Having completed our trek it was time to return by bus to our hotel in Gonder before taking a 25 minute flight the following morning to Lalibela.
At 2,600m asl Lalibela was the capital of Ethiopia from the 11th century. It was the Emperor Lalibela who decided to make this place the capital and to create there a complex of churches that would mirror the Holy city of Jerusalem and celebrate in synbolic refferences, the life of Jesus. Not just any old churches. No - these would be hewn ffrom the solid rock.
Two half-days of sightseeing sufficed to give us a sound idea of what these rock-hewwn churches are all about. Some writers have called them the 8th Wonder of the World - not sure we would go that far, but the whole effect was impressive enough.
In betweeen churching we found time for dining in restaurants with views - including the rather unusual Benababa restuarant - see video & photos for more details, drinking beer and watching birds (including Lamergeyer) from the hotel grounds. The Hotel also provided us with bed bugs.
Final day of the whole trip was a morning flight to Addis followed by a few hours essentially killing time before being ferried to our final activity - a cultural evening of music, dance and food. Not just for us tourists, as a number of Ethiopian families and couples also enjoyed the evening.
And guess which member of the audience accepted the invitation to go on stage and join in a frenzied Ethiopian dance ......Well, it wasn't Steve, so it must have been.....Yep, Debs.