Camlot of Africa - Gondar, Ethiopia

We had booked a 2.5 hour mini bus ride through our hotel to take us north to Gondar from Bahir Dar in the morning. Gondar earns the title of Africa's Camlot for its series of centuries old stone castles. As we drove into the city and saw the castle walls, I couldn't wait to see what laid behind these walls. But first we stopped for some lunch at the Quara Hotel terrace restaurant. It offered a great view of the city (right) and their pizzas were not bad too. All went really well with a cold Fanta.

After lunch, we headed over to the castles and to walk off the pizza we just ate. When we entered the grounds, I felt like I had left Africa and woke up somewhere in southern Europe. The 350 year old main castle and most well preserved was built by Emperor Fasilides who was one of the most famous rulers in ancient Ethiopia. The royal grounds also included elaborate banquet hall complete with impressive stables, steam bath house with wooden wall cloth hooks still intact, lion's den, distillery and library built by Fasilides' successors.

Separate from the castle grounds, we took a short tuk tuk ride to Emperor Fasilides' Bath. This large rectangular shaped pool with a bath house in the centre was still used today during religious holidays. The most interesting thing about this place was the walls that surrounded the pool. They were crawled with tree roots (left) very much like Angkor Thom in Cambodia. Once our way out, we were stopped to take a survey on our tour experience. I requested toilet facilities.

The last leg of the tour was the Debre Birhan Selassie Church. After Bahir Dar, I was indifferent about seeing another church until I stepped inside of this one. The ceiling were covered with angels watching over and protecting the church. Local legend said all other Churches were burnt down by invaders in late 1800, expect for this one.

(photo by Franck Zecchin)

Seeing Gondar was a bit of a surreal experience for me. I thought it was what intrigued me about Ethiopia in the first place. It was hard to believe Gondar was part of Africa.