Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves

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We made it to Gondar – the Camelot of Ethiopia. The trip here wasn’t too bad but ended up being 4 step journey and as expected a long day as buses leave at 5am! It turned out to be a easier than I expected as we didn’t have much waiting time and once we reached Gashena about 2 hours south of Lalibela, the roads were excellent (the road is called the Chinese road – built quite recently by guess who). The only annoying part of the trip was that our bus does not take us all the way into Gondar but drops us about 10km outside meaning we need to take a local bus into the town.

The town here is something of a revelation after Lalibela. We are staying in what could loosely be described as a business hotel right in the centre of town and at a price that is staggeringly cheap. Another good thing about Gondar us that it is home to possibly the best restaurant in the country – the 4 Sisters. We eat there both nights we are here.

Gondar has some very good tourist sights. The royal compound is an area of castles that once belonged to the local rulers. There are quite a few to see as it seems each king built a new castle. Just out of the centre is possibly one of the best sights we have so far seen a church with some amazing wall and other paintings. The painting of the Virgin Mary is a masterpiece – just like the Mona Lisa her eyes seem to follow you around the room!

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