19/02/15, 2nd restday in Gondar

Today we had a 2nd restday in Gondar. Where yesterday was all about lazing around, cleaning my bike and fixing my punctured thermarest, I used today to soak up some Ethiopian history.

Gondar used to be the residence of the old Ethiopian kings and today still holds the ruins of the formal royal enclosure. It’s a Unesco world heritage site and is also known as the Camelot of Africa. Construction started at the beginning the 17th century and was continued by 6 different kings, untill the end of the dynasty in the mid of the 18th century.

I hired a guide to show me around. The guy was pretty well informed and was able to answer all questions I had, making it a very nice experience. It’s nice to visit a place and learn about its history! After the visit to the royal compound the guide took me to the church of trinity and the royal baptisterium, which are both wonderfull places as well.

Gondar is a nice place. It is located in the Ethiopian Highlands at an altitude of about 2200 meters, making it way less hot than Sudan. Temperatures were a comfortable 25 degrees during the last few days, and it will be nice to cycle in such temperatures again. However from now on we will start hitting the hills. And next to this we are going to feel that we are at an altitude. I’m looking forward to get back on the bike! Let’s see what the next few days will bring!