More Adventures in Africa: Second Day of Tigrai Churches

First stop today was Abreha We Atsbeha, regarded by many experts to be the finest rock-hewn church in Tigrai. The church may have been excavated in 335-340 AD by the twin kings for whom it is named. Others think most of it dates to the 10^th century. The kings’ remains are said to be kept in a box in the Holy of Holies and once when a priest tried to open the box, he was severely burned! Queen Yodit allegedly burned part of this church and became ill. She ran off with sacred rocks that gave off a supernatural light and was killed hours later by a heavenly gale.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned evil Queen Yodit before. She has been talked about in every church we’ve visited. She was allegedly a Jew who marched around Ethiopia sometime between the 1^th century and 10^th century destroying churches and killing everyone in her way. We’ve been told that she was the reason these rock-hewn churches were put in such inaccessible spots. For obvious reasons, the evil Yodit story seems very implausible. Her reign of terror cannot be pinpointed (9 centuries is certainly a wide expanse of time) and it is hard to believe that Jews were ever that powerful in this area.

Back to the church: It is large and cruciform in shape and has beautiful columns in the pattern of an Axumite Cross. It has three sanctuaries and a carved roof. It has well preserved murals depicting a complete history of the Ethiopian Church. We found this church to be very majestic and it was one of our favorite.

The second church of the day was Abuna Yemata Guh. When the guide met us he told us it would be a three hour hike with an ascent at the end up a sheer cliff with only small foot and hand holds. Mel started out but his toe was hurting him and he went back to the car. The rest of us walked through fields for a while, then part of the way up a fairly steep mountain until it became so steep that Stephen and I became dizzy and decided to remain on a flat ledge while Katalina (formerly a rock climber) went the rest of the way by means of a rope. She took pictures at the church which she said was small but very beautiful. It was carved into the top of one of the tall perpendicular rock pillars that dominate the scenery. Stephen and I enjoyed the view of the rock pillars and soaring eagles as well as several hyrax, small rodent-like animals related to elephants.

Mel and I had decided to “splurge” on a hotel for a night and stayed at the Gheralta Lodge. It was all of $45 a night including breakfast and was absolutely lovely. The lodge is run by an Italian couple and is situated on a hill surrounded by beautiful rock formations. The rooms are large circular stone bungalows. There is a vegetable garden and for dinner, we had a lovely salad with three different types of lettuce. These were the first uncooked greens we have had in Ethiopia and we thoroughly enjoyed them. The water is from a well and we were able to drink that as well. It was very quiet there as we were the only guests. It is the rainy season in Ethiopia and we’ve seen very few tourists.