Woke up in our amazing big beds for an early run to try and tackle that altitude "issue" again (or maybe I'm just consoling myself for my loss of aerobic capacity...!). It was worth it for the gorgeous scenery, sweat therapy, and some fun interactions with local people (some more annoying than fun, but we'll go for the positive spin!). After running I did some quick yoga in the hotel room (well, I tried to do it outside in the garden, but way too much attention was elicited!), and then had breakfast at Unique Cafe with Kwaz. Highlight: managed to get some oatmeal today, which was a nice change up from the egg sandwiches (so we had them for lunch later instead!) and definitely the best coffee so far!
Then, we headed out to see the Northwestern group of 6 churches: Bet Medhane Alem, Bet Meskal, Bet Danaghel, Bet Golgotha, Bet Mikael, and the Selassie Chapel. This group of churches was definitely more consolidated than the ones we saw yesterday, and we managed to see them all before lunch, which was much more quickly than we anticipated. The architecture was more similar between the churches in this group, and they were definitely gorgeous, but I think I preferred the group from the previous day with the twisting tunnels and more intricate designs. This group, however, did have more symbolism written up in the Lonely Planet, so we spent a fair amount of time trying to identify various features and understand better what we were looking at.
For the 12-2pm break time, Kwaz and read for a long time at a place called Alif Paradise Hostel and watched dive bombing black flies crash into the window, but at least they weren't flying in our faces! We then climbed the cobblestone hills to find something delicious, and yes, had a great egg sandwich for lunch before hitting up the final must-see, Bet Giorgis. This final church is the famous, cross-shaped one that is in many post cards of ancient Ethiopia. It really is worth the hype, and we both loved this one, possibly best. We were also the only ones visiting it at the time, so it had to be opened just for us, which made it seem even more special. There is a bit of a hike from the main road, down a path, down lots of stairs, and through some passageways to actually get to the bottom of the church. The first view is at the top and it's crazy to imagine how this church was seemingly carved out of the earth rather than built upon it. I am not sure of the geologic history, but I would love to know how it was discovered and the excitement that surely followed.
After St. George's (Bet Giorgis), we battled the flies and thought about reading in one of our favorite, peaceful churches until they'd all close at 5pm. However, we really couldn't stand the flies (imagine us with our scarves covering our entire faces plus sunglasses on and still getting attacked!), so we decided to just trek back up the hills and get to the hotel. It was a good decision - we were pretty spent from all the chaos in the streets and all the walking by the time we got to our room. Our energy pretty depleted, we decided that a St. George's beer (in honor of today's visit!) was in order and spent a good amount of time chatting, journaling, and enjoying some good reflection, which always is in hyper mode for me when traveling. I am really lucky and grateful for the wonderful, understanding friends I have in this life!
We followed the half beers up with some delicious lentil soup at Unique Cafe (sense a theme?!), and awesome homemade bread before some final nighttime reading and early bed. I could get used to this life.
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