Sightseeing in Axum Part 1

We flew into Axum and had a lovely view of the mountains. Our hotel (back to $12.50 a night!) provided transportation from the airport. We like this town a lot as it seems very low key compared to Addis, Bahir Dar and Gondar. We spent the first day and a half just walking around and soaking in the atmosphere. We whiled away the first afternoon on the terrace of a restaurant high on a hill overlooking town, reading about the history of Ethiopia.

The next day, we made arrangements for the rest of our time here and visited the two Saturday markets. One was a huge market where livestock, fruits, vegetables, grains, shoes, tools were sold. Goods were piled high on donkeys and camels. We were quite surprised to see the camels as we had not seen a single one in Kenya. The other was a basket market held under a gigantic, spreading fig tree. Dozens of white robed women were selling baskets of various shapes and sizes. The nicest were huge injera baskets colorfully woven. If there was any way I could get one of these back home, I would have bought one. Instead, I had to settle for a small plate.

The houses here are more substantially constructed of stone.

New construction however looks pretty shoddy. 

Ornate bed frames for sale on the street

Breakfast at a cute little cafe with great views of street scenes

We were very surprised to see a bike race go by and go by and go by....The pavement doesn't last for very long.

Scenes at the large Saturday market

Love these ubiquitous shoes!

The basket market was held under this huge, spreading fig tree.

The basket market

I had to settle for a small plate

Many of the men here wear these neon green plastic shoes

A view of the mountains from the plane