Camelot of Africa

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Before you ask I didn’t find Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Gondor but Gondar a city in Ethiopia.

Camelot of Africa is the nickname of Gondar as it has, smack bang in the middle of the city, a Castle looking like its coming out of medieval England. Strangely enough the biggest damage to the castle was done by the British during the Second World War. The Italians were at the time occupying Ethiopia and were hiding in the Castle when the British bombarded it.
Gondar was the capital of Ethiopia from 1636 and many kings and queens have held court here. Gondar court must have been a violent place as some Kings were disposed of (mostly violently) within 3 years and there was a period where they had 3 kings within 10 years! It’s not easy being a king!
The castle has a total area of 70,000 square meters and was started with one very impressive castle. Each successive king then added new castle bearing his name. Not an easy feat to oversee the building of a extension or new building when you have only 3 years as king…

Gondar is also the home of the church of Debre Berhan Selassie which was build (or rather paid for) by one of the Kings of Gondar. It was meant (historians think and argue) to house the Arc of Covenant. The Aksumites which are supposed to have it were not prepared to part with it (for obvious reasons) and so it never reached Gondar. It is still an impressive church as far as Ethiopian churches go and has some great paintings in it dating back to the founding of the church in 1600 so an so. The ceiling is covered with 104 faces and there are more strange pictures on the walls. Back in the good (bad?) old days when Muslims didn’t like Christians (and the other way around) Dervishes from Sudan were raiding Ethiopia from time to time. They burned down churches and destroyed many relicts. This church is said to have been rescued by resident bees. Luckily we didn’t encounter them (Dervish and Bees)

Gondar itself has a stronger than normal Italian influence which can be seen especially around Piazza. There you find Italian style building which were build by the Italians during their occupation of Ethiopia in the 1930. Strange to see modern art Italian buildings with a castle as backdrop but this Improves the experience when downing a macchiato or two.

We planned to stay a couple of days in Gondar to rest and relax and to work on my growing coffee addiction. As all good plans go we only stayed half a day as we got dragged into a 4 day trek in the Simian Mountains but that is another blog altogether…

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Photos

Coat hangers made out of bull horns
In the royal steam bath!

104 angels staring at you
Should be reassuring but is unsettling

fasilas bath
Surrounded by water once a year for a baptism ceremony