The world’s third-highest capital city, Addis Ababa – literally ‘New Flower – boasts a temperate climate and well-watered setting that defies popular expectations of Ethiopia. It was founded in the 1880s as the imperial capital of Menelik II and has served as headquarters of the African Union since 1963. Now a sprawling city of four million, Addis Ababa is the main air gateway to the country, and it combines a cosmopolitan outlook with a proudly Ethiopia sense of tradition.
Discover Addis Ababa
Some excellent museums explore various facets of Ethiopia’s storied past. At one extreme, the National Museum documents a 5.5-million-year hominid fossil record that substantiates Ethiopia’s claim to be the Cradle of Humankind. At the other, the chilling Red Terror Martyrs’ Memorial Museum deals with the genocide committed under the Derg regime of 1975-91.
Addis Ababa is renowned for its ‘cultural restaurants’. Thatched in traditional tukul-style buildings, these serve a wide range of fiery meat and vegan Ethiopian dishes and host colorful music and dance performances that highlight the country’s incredible cultural diversity.
The city’s oldest functioning church, octagonal Entoto Maryam is where Emperor Menelik II was coronated in 1889. Emperor Haile Selassie was crowned in St George’s Cathedral in 1830 and is now buried in the Arabesque Trinity Cathedral.
Tiya Stelae Field is a UNESCO World Heritage Site whose 36 engraved megaliths were erected in the 13th century to mark mysterious mass graves of soldiers laid to rest in a fetal position. It can be visited as a day trip out of Addis Ababa in conjunction with the rock-hewn church of Adadi Maryam.
