Axum

by Daniel

Let me start with the traveling aspects: I reached Axum from Abiy Adi (see post), first on a pick-up truck from Abiy-Adi to Adwa, then with a minibus from Adwa to Axum. There's a regular minibus service with departures every couple of minutes, but the bus-station is very chaotic. As the minibus approaches everybody tries to squeeze in - first come first serve, forget about any concept of a queue. Luckily for me, the minibus driver saw that I'd have no chance with my big backpack and reserved a seat for me.
When I arrived in Axum I was immediately "helped" to find a hotel. Make sure you bargain the price as it will always start high. After seeing two hotels I opted for the one that gave me a reasonable price from the start and wouldn't bargain a discount. So I stayed in Tsegereda Hotel, a clean and pleasant place with a very friendly hotel-owner (he was raised in New York) who speaks perfect English.

I could tell a lot about Axum but since it is a very touristy place you will find a lot of information elsewhere. I visited the ancient and impressive Axumite stelae (25 Birr for students - I am officially a student of Beer Sheva univesity), the tombs of ancient kings Remhai and Kaleb and the palace of the queen of Sheba.

Axum is the birthplace of Christianity in Ethiopia, with powerful king Ezana converting to Christianity around 400 AD. It was the capital of a powerful Empire, stretching from the southern Arab peninsula to Sudan's Nile and its greatness really becomes visible in the monuments this culture left behind - at a time when most Germans still adhered to trees and lived in wooden shacks. It controlled important trade routes and had links to ancient Greece and Rome as well as the Perian and Indian Empires. Could it be that this was the center of the Earth at its heyday?

Today Axum is a rural town with some industry and tourism. And it is the center of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The arc of the covenant is said to be located in Axum, although only the highest representatives of the Church know its whereabouts - and they keep it a fiercely kept secret. So there is no chance you will ever be able to see it.

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One evening I had a long conversation with the hotel manager, a young but serious guy. He asked me a lot about life in Germany and I listened to the stories of his life. He works three jobs: hotel manager in the hotel I stayed, food quality controller in one of the more luxurious hotels, and he gives lectures on tourism-management at the local college. He is a really hardworking guy who, I hope, will one day reap the fruits of his huge efforts. But as for now, he earns 5500 Birr with his three jobs, that is 220 Euros - by faaaar less than what you get from social welfare in Germany. So these discrepancies are also what you are looking at when you travel here and still you won't hear too many people complaining. They will get their job done and get on with their lives.