The children fall asleep before the plane takes off, fantastic timing. The crew offers a ‘basket’ for Zeno, so he sleeps in his own bed. Cleo stretches herself between Tim and Olga. After three hours, Zeno starts crying and we take him with us again. The children sleep for some 7 hours, so only 6 more to overcome.
Luckily breakfast is served, the in-flight entertainment system works for Cleo and Zeno, and they got a bag full of toys from the crew. We see the sun rise very slowly and at 6:30 local time we land in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
We received 4 free vouchers for a hotel stay to wait for the full 18 hours until our flight to Brussels departs. We expected a 30 year old dusty hotel, but in the plane there was an advertisement for our hotel with a spa, pool and big marble rooms. After the passport control, where we don’t get a tourist stamp for Ethiopia so we’re not sure what our status is when we leave the customs.
There is a stand for the transit hotel shuttle in the arrival hall and we have to wait for 30 minutes until the shuttle leaves. It’s only a 5 minute drive and we absorb everything we see as this might be the only streets we will see of Ethiopia.
The hotel is not as nice as in the in-flight advertisement, the pool is under construction, but it’s still a very fine hotel. We regret not accepting the second room they offered us, as the rooms are not big, but they have a balcony and bath. After a quick shower we go to the breakfast buffet that is offered in a huge room. We got three meal vouchers for breakfast, lunch and dinner, so we don’t have to spend anything.
The food is a bit old and not too appetising except for the huge plates of melon which we generously put on our plates. Back in our room we take a bath and although we feel the bad night sleep in our bodies and Cleo fell asleep on the bed, we decide to try to go to the national museum of Ethiopia today, to learn a bit more about the country.
There turns out to be a tour operator in the lobby. The operator confirms that we can leave the hotel although we don’t have a tourist visa, and after some negotiations we book a tour to the national museum and a mountain for $100. We thought of doing it ourselves but after reading the Belgian travel advice for Addis Ababa we decided we don’t need the added stress when we’re already tired.
It’s already lunch time, and lunch is much better than breakfast was, with curry, lasagne, fresh fruit again and many salads.
At 13, our private afternoon tour to the museum starts. Our guide comes with a separate driver and a big Landrover. He turns out to be an educated professional who used to lead big groups of tourist for weeks through Ethiopia. He knows a lot about the country, the tribes, the history and the culture and he shares his knowledge in an engaging but also modest fashion which we really enjoy. We come across some palaces of the old kings, current prime minister and president and buildings remembering the many deaths caused by the Italians when they to colonised Ethiopia.
The children are very tired and start crying when we exit the car at the museum. Nevertheless we focus on the 3,2 mln year old human ancestor Lucy, many artefacts, old coins, sculptures, modern paintings and ethnographic things. Our guide enriches all things we see by sharing his Ethiopian views.
Then we go to the mountain (+1000 meter from the city which is already on 2350 meter above sea level, ensuring a nice cool temperature in the 20s degrees) for a nice view on Addis Ababa. But when we start to climb, the rain also starts and when we reach the viewpoint all we see are grey clouds.
It does not really matter, also by driving through the city with our guide we got the feeling to get to know the city. Our guide offers a cup of Ethiopian coffee and a stroll around a market, but looking at our red cheeked children, we decide to call it a day and return to the hotel.
There we buy a second final ice cream of the holiday, Zeno falls asleep on the bed, and we play and chill in our hotel room until it’s dinner time. Dinner is another buffet with much salads, stews and water melon again. All in all, they take good care of us. Then, we pack our bags and go to bed for a short horizontal nap before we have to go to the airport again at 23:00. Unfortunately, the hotel system has us registered for different flights, so the hotel wake up call goes several times during our nap. We go to the lobby one hour early at 22 to get picked up by the hotel shuttle bus.
We don’t necessarily want to go back home, but also look forward to our own bed, food and school/work/stuff. Being away for so long turns out to be also a confirmation of how nice our lives at home are. Moreover, tomorrow is Cleo’s fourth birthday, and we look forward to celebrate it at home with her own toys and bed and friends. Home: we’re ready for you!
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