Bahar Dar
Bahar Dar, the next stop, is 578 kilometres from Addis Ababa, has two daily Ethiopian Airlines flights and a number of good hotels, and it located on the southern shores of Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile, with its ancient island nonasteries and both the Blue and the white Nile’s most spectacular feature, the Tis Isat falls.On the island of Dega Estefanos you will find the church of saint Stefanos, which has a priceless collection of icons and manuscripts and houses the mummified remains of a number of Ethiopian emperors. For the modern traveler, the starting point of any visit to the Blue Nile Falls, or to the islands of Lake Tana, is the busting market town of Bahar Dar on the lake’s south-eastern shore. The colourful markets and a variety of handicrafts and weaving centres also make it a comfortable has for excursion by land or water. Bahar Dar port provides access by boat to a number of historic lakeside churches or monasteries near and far. Most date from the 17th-century and have beautifully painted walls. Many such places of worship now have fascinating museums, at which the visitor can see priceless. Illustrated manuscripts, historic crowns and fine royal. And ecclesiastical robes. Some monastic islands are forbidden to women, but others can be visited by all.Visitors to Bahar Dar can also see tankwas, locally made out of the papyrus reeds growing by the lake shore, as well as an historic old building erected, in St. Georges church compound, by the 17th-century Spanish Jesuit, pero paes.

Gondar
The next stop on the historic route is the graceful city of Gondar. Founded by Emperor Fasilidas in 1603. The city was Ethiopia’s capital until the reign of the would-be reforming Emperor Tewodros II, also known as Theodore. During its long years as a capital, the settlement emerged as one of the largest and most populous cities in the realm. It was a great commercial centre, trading with the rich lands south of the Blue Nile, as well as with sudan to the west and the Red Sea port of Massawa to the north-east. Gondar is famous for its many medieval castles and the design and decoration of its churches. The earliest of the castles was created by Fasilidas himself and is Still in such an excellent state of repair that it is possible to climb its stairs all the way of the roof, which commands a breathtaking view over much of the city. Besides the famous palaces, visitors should inspect the Bathing place of Emperor Fasilidas, which is used for the annual Timker or Epiphany celebration, and the abbey of the redoubtable 18th-century Empress Mentewab as Qwesquam, in the mountains just outside Gondar.

Axum
Much more is know about the historic highland city of Axum, once a great commercial centre, trading via the Red Sea port of Adulis and founded perhaps 500 years after the decline of Yeha. With daily Ethiopian Airlines flights from Addis Ababa, Axum stands in the highlands northwestern Tigray, commanding spectacular views over the nearby Adawa hills. This ancient settlement is frequently referred to as “the sacred city of the Ethiopian”-a description that adequately sums up its significance in national culture as a centre of Orthodox Christianity. Many remarkable monuments here attest to the great antiquity of religious expression in this country, and as a former capital that has never lost its special appeal to the hearts and minds of all Ethiopians.
Axum is renowned for its cathedral of St. Mary of Zion where, legend has it the original Ark of the covenant is housed. Axum is also famous for its seven mysterious monolithic stelae, hewn from single pieces of solid granite. The most notable are carved to resemble multi-storey houses; several weigh more than 500 tonnes and stand 20 metres high. They seem less like prayers of stone and more like lightning-rods to heaven. Axum’s greatest significance, however, is as the epicenter of the queen of Sheba’s dynasty, upon which rests the notion of the sacred kinship of the semitic peoples of Ethiopian – a notion that links the recent past to ancient times. The former Emperor Haile Selassie claimed to the 225th monarch of the solomonic line. His death in 1975 marked the end of an era – and the beginning of the end of an entire way of life.

Yeha
The journey through Ethiopia’s historic route takes you on rough tracks, through dramatic highland scenery and eventually ends in a beautiful and serene agricultural hamlet. It is here that you may see the towering ruins of Yeha’s Temple of the Moon, an imposing rectangular edifice bult more than 2,500 years ago. The temple speaks eloquently of the works of an early high civilization although little is actually known about the people who built this great edifice.

Debre Damo
Some two hours drive from Axum – plus a further one hours, stiff uphill walk from the point where the road ends – lies the monastery of Debre Damo, situated on a clifftop in one of the wildest parts of Tigray. Debere Damo is unique and unforgettable. The bluff on which Damo stands is a real – life Shangri-La. Remote and beautiful, far from the hustle and bustle of the 21st century, the cool celestial island of rock offers panoramic views over the surrounding countryside and complete seclusion and peace for the hundred or so monks and deacons who live there. The monastery’s treasures include an extensive collection of illuminated manuscripts and the intricate carving on the beams and ceiling of the ancient around which the monastery is built.

Lalibela
Hundreds of miles to the south and east of Axum with daily Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, is another ancient settlement, Lalibela, which is also famous for its architecture. Lalibela is a city caved from legend – a medieval settlement in the Lasta area of wollo that is the site of king Lalibela in the late 12th or early 13th century. These notable structures are carved inside and outside the solid rock, and are considered among the wonders of the world. Each building is architecturally unique, and several of them are decorated with fascinating rock paintings. The unadulterated biblical atmosphere and vivid local colore of the Timket celebrations provided an ideal opportunity to see lalibela as a sacred centre whose roots go back to man’s very early years.

Harar
No journey along Ethiopia’s fabled historic route would be complete without a visit to the medieval walled city of Harar, which stands amid green mountains on the east wall of the Great Rift Valley. Harar’s heritage is almost entirely Muslim and Oriental.Harar has probably always had a great deal more in common with the Horn’s coastal culture than with the life of the highland – and it retains to this day a certain redolence of the Orient. The most dominant features, apart from its strong encircling wall, is its rich and exciting market place – probably the most colorful in Ethiopia. With its 90 mosques and shrines, harar is considered to be the fourth-most sacred centre of the Islamic word. Its Islamic character is best expressed in the Grand Mosquee (AL Jami), which dominates the town.Rightly renowned for its intricately worked filigree jewellary of silver, gold and amber, Harar’s Megalo Gudo market is also a centre for beautiful baskets of woven grass, decorative wall-mats and bright shawls, as well as all the fruits, vegetables, spices and granins of the province. Harar’s five gates – the only means to enter or leave the city center – have been strongly guarded over the years. The fully restored Rimbaud house is well worth a visit.

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