After an extremely short flight over some beautiful terrain and Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest lake, I’m now in another former capitol of Ethiopia, Gondar. The rule here started with emperor Fasilidas in the 1630’s after a couple of centuries of great instability. The empire was ruled by him, then his son followed by his grandson and remained stable until about 1730. After that every emperor that took the throne found himself murdered under suspicious circumstances and the empire slowly disintegrated. Each emperor had his own castle and five of them sit in the same beautiful complex, Fasil Ghebbi, right in the center of town.

Just up the street is Ras Mikael Sehul’s palace, which can only be seen from the outside as it’s closed to the public. At the far west end of town are two sites. First, Fasilidas Pool. It’s not really known if it was used for recreation or ceremony, but they dug out a pool and planted a two story mystery building in the middle of it, accessed by a bridge. Today you’re free to wander around at will. It must have been quite a spectacle in its day though.

Also at the far west of town high up on a mountain overlooking the city is Kusquam. It was the palace of empress Mentewab who acted as regent for Iyasu II who was still a child. Most of the palace is gone except for one tower, but a good portion of the empress’s church remains and almost the whole banquet hall with carvings of animals and the emperors face on the outside. Combined with the peaceful setting on the mountain and surrounded by the stone walls, this place is fantastic! And I had it all to myself.

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Finally, clear on the opposite end of town, a visit to the church of Debre Birhan Selassie. The church was first consecrated in 1693, though the original structure was destroyed and rebuilt a few times. The current structure was built sometime in the 18th century of stone, wood, and mud. It’s a beautiful building, but the inside, all the walls are painted with scenes from the life of Jesus, the saints and a lot of other religious imagery. Pictures don’t do it any justice at all, but it’s really spectacular!

I really had a great time here wandering around ancient castle ruins and that amazing church. Also, Gondar, even though it’s the third largest city in Ethiopia, has a much more relaxed feel to it. I’m actually able to walk around the city without being followed everywhere I go, though every kid on the street still screams, “Hello!” when I walk by, followed by, “Give me money!”

You can see all my pics from Gondar here

So, where to next? Stay tuned for my next post from a bit further north…