Gondar II

On our second day in Gondar, we visited the complex where the Empress, mentioned in my last entry, retired after she transferred power to her son. The complex is lodged on the side of a hill, 3.5 km. south of Gondar. It overlooks the town and the mountainous region surrounding it.

The complex itself, although less preserved than Fasiladas' complex, is still beautiful. It includes a grand castle and several smaller structures, all built with similar architecture to Fasiladas' Complex. We were the only visitors - the quiet calm was perfect for relaxing and writing. We explored the entire complex undisturbed, taking pictures and imagining what it must have been like about 300 years ago.



From the Empress' complex we walked to another great attraction, Fasiladas' bath. Said to cure syphilis, the bath is a huge pool (empty at the moment and, as we later found out, filled up only once a year), with a large, three story castle in the middle. Although the castle in the middle was under renovation - and thus we couldn't enter - walking around the baths was great. Huge trees filled with birds have grown on the surrounding land and some have even grown on the walls of the bath (reminded me of Tikal). The history of this place is incredible!



From the baths we walked back to Gondar. We relaxed and prepared for our next day, the first of a four day trek through the massive Simien Mountains (now a national park, the Simien mountains have peaks as high as 4500 mts and host endemic animal species like the gebela baboons, the walia ibex and the ethiopian wolf).