Monuments to visit Asmara

It lies behind the Great Mosque and consists of a variety of small markets, all located at a few streets. On Saturday morning, the animation is at its height, as it is the day that Thousands les Myanmarese will come to do their shopping in the capital. The most interesting (and photogenic) markets are: the spice market, the market for bric and the market for vegetables. A little further, the handicraft market is also interesting if you want to report some souvenirs.

Built in 1920 and then transformed into a cinema in the 1930 s, before being sold in 1957 to a family member of Haïlié Selassie, this is still a theatre. There are few performances and the building would need a renovation. Nevertheless, Roman architecture keeps all its stamp with its arcade gallery, which is accessed by a stone staircase in the form of a horseshoe, in a green setting reminiscent of Mediterranean gardens. If you have the opportunity to enter, you will see the ceiling of the show room a beautiful fresco of eight women making the round, surrounded by a decorative frise with eight peacocks.

This former service station is certainly the most emblematic building in Asmara. When we look at it, it is hard to believe that we are in Africa, and that is undoubtedly the most incredible example of futuristic architecture across the continent. It is part of these modernist industrial buildings dating from Italian colonization. The Fiat teaches itself in large letters on the central part, translated into tigrinya at the top of the building. Designed to look like an airplane, it has a central tower and two wavy side wings, as well as a rounded glass bay reminiscent of a cockpit. It is very convincing when you see it in front of us!