This summer Lily has been on an educational tour of Ethiopia, visiting many of the sights and attractions of its Northern areas and inspecting a lot of hotels along the way. In the first installment of her report, she tours the capital Addis Ababa, reviewing its main hotels and giving us an insight into the extraordinary figure of Emperor Haile Selaisse. She also got to see a very colourful wedding!
Tuesday, 23rd July.
Departed Manchester on KQ1088 (KLM codeshare) 15h25, arriving Amsterdam 18h40, connected with KQ117 departing 21h00 arriving Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International Airport 06h25 on Wednesday 24th July. Spent time in the Departures Lounge before boarding KQ402 flying north to Ethiopia at 09h50.
Wednesday, 24th July.
Arrived Bole Airport, Addis Ababa from Kenya Airways flight KQ402 at 12noon. After completing immigration and visa process without the need for form filling, simply payment of USD$20, I collected my luggage, X rayed through Customs and exited into the Arrivals Hall (no problem with my HD digital footage camera, phew!).
There awaiting me was the smiling face of Yussain who gave me a very warm and professional welcome to Ethiopia. He wheeled the luggage out to the car park and the minibus vehicle and we were driven into the city and the Panorama Hotel which took about 20 minutes. Yussain chatted to me about my journey from UK and also about the impending tour to the Northern Historic Route starting in Addis Ababa.
Arrived 1300 Panorama Hotel- small hotel with 65 rooms in convenient downtown position- attractive lobby, pleasant staff and comfortable room with flat screen TV… 3* grade, priced at around $100 for room inc breakfast. Internet connection all over hotel. Met in lobby at 1400 by Yussain for hotel inspections.
We visited the five star Intercontinental Hotel with 152 rooms, in typical Intercontinental style all as expected. Gorgeous flower displays in lobby, mainly roses/lavender which are all grown mainly in south west of Ethiopia. Flower industry is very prosperous with airplanes flying in almost daily to/from various parts of the world for consignments of flowers. After the inspection we were invited to the corner of the lounge to enjoy a cup of Ethiopian ground ‘green’ coffee in special area with low stools, frankincense burning over hot coals, tiny coffee cups laid out and prepared by a very pretty girl in traditional dress. We were to see the same layout in many hotels as we travelled in Ethiopia.
Next stop was the Jupiter Hotel, classed as a four star local international hotel which was attractive but not in same category as the Intercontinental. Comfortable and price reflects the difference in standard. On to the Capital Hotel, five star local international hotel, opened only four months ago, and in a more attractive area of the city looking out onto a wide main road. We really liked the feel of this place with its lovely rooms and public areas. More minimalist and modern than the Intercontinental and not looking out onto a building site which we had found with both previous hotels.
Back to Panorama by 1700, tasty supper with John and Hilda in the hotel restaurant
Thursday, 25th July.
Ample breakfast of fruit, eggs, pancake. In Melkom for more hotel inspections. First of all, to the Hilton Hotel (392 rooms), built 44 years ago thus with an excellent position overlooking the city set in beautiful gardens/trees and grounds with spring fed swimming pool. Very attractive hotel all round with a real sense of permanence and solid wooden doors reflecting the style of the time. Rooms very comfortable with all facilities. Extremely spacious public areas.
Next stop, the Sheraton Hotel (294 rooms) generally considered to be the best hotel in Addis. Built 16 years ago it has a stunning approach and entrance and really hard to fault. Beautiful grounds at the Hilton but three times the price. An idea for clients depending on budget, would be to stay at the Hilton for two nights on arrival and at the Sheraton for final night(s) as a grand finale OR Panorama on arrival and Capital pre departure – there are so many combinations and important to suit the expectations (and budgets) of the individual clients. Addis does not have a myriad of hotel choices so easy enough to make a plan to suit.
Off to the Mercato area, the largest shopping area in Addis and possibly the whole of Africa. It was truly amazing and is the real commercial hub of Addis, a vast grid of roads lined with stalls, kiosks and small shops where just about everything was on offer…. from cassettes, local traditional crosses, clothes, vegetables, spices, pulses, custom made silver/gold jewellery, streets devoted to car parts, tools, spare parts, even chat! Not forgetting stall after stall selling plastic- yellow and blue mainly etc. etc. etc. I have never seen such an intense area… like so many markets seen in so many parts of the world, all rolled into one.
Driving away we saw a wedding procession, the bride and groom on an open carriage with revolving seat, and flanked by men dressed in pink uniforms on donkeys! You don’t see that very often in the UK!
Our driver ambidextrously managed to squeeze the 20 seater bus through the narrow gaps both on and off the road navigating other vehicles, donkeys and goats, and the two legged human variety with less than inches to spare! Much better to see the Mercato from the vehicle… if we’d been on foot, heaven knows the problems we’d have encountered!
Drove out of the Mercato area to the Holy Trinity Cathedral (Kiddist Selassie) which is a beautiful church with baroque style of architecture which is unique to both Ethiopia and Africa. The cornerstone of the church was laid by Emperor Haile Selassie in 1933. This very large church and the interior is decorated with wonderful stained glass window and paintings and is the final resting place for the remains of the Emperor and his wife and adjacent granite tombs.
In the grounds lie stone monuments dedicated to the first victims of the Derg regime as well as British soldiers who died during the Allied campaign that ended the Italian occupation of Ethiopia from 1936-1941. And the famous suffragette and Ethiopian sympathiser, Sylvia Pankhurst.
From here we drove to Arat Kilo, very chaotic roundabout (of which there are several in Addis!) where we parked near the entrance to the National Museum of Ethiopia. Had lunch in an excellent restaurant (Blue Tops?). Very clean with good menu choice – I had delicious soup followed by Nile perch and a pudding of pancake/jam. Walked up to the National Museum set in attractive grounds with shady trees. Fascinating museum where we saw a realistic replica of the 3.5 million year old skull of Lucy (or Dinquinesh meaning ‘thou are wonderful’).
Lucy was a hominid woman of the species Australopithecus afarensis and the discovery of her skull in 1974 forced a complete rethink of human genealogy proving that our ancestors were walking 2.5 million years earlier than had previously been supposed. The National Museum also contains some wonderful artefacts relating to different periods in Ethiopia’s history. We had to be virtually dragged away from the museum and could have spent several hours there as it is such an important place to understand Ethiopia/Abyssinia and its past.
Next stop was the Museum and Library of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies located in the main campus of the University of Addis Ababa. Housed on the upper floors of a former palace of Emperor Haile Selassie, the first floor is dedicated to a varied array of artefacts and daily objects relating to most ethnic groups in Ethiopia, not only the monotheistic highlands but also the fascinating animist groups of South Omo and the Afar people of the Eastern Deserts.
The second floor showcases a recent exhibition of Ethiopian musical instruments and visual arts through the ages, and an impressive selection of Ethiopian crosses and unique icons dating back to the Middle Ages. At the time, I didn’t realise how many crosses we would see as we moved around the northern part of the country so the museums in Addis were an important base for understanding what was to come over the following days in terms of history and culture of the country.
The bedroom of the Empress Menen, wife of Emperor, Haile Selassie, although little furniture on display apart from some grand paintings on the walls, it is more poignant because of this. The bedroom of the Emperor is very interesting with his bed decorated with golden crest and inlaid wood on headboard and base, blue silk cover, gilt mirror, tables, desk, high backed chair, large portrait of the Emperor in state uniform. From the bedroom, one walks into a small library where various gifts as well as books are shown in their natural setting… then through to the Emperor’s very stylish bathroom with blue double sink, suite, white mottled marble wall and floor tiles, chrome framed mirrors, blue bath with overhead shower.
As Ras Tefari Mekonnen he wielded much of the power behind the throne between 1916 and 1930 and as the Emperor Haile Selaise (meaning Power of the Trinity) he ruled virtually unchallenged from 1930 to 1974 except for the period of Italian occupation from 1936 to 1941 when he lived in exile. Few modern leaders have become so deeply associated with a country’s image for so long a time as did Haile Selaisse, although despite the mystique that surrounded him, he did very little to develop the country.
The Rastafarian cult which started in Jamaica when Marcus Garvey, a political leader, said ‘Look to Africa where a black king shall be crowned, he shall be your Redeemer” This single statement made in the 1920s was attributed to becoming the foundation of the Rastafari movement. The prophecy was thought to come to fruition with the crowning of Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia in 1930. Rastafarians see this as the fulfilment of the prophecy and take the name from Haile Selassie’s original name (Ras Tafari Makonnen ).
Rastafarians believe he is the Black Messiah figure of salvation who will redeem blacks from their white suppressors and reunite them with their native homeland.
As I was growing up, I remember Emperor Haile Selaissie (the Lion of Judah as he was often ‘romantically’ called) was a figure of immense interest (and mystery) and I used to wonder how a rather small man with a big beard could exert such an aura quite unlike any other world figure. I felt drawn particularly drawn to all the Haile Selaissie associations in Addis Ababa as my interest had spanned many years.
We drove back to the Panorama Hotel then had a tasty evening meal in the restaurant.
