Presentation
Stages: ADDIS ABABA – BAHAR DAR – GONDAR – LALIBELA – ADDIS ABABA
Description: Express tour for a duration of 9 days / 8 nights from €1,495.
Day 1: PARIS / ADDIS ABABA
Flight from Paris to Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines. Night on board.
Day 2: ADDIS ABABA / BAHAR DAR
Arrival in the morning in Addis Ababa, transfer, installation and rest at the hotel.
Crossing the historic districts of the capital, climb Mount Entoto, from where you overlook the entire city at an altitude of 3,200 m. It is from there, it is said, that Emperor Menelik decided to create Addis Ababa “the New Flower” in Amharic.
Visit the Archaeological Museum, a sumptuous panorama of the history of Ethiopia, from the first works of Aksumite art to the reign of Menelik. Here is also the skeleton of the famous Lucy. Then, transfer to the airport and flight to Bahir Dar. Installation at the hotel.
Dinner and night at the Abay Minch 4* hotel
Day 3: BAHAR DAREPrivate boat excursion on Lake Tana (1,860 m), Blue Nile reservoir. With an area of 3,600 km2, it has around forty islets where a dozen churches and monasteries are hidden. Visit the lush Zeghé peninsula, where coffee is grown in the shade of trees and where there are two churches from the Gondorian era; Uhra Kidane Mehret, round church which presents a very beautiful painted decoration from the 18th century, as well as a treasure of royal crowns and the church of Betra Maryam.
Return to town and visit the market. Close to Bahar Dar, road (30 km) for the impressive Abbey Falls or Blue Nile called “TisIssat”, “the smoking water”, walk (45 minutes) and return by boat.
Return to Bahar Dar.
Dinner and night at the Abay Minch 4* hotel.
Jour 4: BAHAR DAR / GONDAR
Drive to the north shore of the lake for Gondar. Gondar (2,200 m) was founded by the great king Fasiladas (1632/1667) who made it the first imperial capital of Ethiopia. Visit the imperial enclosure where the royal castles (fasil Gebbi) are grouped together, which raise their strange European-looking silhouettes in the middle of the city. A dozen buildings, castles, library, menagerie, reception room, were erected between the 17th and 18th centuries.
Visits to the Fasiladas baths, a vast pool, surrounded by sycamore trees and dominated by an elegant pavilion, a place of relaxation for the kings of Gondar.
Finally, visit the church of Debra Berhan Sellassié from the 18th century. where there is a very complete pictorial cycle of Ethiopian iconography and an extraordinary ceiling populated with cherubs.
Installation at the hotel.
Dinner and night at the Goha 3* hotel.
Day 5: GONDAR / SIMIEN PARC / GONDAR
Good road and track, through one of the most spectacular regions of Ethiopia, towards the Simien mountain range “the roof of Ethiopia”. Easy walk in the park to discover the breathtaking landscapes of Simien and the astonishing gelada monkeys. Lunch in the park at Simien Lodge.
Then, return to Gondar;
Dinner and night at the Goha 3* hotel.
Day 6: GONDAR / LALIBELA
Day of road and track in very beautiful mountainous landscapes hollowed out by canyons (plateaus from 2700 to 3000 m) and the villages of the Amhara country. Arrival in Lalibela and check-in at the hotel.
The former capital of King Lalibela is a major UNESCO World Heritage site and a holy city for Ethiopia’s Orthodox Christians.
King Lalibela, at the beginning of the 13th century, ordered the construction of churches, carved from the mass of tuff. These churches, some of which are entirely monolithic, were built from the roof down, unlike classical constructions. The builders of these exceptional buildings, all different from each other, introduced architectural elements from Eastern churches and perpetrated those of Aksumite architecture.
The spiritual capital of King Lalibela who became a saint shortly after his death (1225) was transformed into “New Jerusalem”, and a popular place of pilgrimage to this day.
Dinner and night at the Tukul Village 4* or Maribella 4* or top Twelve 3* hotel
Day 7: LALIBELA
Visit the churches of Lalibela divided into two groups separated by a deep ditch symbolizing the Jordan. The first, the royal district, accessible by a maze of corridors cut into the rock, has 6 churches: Medhane Alem, or Church of the Savior surrounded by a portico is the most imposing, Beta Maryam where paintings and bas-reliefs remain, Beta Masqal or the Church of the Cross, which was undoubtedly a martyrium before being a church, the funerary churches of Beta Danagel, Beta Golgota, Beta Debra Sina and a chapel dedicated to the Trinity.
In the afternoon visit of the second group, the ecclesiastical district, made up of 4 churches (Beta Emmanuel, Beta Merkurios, Beta Guebrel Rufael and Abba Libanos) built around an underground rotunda, resembles a stronghold. Away from the village, the famous church of Beta Giorgis is a cruciform monolith carved into the bottom of a deep ditch.
Dinner and night at the Tukul Village 4* or Maribella 4* or top Twelve 3* hotel
Day 8: LALIBELA / ADDIS
Flight Lalibela / Addis in the morning.
Stroll through the Mercato, the largest market in the capital and in the Piazza district for the latest purchases.
Dinner, traditional song and dance show and transfer to the airport for Ethiopian Airlines flight to Paris;
Day 9: ARRIVAL IN PARIS
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