We saw much the same scenery as on the way to Lake Tana. The majority of the mud houses in the farms have corrugated iron rooves and the roads were always busy with locals moving their animals around looking for pasture to feed on.
As we approached Gonder we saw lots of people on the streets. The women were wearing white muslin shawls on their heads. Priests held brightly coloured velvet umbrellas upside down so people could toss coins into them. Young men played goat skin drums and everyone was milling along the roadsides. It was the week after the Epiphany festival but they were continuing the celebrations in this area. This is called Timkat locally.
We had a lot of problems finding accommodation because of the Timkat celebrations and some of the local children took us to a pension. After we settled in to it we found that there was no water and the city had been without water all day. John headed off and found water at the Circle Hotel in the town centre where we had a lovely sunny room although it was noisy and we had to use our ear plugs.
We had not originally planned on coming to Ethiopia but we met lots of travellers who said the people were friendly and we should visit. From our experiences we now know that people are only friendly if they want something from you. No one here does anything for nothing. When the minivan arrived in town some young lads wouldn't let us take our bags from the roof of the van. Once they had got the bags down they demanded a 'service fee'. They gang up and pressure you into paying for the feeble unwanted service. We are independent and do such things ourselves. We are also tough enough to stand firm and not be persuaded by their demands. This habit for service causes us to be followed to hotels, buses, taxis etc as the tout hopes to get paid by either us or the owners/drivers. It also means that WE pay in the end for something we don't want. We have not found the people as friendly as we were lead to believe.
Gonder is famous for its Royal Enclosure, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The palaces were constructed by successive kings in the 17th and 18th centuries. They were pretty impressive and in good condition.
We found a friendly cafe on the street where we sat and watched the world go by while enjoying clove flavoured tea. We bumped into Andy from Aussie again and shared travel plans.
One of the tuk tuks that are imported from India and are a cheap way to get about the spread out city.
The churches are decorated with these symbols on the roof.
In the evenings we ate on the balcony of a modern hotel overlooking the main square. Sunday
is the most common day for weddings and we were lucky enough to see several weddings from the balcony. The minivans were covered with flowers and balloons and had their lights flashing and horns blowing. One party had two men on two horses. The horses were covered with red and white pom poms. They galloped ahead of the procession of cars and did several circuits of the statue in the middle of the piazza. Another man leapt from a car and stood on the statue where he let off fireworks.
