April 20 - Our drive today, like all others, was full of fantastic scenery. The total drive was just over 350km, or 220 miles. We stopped for lunch in a beautiful town called Woldiya, the half way point.
On our way out of Lalibela, the marketeers were setting up their nomadic shops along the roadside.
Down in the valley we saw countless family farms.
Some no longer inhabited.
We climbed in and out of more than a dozen valleys. At the higher elevations, the vegetation was scarce...
... And at the lower elevations, the landscape became lush and tropical. This and the next two photos were taken from the same point on a mountain top looking east to west. You can see our road far below.
An hour from Kombolcha, we stopped at Lake Hayk (Hayk means lake, so the name is redundant but that's the way it's always been) to visit Istafanos Monastery. Established in the 13th century, it sits atop a bucolic peninsula surrounded by palm, ficus and eucalyptus trees. According to local legend, as far back as the 7th century this area around Hayk was inhabited by a pagan cult that worshipped pythons. When an Ethiopian Christian monk returned from a visit to Jerusalem in 862AD, he introduced Christianity and all the pythons were sacrificed by the pagans before converting.
The church at Istafanos Monastery.
View of the lake from the church.
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