Our adventures in Ethiopia’s holy city of Lalibela continued (see them all here) as we explored some of the amazing rock-hewn churches and met the pilgrims who give, despite having next to nothing.
We explored some of the amazing rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, our favourites being the famous Bet Giyorgis and Bet Maryam (House of Mary) which is by far the most elaborately decorated of the Lalibela churches. It is also the church that hosts the main Christmas celebration. We spent ages just sitting in or near the churches watching the people entering and exiting these churches as they continued on their pilgrimage. It can get pretty intense inside the churches. It’s dark and you’re the only foreigners surrounded by hundreds of pilgrims, all murmuring a prayer or singing under their breaths. A bit freaky, but also really humbling and peaceful. Despite the fact that Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, the people are incredibly generous, to the church and to beggars. Its quite humbling to see people who cant even afford to buy proper shoes giving a portion of what little they do have to those even less fortunate than themselves.
