Adventures in Africa: Stopover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Today I benefited from a stopover in Addis Ababa courtesy of Ethiopian Airlines. I am en route to Comoros, but unfortunately my original Precision Air flight was rescheduled such that it no longer worked for me. I had to pivot and fly Ethiopian instead, only it means staying over in Addis (which, yes, is the opposite direction). It is my first time flying Ethiopian, and I was eager to learn more about their stopover program and see if it indeed worked as advertised. 

At check in at the airport in Zanzibar I identified that I wanted to participate in the program, and so I was given a voucher. My ETA in Addis was 14:40 today and my ETD tomorrow is 10:00, so Ethiopian is giving me transit to/from the airport, a night in the Skylight Hotel (which they own), and lunch, dinner, and breakfast at the hotel. Definitely the experience is so good that it will make me want to fly Ethiopian again. 

There were queues for the bus to the hotel and for check-in at the hotel, but nothing unreasonable. Also, although I never enjoy waiting in queues, the hotel lobby is not a bad place to wait!

The lunch buffet closes at 16:00, but I was checked in in time to go straight to get some late lunch. I was given meal vouchers like these--you can use them at the buffet, or they are good for a certain amount off at any of the hotel's other restaurants.

After lunch I went up to see my room. Not too shabby!

By the way, Skylight Hotel claims to be the largest hotel on the African continent.

The view from my window was underwhelming, but I decided to head out of the Skylight compound and explore the neighbourhood.

I had considered taking a taxi into the centre of the city, but time felt tight to do anything too ambitious so I decided to prioritize enjoying the hotel. I knew I would regret not seeing anything outside of the hotel, however, so I identified a cathedral on the map to walk to. I passed a compound flying a Canadian flag on the way. There were actually embassies on this block as well, but this is not the Canadian embassy; perhaps it is the ambassador's residence?

I reached the cathedral and it was indeed a nice place to walk to and around, although I did not go inside.

I looped back to the hotel. This is one of the Skylight Hotel compound's gates and you can see how serious of a place it is! 

There are several buildings in the compound, and lots going on.

I decided to visit the pool next, which was very quiet and peaceful despite all the bustling outside.

Back in Edmonton my neighbourhood has many residents from the Horn of Africa, so I eat Habesha food regularly, but I wanted to try it here, since it is my first time actually being in the Horn of Africa. So for dinner I made use of my voucher to visit the Ethiopian Ta'em Cultural Restaurant.

As an appetizer I was served some sort of bread and dips that I have not encountered before.

I was excited to be able to order a St. George beer because these have proven very difficult to find in Canada over the last few years.

The other thing I do not encounter in Canada is the "fasting" and "non-fasting" distinction on the menu. 

This is what Wikipedia says: "It is generally agreed, and asserted by the Church itself, that the fasting regime of the Ethiopian Church is the strictest of any Church, with 180 mandatory fasting days for laypeople and up to 252 days for clergy and the particularly observant." The fasting generally involves avoiding dairy, meat, and eggs. Anyway, I ordered the "Non-Fasting (1 Person)," but how one person is to eat all of this I have no idea!

I made my best effort and it was certainly a delicious meal.

After dinner I walked outside and across to the second hotel building to see what it was like.

I enjoyed seeing the display of models of Ethiopian Airlines planes in the lobby. 

I ended my evening at the bar with pistachio ice cream and a Coke bottle with Ge'ez script (sorry that is not featured better in the photo below!).