomato, and something called ‘tibbs’ (crusty fried steak’). We coped well but one of the dishes was really spicy and the steak was very chewy. This is not a country for desserts (poor Roger) and at this lunch dessert was simply a third of a banana.
After the meal, we set off to visit a second rock church. This involved a rickety ride of 40 minutes up a winding unmade road which clung to the side a low mountain and created a dust storm every time a lorry passed us. The absence of air-con meant that we opened windows but the approach of a lorry required that we quickly closed them.
The rock-hewn Church of Abraha We Atsbeha was constructed in the 10th century and is dedicated to the twin kings of Axum. It is bigger and more nicely finished than the church we saw in the morning and include pictures of Biblical scenes in 17th & 18th century murals.
On the road back from this church, we stopped to,observe and photograph a scene which could have come out of Biblical times. Five oxen were roped together and herded round and round in tight circles by a young child in order to thresh wheat underfoot of the animals. It was hot, dusty work but the boys had some ‘injera’ to keep them going.
Almost 12 hours after we had left our hotel in Addis Ababa, at 4.15?pm we arrived at our accommodation for this night. Located outside the town of Hawzjen, the Gheralta Lodge consists of a series of rock-walled chalets or bungalows complete with en suite facilities. Although perfectly adequate, the bedrooms had minimal facilities, so we were pleased that we had brought along our travel kettle and tea & coffee.