When I told people I was going to Eritrea, all but the most die-hard travelers had not heard of it. Fair enough. Although Eritrea is famous for a long-standing conflict with Ethiopia, it is not well known to your average person. Eritrea occupies a sliver of land northeast of Ethiopia, just above Djibouti, and along the Red Sea.
Eritrea has been notoriously difficult to visit. You need a visa and someone on the ground to arrange it for you. At the time I went, you had to go as part of a tour, but the tour needn’t occupy all of your time. You needed a permit to leave Asmara (the capital). There is little to no wifi, no ATMs, credit cards are not accepted, and the country tightly controls the information coming in and out. It is often referred to as the “North Korea of Africa.” Not exactly inviting.
But I was so curious to visit this secretive nation that I planned a trip around it.
I booked a day tour and visa support through an Eritrean travel agency called Adulis Travel. They were very helpful. All I had to do was send them my info and agree to pay them in cash and they took care of my visa, hotel, and tour.
I planned to spend a few days in Asmara. One day on the tour and then two days to myself being gloriously offline; relaxing at cafes and taking in the architecture.
I arrived from Cairo (written about in my previous post). I arrived after midnight and my guide, Selihom, was waiting for me and thankfully so. With her help, I was able to get my visa in my passport in about 30 minutes. Others waited for more than an hour. I paid $70US cash for the visa and Selihom dropped me off at my hotel, promising to pick me up in a few hours for my day tour. Sigh. Another night of only a few hours’ sleep.
I stayed at the Crystal Hotel. There are other and cheaper options, but they are located farther from the centre. The Crystal Hotel was not cheap, but central and well staffed. My room was huge and devoid of any character.
My first glimpse of Asmara was that it was completely empty of people and quiet at this time of night. Also, the streets were immaculate. Well-paved and free of trash. It looked quaint and I could not wait to go see it tomorrow.
The next morning, Selihom picked me up with a driver. The tour would be a walking / driving affair. It was a good introduction to the city. Of course, were it not for the need to have a tour to get the visa, I would have visited on my own and that would have been fine, but we did see a lot on that first day and I got a good sense of what the place was like. What was allowed, what people’s lives were like, etc. As much as you can in a day.
We visited Medebar market – always a favourite stop of mine. We went to a local scrap area where people were taking discarded items and making them into new things. Old paint cans, scrap metal, barrels et cetera, all became something new. They told me this is because of their environmental concerns, and I am not saying that is untrue, but it is certainly also because they do not have a lot of money or access to world markets.
Medebar Market and a welder there with a homemade mask
We visited a video store and electronic repair shop. I know, but it was really interesting. Because there is little to no wifi in the country, people are not streaming their media; they are renting it. Ah, nostalgia. The guy fixing the TVs and phones said he could fix everything and did. Again, in a limited economy things must be reused, but it is also a good lesson to those that throw things away and replace them without a second thought.
We walked the streets of the downtown area. This was terrific. Asmara is full of 1940s architecture, and little has been upgraded. It is a UNESCO site for these reasons. Part of what makes it so appealing is that the Italians occupied Eritrea, built terrific theatres and cafes and then left and the country has been more or less frozen in time since then. Those cinemas and cafes are still in use. The coffees and atmospheres are wonderful. All of Asmara has this suspended in time feeling and in a lovely way. No billboards or flashing signs, people are not on their phones constantly (because no wifi), there are old cars, clean streets, and everything is quite well taken care of. It reminded me a little of Havana before they got wifi.
This was the atmosphere I wanted to enjoy for a few days.
The only downside is that Asmara has very strict smoking laws. No smoking indoors or on any patios. Period. And I only found one place (a courtyard at a hotel) that was willing to break the rules. That was a bit of a disappointment. I had imagined myself on patios with tiny Eritrean/Italian coffees, puffing on a Ramon Allones. Oh well. I still was able to smoke outside my hotel in the evening sitting on a chair they let me borrow.
We continue our tour by visiting the thing I was most excited to see: the Fiat Tagliero Building. The building was designed as a petrol station by Giuseppe Pettazzi and was built in 1938. It has an art deco/futurist style and is intended to look like an airplane. It is fabulous. It is no longer in use but is very much intact and you can enter and climb up to the roof for a different perspective. It was this building that first made me want to visit Asmara and it did not disappoint.
But there was more to come!
We visited the tank graveyard; a pretty field littered with piles of tanks, trucks, and other army vehicles. They remain there as a symbol of Eritrean independence and its victorious struggle against Ethiopia in the war of independence (1961 to 1991). The site is just out in the open but there is a cabal of taxi drivers who monitor the comings and goings and charge a small fee. It was super fun to climb on all the old wrecks and play with the tanks.
Amongst the things frozen in time in Asmara is the bowling alley. Built in the early 1950s for American using a base nearby, it exudes vintage charm. Vintage photos of long deceased leagues adorn the walls. Translucent red brick detail on the walls and lanes where the balls are returned and the pins reset by hand. By children. Of course, Selihom and I played a round. There was no one else bowling at the time, but the billiards tables next to the lanes were packed.
We stopped by a cemetery and walked the tombstones and then we had lunch.
Traditional Eritrean food is similar to Ethiopian and I had a platter of vegetarian treats served on spongy injera bread.
We made a final stop, which was up in the mountains for views of the valley and to try a local cactus fruit that is picked and sold by the local kids. Honestly the fruit was only so-so, but I had several of them.
It was a marvellous day. I learned a lot of about Eritrea, saw ‘the sites’, and enjoyed Selihom’s company. And then I was set free.
I went out for dinner – pizza (hey, it was an Italian colony) – and had a walk and a cigar before bed. I couldn’t wait for the next day of wandering around at my own pace and enjoying the city. Except…that didn’t happen.
Sorry for the cliffhanger, but read on, for the tale of how quickly things can change in Eritrea.
