Walking the streets of Gonder all day we found them surprisingly void of foreigners. Like in Bahir Dar, we only encountered tourists at historic landmarks or at certain restaurants and hotels. In Gonder, the Faranji hangout was nice Hotel Quara, with its huge terrace overlooking the Piazza. This is basically a huge roundabout without hardly any traffic, Gonder’s very center.
The rare sight of walking Faranjis must have brought Ethiopians to the conclusion that they only move around in cars. During our long walks around town, we repeatedly were treated like people who had gotten lost.
Especially once we ended up in “residential” areas, without any traffic. There everything is happening in the street: playing, socializing, carving a bed, cooking or washing. A quick glimpse inside those dwellings explained why: most of them are dark holes without any electricity or just a tiny bulb dangling at the entrance.
Comments are closed.