THE FORTH HOLY CITY OF ISLAM-HARAR

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WEATHER: Hot and 29C

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: The shortest drive day -48KM

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Can’t think of anything

WORD OF THE DAY:  DJ

DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 48KM

Promises Promises-Always Keep Your Promise-Because a Promises is a Promises

Zeme Moges

Good morning Dodge town.  We were going to spend 2 nights in Harar, but as we weren’t entirely happy with the hotel, we decided to do a morning city tour and a visit to the National Museum and then head to a nearby town called Dire Dewa.

The museum was located not far from out hotel and was housed in an old colonial building that must have been beautiful back in its day.  There were lot of artifacts from not only Ethiopia but they also had some items from Somalia and the Middle East.  It was a very basic museum, but what they did have in there was interesting all the same.  This is where we also hired a guide to take us on a walking tour of the ancient walled city.  His name was Daniel and the 2 hour tour cost 10AUD. 

The old town is home to 110 mosques and many more shrines, centered on Feres Magala square. Notable buildings include Medhane Alem Cathedral, the house of Ras Mekonnen, the house of Arthur Rimbaud, and the sixteenth century Jami Mosque. Harar is different to any other Ethiopian city, a walled town, with over 360 twisting and winding alleys squeezed into 1 square kilometer, it is similar to the medinas of Morocco. Harar is the Islam capital of Ethiopia and is crammed with mosques, colorful markets, coffee shops and crumbling walls. It is colorful and photogenic and the Adare (Hariri) women's dresses and head scarves are particularly colorful and exotic. 

Our first visit was to the Arthur Rimbaud Museum.  Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet. Born in Charleville, Ardennes, he produced his best known works while still in his late teens—Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare"—and he gave up creative writing altogether before the age of 20. As part of the decadent movement, Rimbaud influenced modern literature, music and art. He was known to have been a libertine and a restless soul, travelling extensively on three continents before his death from cancer just after his 37th birthday.  In 1880 Rimbaud settled in Aden, Yemen as a main employee in the Bardey agency. In 1884 he left his job at Bardey's to become a merchant on his own account in Harar, Ethiopia, where his commercial dealings notably included coffee and weapons. In this period, he struck up a very close friendship with the Governor of Harar, Ras Makonnen, father of future Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie.

Our next stop was a 10 minute walk away to the Emperor Haile Selassie’s old Palace.  The ‘house’ looked pretty much the same as Arthur Rimbaud’s which must have been the style of the time.  This palace was also a museum housing Holy Korans, religious artifacts and the such.  I tried to Google some information on the Palace itself but there was not a lot, no, there was no information on it that I could find. 

On our way to see how the traditional Harar people lived we passed a local market and there was a guy there feeding some hawks, so we stopped to watch.  He would hold out a piece of meat and the hawks would swoop down and take it from him in mid-flight and then sit on the roof of the building to eat it.  There would have been over 15-20 hawks all scrambling for the meat.  They would also throw the meat in the air and they would fly in and catch the meat before it hit the ground.  It was pretty cool to be standing there as all these hawks swooped past us.  The traditional Harar house is a main part of the cultural heritage, whose architectural form is typical, specific and original, different from the domestic layout usually known in Muslim countries, although reminiscent of the coastal Arab architecture. Their style is unique in Ethiopia and their interior design quite exceptional. When Harari people mention the “Harari culture” they actually refer to the beauty of their houses, which they are very proud of. At the end of the 19th century Indian merchants built new houses whose wooden verandas defined a different urban landscape and influenced the construction of Indian/Harari houses. Their architectural and ornamental qualities are now part of the Harari cultural heritage. The city is very well preserved, and few modern buildings have damaged the traditional architectural typologies."  It was very colorful and it would be very hard to feel blue in a house with so many colours.

We stopped briefly at a coffee house, Harar is renowned for its coffee that has become an international issue of interest with the patent right case involving Starbucks, but as I am not a coffee drinker, I couldn’t even fake my way through, we walked straight back out with a sorry to the owner on our way.  I felt sorry for him, but I’m just not a coffee drinker. 

Our last stop was the obligatory ‘shop’ stop that goes with any day tour in the world.  This one was a little different as it was more of an antique shop with things from all over Africa in a small room that probably measured 10m x10m and it was packed wall to wall and floor to ceiling of beaded and silver jewelry, wooden statues, ornaments, religious artifacts and pretty much anything African this lady had it.  The owner was a large lady that was sitting outside on a large mat, and I am sure she didn’t get up as she would have fit inside the shop with us and all her merchandise in there.  It was like a massive treasure chest and I could have easily spent a few hours combing through all the stuff that she had in there.  There were just trays of rings and piles of bangles and all sorts of things.  I took the time to go through one pile of silver bangles and I found this amazing traditional Harar bangle that was worn by a tribal lady many moons ago.  It had character, it wasn’t perfect, there were some dings and wear and tear but I loved it and when we asked the price it was a cool 40AUD which to me was a bargain, but in Ethiopian terms it was soooo expensive, but I hadn’t spent any money on myself and what a perfect gift to myself to remind me of the trip.  Zeme loved it so I left a happy camper as well as the owner and hopefully my guide will get a cut of the money for bringing me in as what usually happens.  It was my buy of the trip so far and I loved it.  On our way out of town, Zeme stopped at a jewelry shop to see if we could get it cleaned but they were super busy and said they would need it all day, so we decided to keep it and he would find somewhere in Dire Dewa this afternoon to clean it for us. 

Dire Dewa was only a 1 hour drive from Harar, so after dropping Daniel off where he wanted to go we headed out of Harar.  It was an interesting place and I am glad we came; I would just use a different hotel next time. Dire Dawa is one of two chartered cities in Ethiopia (the other being the capital, Addis Ababa). The city lies in the eastern part of the country, on the Dechatu River, at the foot of a ring of cliffs, and is the second largest in Ethiopia.  Dire Dewa was founded in 1902 after the Addis Ababa - Djibouti Railway reached the area. The railroad could not reach the city of Harar at its higher elevation, so Dire Dawa was built nearby. This led to Dire Dawa becoming an important center of trade between the port of Djibouti and the capital city, Addis Ababa.   Dire Dawa's first governor was Ato Mersha Nahu Senay who was also one of the negotiators of the Djibouti-Ethiopia railway (1897–1902) and represented Emperor Menilek at the inauguration ceremony of the railway when it reached the Ethiopian frontier in 1902.  Soon afterwards, Ras Makonnen, the governor of Harar, ordered the construction of a road from Dire Dawa to Harar, one of the first in this part of the country. This road was substantially improved in 1928, improving travel times between the two cities from two days to only a few hours.  In 1931, the Bank of Ethiopia opened its first branch in Dire Dewa, received its postal service in August 1906, becoming the third location after Addis Ababa and Harar. Telephone service was available by 1954; by 1967, Dire Dawa had almost 500 telephone numbers, more than almost all other towns including Gondar, Harar, and Jimma.

There were a few hotels to choose from and after driving past 2, I have to say I am judging a hotel by its exterior, we stopped at one that looked good and with Zeme doing his thing and running inside, getting the facts and figures and returning, and this seems like the perfect hotel for the night.  We got a suite, free Wi-Fi in the room and breakfast for a measly 75AUD for both of us.  When we were taken up to our room and the bell boy opened the door to our room the first thing Z and I said was wow.  It was just like a hotel room back home.  It was massive with 3 couches, a TV and a view overlooking the pool.  Yes people, the hotel also had a pool.  It was shame we were only staying here the one night.  Zeme said we could rejig the itinerary if we wanted to stay another night we could, but that would have been selfish of me to do that just for the sake of a comfy bed, a night of luxury when I was here to see Z and his wonderful country.  I will just take the opportunity for the one night and we will move on as planned. 

It was nice to be given a menu and to know that everything was available from it and the food was also first rate.  We ate inside for lunch and in the evening they had chairs and tables set up around the pool with mood lighting and a DJ set up in the corner with a massive TV screen playing the clips to the songs.  It was strange to be half way through dinner and a Kylie Minogue song came on.  I’m in Africa, in the middle of Ethiopia and I hear Kylie Minogue.  Surreal is what I call that.  It was a great night, with great food and company.  I am in heaven and I am just waiting for someone to pinch me from this marvelous dream I am currently living!