Today started with a return visit to Mitmita, so we could work our way through the rest of the breakfast menu. Then it was off to the airport for our flight to Lalibela.
Lalibela is about 200 miles away from Addis, tucked into the mountains in the Amhara region. Until the airport was built, getting to Lalibela was incredibly challenging – even though it’s considered one of the most amazing sites in sub-saharan Africa, it got only a handful of tourists a year up through the 90s. For us, it was a quick 30 minute flight and a mini-bus ride.
We met our guide at the airport and brought our stuff to our hotel, a gorgeous place called the Sora Lodge. Then we got in a tuktuk to head up to the site of the rock hewn churches.
It’s hard to capture in words how amazing this place is – we both thought we knew what to expect, but we were left stunned. According to the traditional story, King Lalibela had a vision to build a new Jerusalem by carving churches from the mountain. Some of the churches are fully freestanding, and others are carved into the rock face. Each is dedicated to a different saint or purpose, and they’ve been used for worship continuously for over 800 years.
Connecting the churches are tunnels and passageways. A system of channels makes sure that water gets carried away, while also filling baptismal pools.
Some churches are decorated with elaborate carvings and paintwork, others are much simpler. The largest is over 8000 square feet, and 35 feet tall, with huge columns and arches. The top layers of the rock in this region are a softer basaltic scoria, with a much harder basalt below. The builders dug down until they hit that harder layer, which set the height for each church.
Today we visited about a third of the churches at the site – tomorrow we’ll get through the rest. Remarkably, we seem to be essentially the only tourists in town.
I’ve got many more photos to share, but the internet connection isn’t on my side tonight, so those will have to wait. For now, here’s a sneak preview!
I’m so glad you got there! Will be eager to hear more. WOW!