TRAVEL
which is ‘lucy,’ the partial skeleton of a specimen considered to be the earliest child. Why Lucy? Interestingly, while the fossils were dug up, the popular Beatles song entitled lucy in the sky With Diamonds was being played repeatedly. LALIBELA (The eighth Wonder of the World) is a town on the north, famous for monolithic rock-cut churches and is considered one of Ethiopia’s holiest cities. Each church was carved from a single piece of rock to symbolize humility and spirituality. It has been said that they were built with the help of angels, as they are exquisitely chiseled in the stone. Among the churches we visited was Bete Medahine Alem, House of the redeemer, which is the largest with a vaulted dome, four aisles and 72 pillars. Bete Maryam, House of St. Mary, is the most decorated among the rock-hewn churches. Isolated from the others and undoubtedly the most famous is Biete Ghiorgis, the Church of St. George, which is carved like a cross out of the red rock. The interior has no pillars, but four cross-shaped posts are connected to the central part. All the 11 churches in Lalibela are UnesCo World Heritage sites and represent a unique artistic achievement, in their execution, size and the variety and boldness of their form. GONDAR , the 17th century capital of Ethiopia and popularly called the Camelot of Africa, was home of many emperors and warlords, kings and courtiers who let the country from the 12th century to the last decade of the 20th century. Unfortunately, several historical buildings were damaged by British bombs during Ethiopia’s liberation campaign of 1941. Nevertheless, most of the famous castles and imperial buildings survived the ravages of time and form one of Ethiopia’s most captivating antiquities.
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