Just before the flight to Lalibela took off I started chatting with a nice couple from England that was coincidentally staying in the same guest house in Lalibela. When we arrived, since the entire day was gone, we sat down for dinner and swapped travel stories. They told me that Butan was a favorite destination but warned me that Easter Island was a disappointment. Needless to say they helped me add to my ever growing travel list.
Lalibela's claim to fame is a series of eleven rock-hewn (that's cut straight out fo the rock) churches. The quick story is that the Priest King Lalibela traveled to Jerusalem where he received a vision from God to go back and build these churches and in doing so create a second Jerusalem. Originally the town was called Roha, but was renamed after the King when the churches were constructed.
The next morning the three of us were guided through the first six of the churches. These churches are fascinating, which made me even more disappointed that my planned two days was cut short by one. The churches are connected by tunnels through the rock, some more complex than others. And in each church you are required to take your shoes off, so you hire a shoe person to look after your shoes and carry them from entrance to exit. The most well known of the churches is the Church of Saint George which when viewed from above looks like a cross. Each church also has its own head priest who is responsible for upkeep of the church as well as looking after the ceremonial cross and sacred books for that church.
After the morning round of churches we headed into the local market which was a fun experience. The area of Lalibela, and in fact most of Ethiopia, is farm land, and every Saturday people come in from the country side to sell their crops and whatever else, from coffee, to tef (the type of wheat used to make injera), to plastic shoes, pens, books, and donkeys. We broke for lunch in the heat of the day and regrouped a little after 2pm to tackle the remaining five churches.
Our guide had said that all eleven churches were constructed at the same time and only took twenty-four years to complete, however a guide book I managed to glance at said that the five from the afternoon were built first and appear to have not been churches originally with the six from the morning built upto a couple of hundred years later. This theory seemed to be supported by the look and feel of the churches themselves...the group we visited in the afternoon didn't feel nearly as intentional in their design as the group from the morning.
One of the things we observed while walking from church to church was that they were all surrounded by small caves, which we were told become occupied by hermits and pilgrims during certain parts of the year for religious festivals.
On the way to the airport the next morning we found out that the flight was (surprise!) delayed, so we had a chance to swing by another church on the way to the airport. Being that it was Sunday morning there was a service going on, though this seemed to be of little consequence to our guide who just pushed us through the congregation. I have to admit it was a bit awkward, walking through and being gawked at (and rightly so) by the congregation, but it was very interesting to witness a service: the challenge and responses, the passing of holy water, the kissing of the cross, the intent listening.
Even with the stop at the church we ended up waiting at the airport about three more hours for our flight to Axum and again lost half a day.
Photos: Lalibela
Lalibela's claim to fame is a series of eleven rock-hewn (that's cut straight out fo the rock) churches. The quick story is that the Priest King Lalibela traveled to Jerusalem where he received a vision from God to go back and build these churches and in doing so create a second Jerusalem. Originally the town was called Roha, but was renamed after the King when the churches were constructed.The next morning the three of us were guided through the first six of the churches. These churches are fascinating, which made me even more disappointed that my planned two days was cut short by one. The churches are connected by tunnels through the rock, some more complex than others. And in each church you are required to take your shoes off, so you hire a shoe person to look after your shoes and carry them from entrance to exit. The most well known of the churches is the Church of Saint George which when viewed from above looks like a cross. Each church also has its own head priest who is responsible for upkeep of the church as well as looking after the ceremonial cross and sacred books for that church.After the morning round of churches we headed into the local market which was a fun experience. The area of Lalibela, and in fact most of Ethiopia, is farm land, and every Saturday people come in from the country side to sell their crops and whatever else, from coffee, to tef (the type of wheat used to make injera), to plastic shoes, pens, books, and donkeys. We broke for lunch in the heat of the day and regrouped a little after 2pm to tackle the remaining five churches. Our guide had said that all eleven churches were constructed at the same time and only took twenty-four years to complete, however a guide book I managed to glance at said that the five from the afternoon were built first and appear to have not been churches originally with the six from the morning built upto a couple of hundred years later. This theory seemed to be supported by the look and feel of the churches themselves...the group we visited in the afternoon didn't feel nearly as intentional in their design as the group from the morning.One of the things we observed while walking from church to church was that they were all surrounded by small caves, which we were told become occupied by hermits and pilgrims during certain parts of the year for religious festivals.On the way to the airport the next morning we found out that the flight was (surprise!) delayed, so we had a chance to swing by another church on the way to the airport. Being that it was Sunday morning there was a service going on, though this seemed to be of little consequence to our guide who just pushed us through the congregation. I have to admit it was a bit awkward, walking through and being gawked at (and rightly so) by the congregation, but it was very interesting to witness a service: the challenge and responses, the passing of holy water, the kissing of the cross, the intent listening.Even with the stop at the church we ended up waiting at the airport about three more hours for our flight to Axum and again lost half a day.
Photos: Lalibela
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