Things to do
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Debre Berhan Selassie
Winged angel faces cover the ceiling of a small rectangular church on a rise east of the centre, painted in the late seventeenth century and spared when Mahdist raiders burned the rest. Wall panels show the Trinity and the lives of saints. Shoes are removed at the door, and the interior is dark enough to need patience.
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Fasil Ghebbi
Stone castles, a banqueting hall and a library stand inside a walled compound raised by Emperor Fasilides and his successors, an unusual meeting of Ethiopian, Portuguese and Indian building. Lions were once kept in cages near the wall. A single ticket covers the site and the bath across town, and guides wait at the entrance.
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Fasilides' Bath
A stone pavilion sits in a sunken rectangular pool ringed by fig roots that have swallowed the enclosing wall. Water is channelled in once a year for Timkat, when the pool is blessed and swimmers plunge in at dawn. Outside the festival the basin stays dry, and the trees are the draw.
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Kuskuam
Ruined halls and a church on a hillside west of town belonged to Empress Mentewab, whose remains were kept on display in a side building for years. The setting is quiet and the view across the valley is wide. A short drive or a steady climb gets there, and a caretaker opens the church.
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Simien Mountains National Park
Escarpment country north of Gondar falls away in cliffs and pinnacles above a lowland haze, with gelada troops feeding on the grass at the rim and walia ibex on the crags. Treks run from day walks at Sankaber to week long routes towards Ras Dashen. A scout is compulsory and nights are near freezing.