After breakfast, we took a taxi to St George Cathedral. Its namesake is the protector of Ethiopia, the second Christian country in the world. He slayed the dragon too. Admission was by ticket which included admission to the adjacent Cathedral museum (guide inclusive and compulsory).
After a mildly informative but rushed tour of both places, the guide offered some postcards for sale at an exorbitant price. We declined … then he requested “something” for himself. Being new in town, we didn’t know what quantum was appropriate (especially when we had paid for the ticket with compulsory guide) … Marie offered him a small amount which he referred to as garbage.
In all of my years of travel, even in tourism-spoilt India or Egypt … I’ve never encountered such cheek! In our disgust, we left hurriedly and took in a monument before returning to the hotel for lunch.
In the afternoon we walked to the Holy Trinity Cathedral. It required a payment and after this morning’s episode, we decided to give it a miss.
Back at the hotel, we met someone who would be our friend for the rest of our stay … the St George in a bottle.
Today was Christmas again, but according to the Coptic calendar. Leddet, as it is called. But it just slipped past … we couldn’t find any information on how or where it would be celebrated. Inshaallah, Epiphany (Timkat) will be more colourful as it is more important in Ethiopia.
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- St George’s Cathedral.
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- Addis street scene.
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- It is common to see grass strewn indoors eg. in this bar. Not sure why.
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- St George Beer.
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- Injera bread.
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- Injera bread.
