Ethiopia part 2: Lalibela

Hello!

This is the second part of my Ethiopia post which revolves around Lalibela. The city is named after an Ethiopian king who ruled in the late 12th and early 13th century. Before that, the city was called Roha. Lalibela means ‘honey eater’ which was the king’s nickname. Lalibela had a vision in his dream where he was to build ten churches on both sides of the river Jordan (symbolic). The legend says that he built these churches alone by day and the angels helped him at night and the churches were finished in 23 years.

There are four kinds of churches in and around Lalibela: 1. Monolithic which are carved straight down from the rock with all four walls unattached to the surroundings. 2. Semi-monolithic which have one to three walls attached to the surrounding walls. 3. Cave churches which are carved from the same rock as the church and 4. Build-up cave churches which are located inside caves but made from other materials.

Lalibela is a highly religious city and carries lots of religious symbolism and legends all around. Entire northern Ethiopia is a majority orthodox Christians and religion is taken very seriously. I would definitely recommend taking a guide to explore around Lalibela so that you can hear all the legends and get to explore the hidden passways of the churches that, at least us, would never be found without help. Our guide cost 800 birrs for the two half-days that it took to explore all the churches within the city. He was full of stories and well experienced. I heard that you can hire a local guide for just 200 birrs a day but take care that you hire an official guide. Also, hold onto your own entry ticket (50 USD valid for 5 days) yourself so that you can return to your favourite sights after as well if you like.

The Lalibela city churches are usually explored in two separate sets; the north of Jordan and the south. Saint George’s Church (Bete Giyorgis) stands separate from these groupings and can be explored with either group.

After we had toured all the churches in Lalibela city, we took a road trip to see one of the build-up church caves 42 km outside the city which was advertised as the most beautiful church out of all of them. The trip there cost 100 e for two people (800 birrs for the guide, 400 birrs each for entry and 1400 birrs for the car) and I must say that the trip was a waste. We found recommendations online that a guide was a must but that was definitely the biggest waste of all, there was nothing hidden or secretive about the church and no big history to explain.

The trip all together took 4 hours. The church itself was interesting but not the most fascinating and the view was hindered as there’s a support wall around the cave. The main difference to the others is the 10 000 pilgrimage corpses that lay behind the church.

There is also a monastery on the mountain right next to Lalibela city which we wanted to hike but unfortunately felt a little under the weather to conquer. We took a lovely stroll around the city instead. It’s true that with a guide the taunts leave you alone more and people follow you around less. Our walk was not exactly peaceful with dozens of children running behind us and shouting and everyone trying to get you to buy something for them or from them.

I would highly recommend two restaurants in town; Ben Abeba and the Hotel of Seven Olives. Both had excellent food, Seven Olives a nice city garden and Ben a breathtaking view over the mountains and the sunset. Funnily enough, I would actually recommend Ethiopian wine (and not only coffee)! Though the quality varies a lot: we tasted Gouder, a local cheap wine of which we read hilarious reviews about, and it was hmmm… bad. But Rift Valley wine was actually excellent!

Enjoy your week,

Mira

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