4. - 1 January 2010: Dessie to Lalibela

Early start up the mountain on our way to Beta Estifanos monastery. On the way we stop at a few stunning view points. Some wrecks of tanks from the recent civil wars litter the side of the road.Some ladies in colorful clothes climb up the slope going somewhere, could not be a starker contrast with the massive rusty hulk pointing its gun barrel to the sky.

3. - 31 DEC: Addis Abeba to Dessie

Early start from Addis and we hit the road with our van. The road out of the city is in pretty good shape, brand new asphalt just built by the Chinese in exchange for concessione to extract raw materials. I can see some Chinese team leaders directing the work of Ethiopian workers at several road contruction sites. Looks like this is the first time since the Italian occupation someone is doing something to the roads.

2. - 30 DEC: Arrival in Addis Ababa

We land on time at the impressive airport of Addis Abeba (the New Flower) and our first worry is to buy a visa. There is a pretty disciplined line at the visa office and we get processed pretty efficiently. Once out of the airport our bus takes us to our hotel. Check-in and off we go to explore the city!

1. - 29 DEC 2009: flight from Rome to Addis Ababa, start of trip to Ethiopia

I meet my travel companions in Rome, at Fiumicino airport. People who come from different parts of the country, different backgrounds, different expectations. We are going to experience Ethiopia together over the next few weeks...The group leader is Stefano, a professional photographer, a colleague tour leader. It is going to be my first "serious" trip with a digital SRL, and this is a "photo tour" I am a bit uneasy at the thought of having no film with me for the first time, let's see if I can learn something!

Itinerary of trip to Ethiopia, 29 Dec 2009 - 11 January 2010

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Trip to Ethiopia, 2009-2010 click on an itinerary or a date to go to the related post
Day	Date	Itinerary	Night	Km	hrs
1	29 Dec	Departure from Rome via San’a	Airplane	0	0
2	30 Dec	Addis Ababa	Addis	25	2
3	31 Dec	Addis to Dessiè	Dessiè	390	8
4	1 Jan	Dessiè to Lalibela	Lalibela	300	5
5	2 Jan	Lalibela	Lalibela	0	0
6	3 Jan	Lalibela to Mek’ele	Mek’ele	335	7
7	4 Jan	Mek’ele to Adigrat	Adigrat	120	2
8	5 Jan	Adigrat to Axum	Axum	130	3
9	6 Jan	Axum	Axum	15	1
10	7 Jan	Axum to Gondar	Gondar	355	6
11	8 Jan	Gondar to Bahir Dar	Bahir Dar	180	3
12	9 Jan	Bahir Dar, Lake Tana	Bahir Dar	40	2
13	10 Jan	Bahir Dar to Addis Ababa	Addis Ababa	550	7
14	11 Jan	Addis Ababa and evening transfer to airport	Airplane	20	2
15	12 Jan	Arrival in Europe	Home!	0	0
		total		2,460	48