Our last and favorite stop on the northern Ethiopian historic circuit was Lalibela, Ethiopia's most famous site, should it have one. One historian notes that the rock-hewn churches in Lalibela, dating back to the 12th century, would be the 8th wonder of the world if they were better known. The village has been made accessible in the last 30 years. The churches were indeed awesome! We toured the 11 main ones, all built by King (now Saint) Lalibela in, supposedly, 23 years. I don't quite believe that time-frame as they are truly incredible feats. King Lalibela identified a solid mass of rock (a section of mountain to be more accurate) and carved down into it to extract a beautiful church. This was all done by hand, with the help of the townspeople, angels (according to the Ethiopian Orthodox church), and possibly the Knights Templar (according to some historians). The churches are full of religious symbolism and range in shape, size and design. Two of the churches are monolithic - made out of just one ginormous slab of rock. The coolest part is they're still functional today, and we lucked out in stumbling upon a group of monks praying and chanting at one of the churches.
We also loved a new restaurant in Lalibela - Ben Abeba. It's run by an inspirational Scottish woman, Susan, and tireless Ethiopian man, Habtamu. Susan built a school in Ethiopia which now has over 400 students enrolled AND has a scholarship fund that puts over a dozen children through school each year. I guess that didn't keep her busy enough so she started a restaurant :) Habtamu also manages a travel company and was Bill Clinton's driver when he visited Ethiopia last year! Needless to say, they were both pretty inspiring and we felt lucky to have lots of time to chat with them both nights we ate at Ben Abeba.
Words can't describe how funky this restaurant is - hopefully the pictures suffice. The food was great (first place we've been to in Ethiopia where the fruits and veggies are washed in boiled water so we can eat them raw!), the 360 degree views were particularly beautiful at sunset, and gin and tonics came with a heavy-handed pour (tonic more expensive than the gin) - Susan would say "one shot" as she proceeded to pour no less than 3 into our glasses! They also had South African wine by the glass - truly a rarity in Ethiopia and this alone made my day! We reunited with our travelling buddies (we'd gone separate ways the past few days) and spent our last night in Lalibela catching up around a fire pit at Ben Abeba. It's funny how quickly these people, strangers just 10 days ago, now feel like good friends ... another cool aspect of travel, we suppose.
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