Monuments to visit North

The massive edifice designed by the founder of the Gondar dynasty dominates all other buildings. It was the first castle built in 1630, and the centerpiece of the fortified city. Fasiladas was a master builder. In addition to this palace, he built various residential complexes in the region. He also rebuilt and richly endowed the church of Daga Estifanos on Lake Tana, and that of Sainte-Marie-de-Sion, in Aksum.

This square-shaped castle, flanked by four rounded corner towers and an imposing watchtower, is protected by crenellated walls that give it a fortress-like appearance. Built of irregular rubble, the palace displays a combination of Axumite, Portuguese and Indian architectural and decorative influences. The raised first floor, to which a monumental staircase leads, houses a vast reception hall. This is divided by a partition with a fireplace, delimiting the space for men and women. On the wall, a Cross of David reminds us that the emblem was adopted by the Ethiopian imperial dynasty. The first floor opens onto a vast terrace where religious ceremonies were held; the small adjoining room would have been the sovereign's prayer chamber. It was from the small balcony that Emperor Fasiladas addressed his subjects. Higher up, a staircase leads to the royal chamber and a second terrace - which, 32 m above ground, offers a panoramic view of the city - and, further on, to the shores of Lake Tana.

Located in the heart of the city, the 7-hectare fortified royal city has been a Unesco World Heritage site since 1979, and is logically surrounded by ramparts. It includes several castles corresponding to the reigns of different emperors (the palaces of Iyassou ^I, Fasiladas, Bakaffa and Mentewab, as well as the buildings of Yohannes ^I and Dawit). There are few explanations on site; take an accredited guide for this hour-long tour, who will also accompany you to the surrounding sites. In Africa, this is a unique ensemble.

Mékélé is a hub for salt from Danakil. If you're hoping to come across a caravan delivering salt, you have to travel to the Danakil desert on Lake Assalé, or get to the salt market in Agulae, 35 km from Mékélé, early in the morning. A 4/5 kg block of salt sells for between 20 and 25 birr. Once free, the market is now organized into small corrugated iron stalls, which have lost some of their charm. The permanent spice market is well worth a visit.

Bacaffa the Merciless was a dark negus of Ethiopia. He built the last palaces in Gondar, including a vast banqueting hall, partly restored after the British bombardment in 1941, and stables. When he fell ill at Lake Tana, he was cared for by Berhan-Mogasa, whom he married and who, once empress, took the name of Mentewab. The future Iyasou II was born of their union. Mentewab's castle, decorated with religious motifs, now serves as a library.

Iyassou the Great is considered the most important ruler of the Gondaran period. Louis XIV's envoy, the physician Charles Poncet, who visited the sovereign, described the splendor of his court. His palace, decorated with ivory, precious stones and rich furnishings, was considered the most sumptuous of all. The building's originality lay in its vaulted ceiling, the arches of which can still be seen. Among the ruins, the domed steam baths have survived.

Monday is the day of one of Ethiopia's best-known markets, which has given its name to a pentatonic scale and numerous songs. Bati is a magical name, evocative of a thousand scents, an immemorial meeting of very different peoples - Afar, Oromo or Amhara - from the lowlands where the Awash River meanders or from the high plateaus of Wollo and Choa. Bati is a Wenna Dega, i.e. a medium altitude, and the temperature is very mild. The market is actually made up of three very different markets: the cereal market (tef, barley, wheat, oats and others), the livestock market (sheep, goats, zebus as well as camels and donkeys) and the all-public market where you'll find extraordinary varieties of honey, very good butter, very cheap and natural incense, woven and embroidered cotton clothes, very beautiful colored loincloths, very beautiful handmade jewelry, knives chiselled on makeshift forges of very good quality with goatskin sheaths sometimes reaching impressive sizes, medicinal clays reserved for women, green tomatoes, red onions, wickerwork mesob with lids used to present dishes, baskets and different kinds of honey alcohol or kosso as well as all sorts of things and of course a heap of colorful chinoiseries piled up under canvas to protect from the sun.

Before 10 a.m., it's cooler and less crowded, as people sometimes walk more than 5 hours from their homes to reach the market. Nomads are asked to leave their Kalashnikovs at home - which they do. There's no security problem, but it's good to be accompanied by a local or a friendly translator, who can help you take photos, for example, or negotiate decent prices, even if it means buying more for less. When you've made a deal, shake hands with the merchant and say "Gezo". You'll find nickel jewelry, but also silver, such as the beautiful ^18th-century coins bearing the effigy of Maria Theresa of Austria, which served as the local currency and were often worn as pendants around the necks of Oromo women.

At the end of the market, when the heat is overwhelming, you can see the men quenching their thirst with tella (traditional light beer)... and with a bit of luck, an azmari will come along accompanied by his wife and her instrument. It's also possible to buy a bundle of khat and offer it to Ethiopian friends.

About 10 km before the town, a track leads off to the right at Tchekorti. After 4 km, a small path (local children will be able to show you the way) leads, in just half an hour's walk, to this lion carved into a rock. A monumental and very impressive sculpture, also known as the Tchika Beret lion. Letters engraved in the Sabaean language date it to the Axumite era (that of the Queen of Sheba). But, as with the Gobedra lioness near Aksum, the significance of such a sculpture is not known.

Only a few ruins remain of what was the king's palace during his short reign from 1607 to 1632. It was built by Pedro Páez, the Spanish Jesuit sent from Goa as a missionary to Abyssinia. Páez befriended Emperor Susenyos, who invited him to his coronation in Aksum in 1609. It was with his help that he later converted to Catholicism. In gratitude, the emperor offered him a piece of land in Gorgora. Pedro Páez's architectural skills enabled him to build the Jesuit church of Debre Sina and the Susenyos palace.

Located on the heights of Mekélé, this monument dedicated to the martyrs of the war in Tigray used to be accompanied by an interesting museum on the recent war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Interesting photos and weapons were on display, some of which are still frequently found in the countryside. Unfortunately, with the terrible new war in Tigray taking place in 2020-2021, these painful memories have been reawakened, and it is likely that a new memorial will one day be erected in memory of the 600,000 who died in this conflict.

An astonishing 2.5 m high stone milestone, the "Ezana Stone", is engraved with text in Geze, Sabean and Greek. It was found there in 1981 by a farmer ploughing his field. The inscription on the stele relates the episode of the battle against the Beja and other enemies of the kingdom, as well as the spread of Christianity under the sovereign's reign. Another passage warns that anyone wishing to destroy the edifice is doomed to a curse... A similar engraved stele is on display in the small Ezana garden in the town center.

Known as the "Pool of the Queen of Sheba", this cistern, whose name Mai Shum means "water of the chief", is said to have been the baths of the Queen of Sheba three thousand years ago. The other version is that it was dug in the early ^15th century as a water reservoir by the priest Abuna Samuel. Cut into the rock on one side and built on the other, this reservoir, which has been remodeled many times, is the rallying point for the great Timkat festival. The visit is not very interesting, but is included in the overall pass.

Located on the outskirts of the walled city, this well-preserved fortified castle features rounded turrets and high crenellated walls. It has been open to the public and converted into a museum since 2017. It is said to have been built in 1650 by a military officer of Emperor Fasilidas, Ras Walda Giyorgis, who made it his home and married the emperor's daughter, Eskenderawit. But the castle is best known for having been the imperial residence of Haile Selassie, who stayed here only five times in twenty-five years, but invited Queen Elizabeth II to visit in 1965. Sadly, the castle met with an unfortunate fate, as it was used as a torture chamber by the "Butcher of Gondar", military officer Melaku Tefera, during the Derg's red terror campaign between 1977 and 1979. Convicted of 971 murders and sentenced to death in 2005, his sentence was converted to life imprisonment in 2011. The castle remained closed until 2017, when it was reopened as a museum with the cooperation of the French Center for Ethiopian Studies.

The museum. The collection on the first floor includes the torture room under the Derg, preserved as a memorial to the many people who died or suffered severe abuse there. The general history of Gondar is also on display. On the second floor: in impeccable period style, the rooms of Emperor Haile Selassie and his wife Menen, with period furniture and objects. Finally, a staircase leads up to the emperor's study, with a single view of the city and the fields. We advise you to take a guide.

This little-known Unesco-listed castle, 65 km from Gondar, bears a striking resemblance to its cousins in the walled city, with its crenellated walls and cylindrical turrets - or rather, what's left of them. Located next to Emfraz, you have to take a 1 km chaotic track to get there. Probably built by Emperor Sarsa Dengal in the 1570s, whose architecture was inspired by the Ottoman model of Fort Debarwa, it offered a magnificent view of Lake Tana. It was probably remodeled by Fasilidas fifty years later.