Ethiopia - Hip Hip Harar

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Harar Again

This morning Lishan joins us again for another walking tour of Harar. We walk around the city walls for a while and take in a traditional Harari house and the house of the famous poet, Arthur Rimbaud - OK. I actually know nothing about poetry but I've vaguely heard of Rimbaud from a reference in a Van Morrison song

Rimbaud never actually lived in Arthur Rimbaud's House! The house is built on the site of the house he used to live in. It does, however, have a good collection of old black and white photographs of Harar - I'm a big fan of old black and white photographs.

We are really taken with the Traditional Harari House, it is really cool inside and we could relax there all day. The main room of the house has different levels of platform to sit on depending on your status. Lishan tells us in some detail about the family structure and life in Harar and particularly about the fate of new brides who are brought into the house and kept locked in one room until they become pregnant.

Ooops... Where's My Camera?

Lunch is spent at the Hurat Restaurant. Again we get the feeling that not too many tourists come here because we are completely ignored. We don't mind, though, because we find somewhere to sit in the bar where the original series of Gladiators is showing on TV and we are happy to sit and marvel at the hairstyles of the contestants. Eventually somebody notices we're there and the traditional food we order is very good but we have to wait for what seems like forever for a couple of fruit juices to arrive. They are more than forgiven for this, though, because when we leave I stupidly leave my camera behind. After a panic, a phone call and a couple of tuk tuk rides they are keeping it safe for me!!! I think I was more concerned over losing all the photos I'd taken over the last couple of weeks than the camera itself.



The afternoon is spent relaxing back at the hotel. In the middle of the afternoon a rather smart wedding party emerges from some of the downstairs rooms of the hotel. They head off for the wedding in a fleet of cars {I think that tuk tuks would have been more stylish!} and the receptionist tells me that they are coming back to the hotel for a party. I'm torn between trying to gatecrash the party and getting an early night - we have another early start tomorrow as we have a long drive back to Addis Ababa and we want to spend some time in the Awash National Park.

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Photos

Arthur Rimbaud's House
.....He never actually lived there

Harar City Walls And One Of The Gates
Can't remember which one this is

Inside A Traditional Harari House
We're sitting way too high up