Greetings from the Axum airport. I’m three crosswords into a delayed departure and have opted to start my next blog entry on the back of my book of crosswords, despite the fact that a paucity of internet has precluded me from posting anything at all.
Really, this is how a lot of my blog entries start out when I’m on the road.
We’re sitting in the airport’s only boarding area and I’m pitting my iPod selection of The Hold Steady against the Amharic rap music that is blasting on the television screen. What results is a horrible combination of jarring sounds that is doing a fair job of passing the time. Our plane heading back to Addis is now an hour late and no one in the terminal seems concerned about informing or inquiring one another of its whereabouts. Looking just outside, the luggage handlers are standing next to our baggage and scanning the skies for some sign to recommence their work.
“Another frickin’ plane?!”
So, assuming that we eventually get out of Axum, I will be able to say that this was my favorite stop on our trip thus far. Sara, my similarly tall and Caucasian traveling buddy, has been identified as my sister on this trip multiple times (because all faranji look alike). But unlike me, Sara does have an education in archaeology, and as such she should really be the one walking you through this town’s ancient heritage. Unfortunately for you, you’re going to get Megan’s short-attention span run-through of what I saw, but then again you can always head for the internets for further inaccurate reporting.
Axum is a town in the far north of the country and is also a five hour walk to the Eritrean border. “Where exactly is Eritrea?” you might be asking yourself- and it’s a good thing for you that I love maps. I’m posting one of Ethiopia so you get an idea of where it is exactly in the country of Africa.
Weaving in with Ethiopia’s place as the cradle of civilization, Axum is a town that predates Jesus Christ. Its rightful historical significance is of varying truthiness, so the stories you hear from the people throughout Orthodox Ethiopia have you humming the soundtrack to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. I’ll tell you a bit about the ‘history’ that I was told, and then I’ll let you and your religious know-how decide what to believe.
The toppled stelae (means erected stone with writing on it) is from the third century and likely fell over because the foundation was too small. It weighs 500 tons and stood 33 meters high. The church of Tsion Maryam is in the background.
Beyond the fallen stelae you can see that this area is actually a graveyard- each one was believed to be a grave market. The one in the center is the second largest- and in World War II it was sliced into three by the Italians and carted off to Rome to serve as a city lawn ornament. Only back in 2005 was it returned to Ethiopia (to the tune of 7 million dollars, grazie Italian government), and they used the largest plane they could find (some Russian make) to get it back to its proper spot.
Old burial chambers. Axum, as it turns out, is a gold mine of archaeological discovery, and they have only scratched the surface on what lies beneath. Literally.
The site of Queen Sabea’s palace.
A partial view- it now looks like a maze (it has been recreated at the top, but this is the site of the excavation). More than anything I like the view beyond. Axum is a land of rocks.
Nature continues to impress us most in this country.
The view from our hotel. You can see the stelae field and the Cathedral of Tsion Maryam (St. Mary of Zion). Which brings me to the church…
This church was originally built on a pagan shrine in the 4th century. It was rebuilt by Haile Selassie in 1962 is not the prettiest building on the compound- but most of what should be viewed is only accessible to men. Right…
The interior of the 60s-fabulous church has amazing acoustics. Our guide even sang for us in Ge’ez (the ancient language used today now only by priests).
Our guide flipped open a reportedly thousand year old holy book, which is written in Ge’ez, and reads us a few lines. Only the priests in modern day Ethiopia known and speak Ge’ez. As Sara the archaeologist says “I am not taking what anyone says here seriously.”
Here be the building which is reported to house the Ark of the Covenant. No one can get in to see it, unless you’re that monk guy with probably a big key.
While we were in Gondar I was speaking to some Spanish women and they said that Axum was not a very interesting place. Thinking that I’d just be subjecting myself to a marathon visit of another dozen churches, my expectations were not that high. As it turns out, I don’t know what crack those ladies were smoking, because both Sara and I liked Axum far more than Gondar, Lalibela and Bandar Dar. There is an amazing mix of historical significance in this area.
So there you have a mercifully shorter entry than the previous one to wrap up our adventures in northern Ethiopia. I’m not trying to cheapen the merits of all the churches that we visited, but I can now understand the “castle fatigue” that my friends have experienced when touristing Ireland. Opting to sightsee the pubs of that country, I think I only went to two castles in all the time that I lived in Ireland- and not once did I experience pub fatigue.
“She has chosen….wisely.”