Addis Ababa -1

The road to Addis was excellent. We managed without major difficulty to drive into the city. Big road, very widespread, no traffic jams and everywhere the white and blue minibuses or taxi’s. We stayed at Taittu Hotel. The oldest Hotel built in 1898 by the Emperess Taittu. Very historical, rundown, but with a nice atmosphere. Big rooms and very cheap, and a safe place for the car.

Everywhere are cafe´s where you can eat and drink lovely juices. We never tasted a better and tastier cheeseburger then here. We went to the museums, well worth the visit and saw Lucy, a fossiled hominid discovered in 1974. She is the oldest hominid found who walked on two legs, some 3.2 million years ago. How small our ancient ancestors were. We visited the St. George Cathedral and Museum. We went shopping and bought some tourist things and walked and walked all the way up to the Sheraton Hotel. What a artificial place in this wonderful town. Although the Piazza area, the area where we stayed, is relatively safe, in other parts pick pocketing occurs. You have to be careful as they are clever; two boys started to fight and yes they managed to take some change from Ed’s pocket. Luckily we were prepared so they only got some 1 shilling notes but nevertheless it is not a nice experience. Ethiopian around us were genuine shocked. This behaviour gives Ethiopia a bad name for tourists. But we know it happens in all the major cities. Bart was very impressed because he saw it happen.