Day 88 – Don’t go there, don’t take any money, don’t take your camera!

Addis Ababa, Lion’s Den Hotel

Against the advice of our hotel’s manager we headed off to the market, the way she spoke we'd be lucky to arrive back with our shirts still on our backs. From our perspective though it was very similar to many markets we have seen and managed to navigate and escape without being robbed (we didn't buy anything though)!

We visited then visited a couple of cathedrals in the area, and then off to find what we’d been told was the best Italian restaurant in Ethiopia, if not all of Africa. Just as we were trying to find it we were caught in sudden downpour. Everyone tried to take cover where they could, while we watched a beggar who continued to sit in the middle of the road in the rain, just pulling a sack over her head.

We were about to abandon our search for the restaurant when K spotted it – it was the doorway pretty much next door to where we had been sheltering for 15 minutes! After a nice lunch we spent the afternoon walking around Addis, and in the evening we headed off to an Ethiopian “cultural restaurant” for dinner.

We entered the Yod Abyssinia restaurant and were a little confused about what to do next. First problem - the place seemed full, every seat was occupied. Secondly, there didn’t seem to be any order to the restaurant – just a room full of people sitting on very small chairs with tiny tables at their knees. Eventually we were rescued by a waitress who found 2 chairs and a tiny table, and a small space on floor to place them. We seemed to be the only couple, everyone else was in larger groups, maybe a couple of hundred locals and about a dozen farinjas like us.

The floor show consisted of men and women singing and performing traditional dances from the different regions of Ethiopia. Some of the audience were right into it and also got up on stage to dance, it was very enjoyable and lots of fun to watch.

Our food arrived on what appeared to be a traditional Ethiopian serving table, and we managed to eat with our right hands in the Ethiopian style without making too much mess.