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Today is the first full day with our tour group. It will be spent seeing some of the more important sights in Addis Ababa. Included will be visits to the Ethiopian National Museum, the Ethnological Museum and the Holy Trinity Cathedral.

We had a group meeting at 8:30AM that included the people who had arrived late last night. Everyone introduced themselves and Chris went over some of details for the upcoming trip. After we leave Addis Ababa we will be traveling in a caravan of Range Rovers; four people to a vehicle. We will be rotating vehicles and seats so everyone gets an opportunity to ride shotgun. We left the hotel at 9:30 via bus to tour the city.

Our first stop was the Holy Trinity Cathedral. The Holy Trinity Cathedral is the highest ranking Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo (it’s formal name) church in Addis Ababa and the 2nd most important church in Ethiopia. It was built in 1942  to commemorate the liberation of Ethiopia from the Italian occupation (1935-1941). Emperor Haile Selassie and his concert, Empress Menen Asfaw, are buried in the cathedral. Surprisingly the tombs were not as ornate as I had expected. From the outside the church is rather plain, but inside it has some beautiful stained glass windows. Because its shape is so different (rectangular rather than round) from other Orthodox churches in the country it is often visited by locals on pilgrimage.  As we have heard in other countries around the world younger generation do not attend church as much as their parents do/did. As is the practice in many religions we were asked to remove our shoes before entering the church. Travel tip of the day:  As part of our pre-trip instructions Chris had suggested we bring “church socks” to wear over our regular socks to both keep our regular socks clean and avoid the chill of the church floors.  That was an excellent idea and I had brought a pair of socks received as part of the amenity kit one receives when flying business class.

We learned a little about the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewaheho religion. It has  between 45-50 million followers, mostly in the country of Ethiopia. To be a priest you must be married. If not married you can only be a deacon. Followers of the religion observe fasting a mandatory 180 days and the very religious fast up to 252 days a year. This involves eating only one meal a day and no animal products (meat, eggs, dairy). No wonder I have not seen any overweight Ethiopians.

As we were preparing to leave the church we had the good fortune to encounter a wedding party approach the church.  Chris asked if we wanted to watch the entrance festivities and we agreed. There was a lot of singing, dancing and drumming from a multitude of people dressed in their finery (white being the predominant color) as the bride and groom worked their way to the church. I got some good photos and video of the event. It was fun to watch. Our local guide said this was an important wedding as the wearing of the crowns signified that both parties were still virgins. We could not stay for the formal ceremony as there were places to go. By the way, it seems that we have managed to see a wedding party on each of our trips in recent years. The string continues!

Our next stop was at the Ethnological Museum which is housed in the former palace of Emperor Haile Selassie and is part of the campus of Addis Ababa University. It is considered to be one of the best museums in Africa. The museum, although not very large, gives a great introduction about the country’s culture, nature, history, and plant resources. It is self guided but has very good descriptions of the displays in English. There are artifacts and handicrafts from all the Ethiopian peoples, as well as descriptions of their life cycle, from birth to death. I particularly enjoyed the information about the various tribes living in the south, where we will be visiting at the end of our tour. Since this was once the palace of Emperor Haïlé Selassie some of the rooms he occupied are on display. Some furniture, pictures and clothing are displayed in what was his bedroom and that of his wife.

By now it was lunch time and we adjourned to a lovely outdoor restaurant located next door to the National Museum, named “Lucy”, which seemed so appropriate given its location. We had the option of selecting from two starters and at least a half dozen main dishes. I chose the grilled tilapia for a change of pace from all the meat I have been eating lately. As my starter I selected the vegetable soup over the green salad, partly because I was afraid of eating uncooked greens, given the warnings about water purity in the country. I later learned that Chris knew the salads in this restaurant were perfectly safe to consume. Even though we were in a landlocked country my fish was fresh and tasty.

After the leisurely lunch we simply walked next door to view the National Museum exhibits. Again the museum is not very large. The most important exhibit at the National Museum is the one of “Lucy”, the early (circa 3.4 million years ago) hominid discovered in 1974 in the Afar region of NE Ethiopia, that completely changed our thinking about human evolution. The formal Latin name for Lucy is  Australopithecus afarensis. In Ethiopia Lucy is known as Dinkinesh, which means “you are marvelous”. On display is only a replica casting as the original fossil is safely stored in the museum’s archives. The bone structure of the fossil infers that “she” was able to walk upright like a human. What is somewhat surprising is how small she was, barely 3 ft 7 in tall.

Near the Lucy exhibit was another important fossil I had never heard about. she was given the name “Selam(meaning peace)” and she was discovered in the year 2000, not far from where Lucy was found. She is estimated to have been about three years old when she died. Sometimes incorrectly called “Lucy’s baby” she actually was older than Lucy, having lived 120,000 years before Lucy (circa 3.3 million years ago). Everyone seems to know about Lucy; I am totally surprised Selam does not have the same recognition. Besides the display of the bones found there is an interesting video describing her discovery and the 20 years it took to characterize and stabilize the fossil remains. It is a fascinating display. Other displays in this part of the museum included explanations and artifacts of the evolution of prehistoric stone tools, also a fascinating display. Other floors of the museum are dedicated to Ethiopian art through the ages, pottery, jewelry and weaving. Again most of the displays were accompanied by good English descriptions, making the  museum visit enjoyable.

By now it was 3:30 and people began thinking of a nap. But as we headed back to the hotel Chris instructed the driver to do a drive through of the famous Addis Mercado, a market place that some say is the largest in Africa. It cover several square miles and there is supposedly nothing you cannot find in its rambling area. Each are has its specialties, like rugs, appliances, spices, coffee, produce, clothing, etc. It is not like open air markets I have experienced in other places.  It has evolved from booths/stalls to fixed small shops over the years. There are approximately 7100 business entities, employing and estimated 13,000 people in the Mercado.  Parts of it have the appearance of a slum area unfortunately and we were told pick pockets are rampant. It was fascinating to see but it did not seem like a place where I would want to wander around in.

A one hour nap restored my energy and since we had a big lunch I simply wandered across the street from the hotel and grabbed a small pizza at the local Pizza Hut. And yes, it looked and tasted exactly like those one gets in the USA.

As I had been up since about 4 AM (jet lag still a bit in place) I managed to stay awake until 9:30 when I called it a day. We need to be up and ready to leave by 6 AM as we are flying to our next stop, Bahr Dar, in the northern part of Ethiopia.