Coffee and love taste best when hot.
~Ethiopian Proverb
Legend has it that a young, Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi once noticed that his goats had become more energetic after eating red berries from a tree. Kaldi became curious about their strange behavior, and decided to give the berries a try himself. He experienced the same stimulating effects after eating some of the berries, and little did he know it, but he has just discovered what would eventually become a worldwide staple: coffee.
Over a thousand years later, I inhaled the rich aroma of Ethiopian coffee as my friends and I stood in line at a Tomoca coffee shop in the capital city of Addis Ababa.
This was to be a much needed cup of coffee. Vince and I had groggily rolled out of bed at 2:30 the previous morning to meet up with the rest of our friends for a three hour drive to Chicago, followed by a fourteen hour flight to Addis Ababa. Of course I’d been too keyed up with a mixture of excitement and anxiety to sleep the night before the flight, and I’d also found myself unable to sleep during the flight. So when we landed in Addis for a thirteen hour layover, I was not in the best mood of my life.
We had just enough time to check into our transit hotel, the Ethiopian Skylight, before heading out on a day tour of the city that we’d scheduled. When our local guide, Sisay from Adefa Tours, picked us up, we immediately asked if the first stop could be for coffee. Priorities.
Luckily drinking coffee is very relevant to the culture and history of Ethiopia, so when my cup arrived at our table and I took a sip, it wasn’t just a break to put some much needed caffeine into my system, I was also participating in a centuries old tradition that all began in Ethiopia.
And the coffee was delicious, one of the best cups I’ve had (take this with a pinch of salt. I am a tea drinker, but when I do go for coffee I’m rather picky about it). Just smelling it’s rich aroma perked me up right away, and once we’d all finished, we were feeling (and looking) less bedraggled and way more excited to see some of Addis.
We left Tomoca and took a half hour drive out of the city towards the nearby Entoto Mountains. Along the way we passed by a couple of Ethiopian Orthodox cathedrals, some significant statues and monuments, and a lot of new construction that is happening in the city. Once we were on the mountain, we traveled a winding road through a eucalyptus forest, as donkeys carried loads of branches uphill along the roadside. Sisay explained that the eucalyptus trees were introduced to the area, and that they’ve completely taken over, crowding out the native vegetation.
After the van climbed up a series of switchbacks, we arrived at Entoto Park, where we got to take a short walk to reach a stunning viewpoint that overlooked all of Addis Ababa. The city sprawled out before us, it’s skyscrapers dwarfed by the Entoto foothills.
The weather was absolutely perfect. It was sunny and cool, which is the best weather for walking outside, so after we’d taken in the view, we opted to walk downhill a ways before getting back into the van. We encountered more donkeys carrying loads along the way, and late found a huge bundle of eucalyptus branches packed up and ready for transport. David tried in vain to lift it, but he could barely even get it to budge.
Our driver met us a little ways down the road, and then we drove back into Addis for lunch at the oldest restaurant in the city.
Addis Ababa Restaurant is over a hundred years old, and only serves traditional Ethiopian food. We walked into it’s dimly lit dining room to find that it was furnished with traditional decorations, including an elaborate chandelier in the middle of the trussed wooden ceiling.
I love Ethiopian food, but this was my first time visiting Ethiopia, so I was really looking forward to trying one of my favorite cuisines in its country of origin. Sisay talked to us all about our food preferences, and we figured that about half of the group would want meatless dishes and the other half were happy with meat. We had actually arrived in Addis towards the beginning of fasting season or the Great Lent. During the period between Good Friday and Easter, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians abstain from eating meat and other animal products. So Meagan and I joined Sisay and our driver at a table that would be set with only vegetarian dishes.
The spicy aroma of incense wafted around the dining room as we sipped cool drinks as we awaited our meal. My stomach gurgled in anticipation, and I couldn’t wait to eat some food that hadn’t been prepared on an airplane.
The food finally arrived on large, steaming platters, and our server pointed to each individual dish, and explained what they were as Sisay translated. Traditional Ethiopian food is served family style with an array of salads and curries set atop a layer of injera bread. Injera is a spongey flatbread that is a slightly sour because it’s fermented. We each tore off some strips of injera to use in lieu of silverware, and then we dug in, reaching around the platter to sample all of the different dishes. Everything was delicious, and there were a couple of items that I particularly liked, like the spicy lentil curry. Little by little, the injera got smaller as the curries and salads disappeared.
Once we’d all eaten our fill and then some, our server returned with a platter filled with little cups, sugar, a piping hot coffee pot, and an incense burner. Fragrant smoke curled in tendrils around the table as she poured steaming black coffee into cups, and then set them down in front of us. I inhaled a deep breath of the coffee’s aroma before taking a sip, and wow! This cup of coffee had officially surpassed the one from earlier that morning. THIS was the best cup of coffee I’d ever had for sure. When our server offered us seconds, I eagerly accepted another cup.
I was completely satisfied after getting to enjoy such a fabulous meal, and when we returned to the van, I noticed myself getting tired again. But there was no time for a nap because there was still so much more to see in Addis before our upcoming flight.
Our next stop would be the highlight of the day. Our driver dropped us off at the entrance to the Addis Mercato, and we followed Sisay along one of its narrow roads as the organized chaos of the biggest open air market in Africa hummed all around us. We stopped at stalls full of spices, home goods and even live animals, making sure to get out of the way as people and donkeys walked passed us carrying huge loads of goods.
Sisay asked if we’d like to try a local tea when we passed by a shop. Of course we did, so we sat down on short stools, and the shop owner served us small glasses of a hot tea that was sweet and fruity. As we sipped the tea, we watched men cleaning and stripping down used roller bags nearby. Sisay explained that we were now in the recycling section of the Mercato. This entire area is dedicated to recycling, repairing, or repurposing anything and everything, and within the recycling sector, there are different areas dedicated to working with different categories of items.
When we’d finished our tea, we followed Sisay down a street lined with shops where people repurpose metal objects. A craftsman looked up from his work to greet us each with a fist bump as we entered the narrow alley lined with people grinding and welding, and hammering all sorts of metal items. The sulfuric scent of heated metal hung in the air, and red-hot sparks fanned out from grinders as we balanced across piles of rebar that rested in the middle of the path. All of the sounds and smells that surrounded us actually gave me a warm feeling of nostalgia because they reminded me of one of my first jobs working in my art school’s metal studio. A couple of men carrying loads of rebar passed by us, and we all ducked out of the way as fast as we could.
After that, we emerged from the metal recycling street into an area dedicated to plastics, and marveled at a tower of stacked plastic crates that rose above all of the nearby shops.
This was the end point of our tour of the market, and I was enjoying it so much that I was reluctant to leave. I’ve been to a lot of markets in several different countries, but I had never been to another market quite like the Addis Mercato. This was definitely a unique experience, and totally worth a visit.
Our last stop of the day was to a souvenir and antique shop that was full of interesting treasures like old books and rooms piled high with Ethiopian Orthodox handicrafts. This shop was expansive, and every time I thought I’d seen everything, I’d turn a corner to find another huge room cluttered up with items. Honestly I could have done some serious shopping here if I wasn’t getting excessively tired. The day and a half without sleep was really wearing on me, and as I looked around at my friends, I could tell I wasn’t the alone.
Exhaustion was catching up to all of us, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel for the remainder of our layover. I managed to get a couple hours nap in before it was time to pack up and head back to the airport to continue on to our main destination of the trip. By the next morning, we would be arriving in Madagascar, a country that has been near the top of my travel wish list for several years. I couldn’t wait to continue our journey, and I was so glad we’d had the opportunity to briefly visit Addis Ababa along the way. It was definitely worth it to push through my tiredness for a chance to see such a unique city, and I would love to go back sometime and properly visit Ethiopia for more than just a day!
Check out my video of this awesome day tour on YouTube!
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