Day trips from Addis
the capital. In a horrifying and unprecedented revenge campaign hundreds of monks, students and peasants were mass-murdered at the monastery where their bones are still on display. After 1941, when the Italians were expelled, the monastery regained its important position in the country’s Orthodox church and the eighth Church to be built there, dedicated to St. Tekle Haimanot was completed in 1963. This 13th-century monastery exhibits mosaic figures and murals by the late Maitre Artist Afewerk Tekle. From Debre Libanos less than one Km up the main road, turning right on a rocky track you will find the first bridge in Ethiopia known as the Portuguese Bridge. Reputed for years to have been constructed in the sixteenth century by the Portuguese, the bridge is now considered to be entirely Ethiopian in origin. You can climb down below the bridge or walk along the cliff edge to look back at the falls and the bridge.
Ambo Road Menagesha Forest – to the west of Addis Abeba once you pass the town of Sebeta, you would see the oldest park in Africa with plantation areas, forest rich with flowers, smaller trees, birds and animals. For more on Menagesha forest please refer back the Trekking and Camping section of Adventure Tourism part of this book. Addis Alem (Debre Tsion Kiddus Mariam Church)
Fifty five Km west of Addis Abeba (around halfway between Addis Abeba and Ambo) once a palace now Debre Tsion Church (known as the southern Axum by some due to the attractive rectangular architecture which was common in the Northern part of Ethiopia) was built by Menelik II to be the next capital of Ethiopia moving his royal residence from Mount Entoto, though the king abandoned the idea and returned to live in his previous home. This unique church apart from its attractive architectural features and unique paintings has in its collection many church artifacts, various religious robes, emblems etc of previous kings and officials, brana (parchment written) manuscripts, crosses, pictures, books, letters, coins, firearms and various household and personal items of historical value donated by prominent personalities. Various groups and individuals have also donated items to the museum. Most of the collections belong to the era of Emperor Menelik II, the battle of Adwa and are of both religious and
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