Asmara

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I wonder if this naming-the-beer-after-the-city malarkey would catch on at home? - "I'll have three bottles of Glasgow please" - perhaps not but it certainly makes life easier for thirsty travellers like us; we've got enough to contend with, like tackling extortionate airport taxi cartels and getting our paws on dollars in a bankrupt country without a single ATM.....

Asmara, formerly known as Piccola Roma (Little Rome), is essentially a result of Mussolini's grand plan to create a second Roman Empire in Africa.....but WWII scuppered that. The city is known for its diverse architectural styles, manifested in buildings such as the Art Deco Cinema Impero, the eclectic Orthodox Cathedral, the futurist Fiat Tagliero Building and neo-Romanesque Roman Catholic Cathedral. It also has a quintessential Italian touch, not only for the architecture, but also for the wide boulevards, piazzas, spaghetti and coffee bars; you don't have too look to hard to find a donut n macchiato.....

Asmara was a smashing place to chill out - not what you'd expect from an african capital - so we spent our week doing next to nothing, just catching rays, getting stuck into the treats and taking it verry easy, somebodys gotta do it....

In northern Ethiopia at the mo, off to Bombay on Wednesday night, after 11 weeks on the road the beach is calling loud n clear.....

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