Axum, Ethiopia

Two friendly faces greeted us as we entered the huge town market

that is held every Saturday in Axum..  People walk up to 15K, to and from,
to come to the center of town to trade their things for the supplies
they need for the coming week.  It is just as I would imagine this place to be like
 hundreds of years ago.

The pottery is made by one small village.  They are the only
ones that make pottery and the process is kept within the tribe.
They also do not marry except within their own tribe.

It was massive humanity and we saw no other tourists.  It was very much country life at its best.
Many did not like their picture taken so I had to be fast to get faces not covered.

This was the "modern" section of the market.  Anything that is
made of plastic is a semi-luxury.

We actually saw caravans of 3 camels in a row bringing their wares to market.  Most of the people
used donkeys for transport or carried huge loads on their heads.

This is cotton which is a big product in this area.

Yes, there were live chickens for sale as well as goats and cows.
The goats and cows, however, would only be purchased for a
wedding ceremony or a funeral.

The aroma of the spices, along with everything else, was wonderful.

This young lady made this basket.  There were so many weavers
gathered around a tree in the middle of town.  It was really hard to
just buy one when they all wanted so much to sell a basket.

And the reason to come to Axum.  According to their legend, the
Queen of Sheba had a son with King Solomon and then had that
son, Menelik, take the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia for safe
keeping.  Apparently it is still there to this day but, of course, we
were not allowed to look at it.  But this is the building that contains the Ark, 
that is on a shelf, safely in a box, behind a curtain, all in 
the house that Menelik built.

Ancient ruins of the Queen of Sheba's palace.

The famous Obelisk of Axum.  According to their legend, this structure that is about 78 feet tall
could not be erected with only human strength.  So, with the help of the Ark of the Covenant 
and angels that came in the night, the obelisk stood straight and tall.  There were actually 7 
monuments build in the mid-fourth century A.D.

After a very rewarding and thought provoking trip to Ethiopia, we returned home to Table Mountain
in beautiful downtown Capetown.

Capetown, South Africa