I feel a bit foolish about my trip in March of this year as I did little research and had no idea there is a low-level civil war going on in this region.

So I was a bit surprised that I was the only westerner on board the pricy flight from Addis.

Then we I took the shared van transport from the Lalibela Airport into town, there was delay at a military checkpoint but nothing major.

So part of the opposition faction's attack on the government is cutting off the electric to Lalibela, so very quiet nights and internet was available only art a couple of the best hotels. I stayed at the quite comfortable Sora Lodge where there were also a few brave European tour group participants.

My visit was fairly brief as I arrived on a Friday and departed on a Monday but saw + experienced all off what I attended and was pleased to visit a place I always wanted see, fascinating.

The Saturday market was an unique experience where people travel from villages from miles around to sell their wares and then attend the huge church services on Sunday. You can see how dreadfully poor it is in the region but apparently rains have been quite good so there was plenty of fresh fruit +| veg in the markets.

I was looking at some handmade sort of shawls a lady was selling in the market that I was not terribly interested in buying but the lady found an young local English speaker who explained there have been no tourists and no sales for a long time, so I bought the fanciest one that she had the was rather detailed.

Later I was looking for this famous beer pub (quite good beer there) but it was closed due to the conflict, Covid, lack of tourists............ but I found this little shop that sold gem stones and other oddities. The two men operating the place were some of the nicest people I have met anywhere and they insisted on being my guide over the next couple days.

First we went to buy some local honey that I wanted, then we went to a sort of butcher shop / outdoor pub that was the busiest spot in town where the specialty was 'raw meat' and St George beer. I did not partake in the raw meat but it looked better than expected and sold for the paltry price USD 1 or 2 (in Addis the same dish was $7 or 8)

The next day I met one of the guys for a tour of the primary 7 rock hewn churches and it was funny that I needed my white shawl (many compliments on the embroidery ;-) as everyone wears something similar to this for prayer service, there were thousands of people, quite a sight. We hiked around for several hours and saw various ceremonies in different churches.

After which we went to a famous outdoor cafe where we spoke with many of the other locals who had questions for me and were just curious about life outside Ethiopia. We were both invited to the home of his colleague (a gem cutter / polisher) where his wife served us an excellent local meal. He explained how he wanted to build an inn where his wife would also offer beauty treatments etc.

The day earlier I had asked if there were any local artists creating paintings or drawings and after dinner he said we would now go to meet the most famous local artist. We went to an outdoor terrace above the town where I treated everyone to a couple beers to attempt to repay their kindness. These guys were not drinkers and this would be considered an expensive outing.

All these guys were somewhat worldly people considering they lived in such a remote town as we discussed a wide variety of topics while looking at this artists work.

I think it is possible to visit Lalibela now but probably best with a tour and ultimately there is some risk but my trip was uneventful regarding any trouble and I am glad I went, an incredible place.

Thank you for this report.

Ethiopia has long been my my wish list. Unfortunately, due to the political situation, I think it's going to have to wait a bit longer. I do know that some of the smaller and more adventuresome European tour groups regularly do schedule tours there. Someday.....

Lalibela was a well known tourist destination some 50 years ago.
Like Leptis Magna, Sabratha, Sana'a, Apamea, Ugarit, Palmyra, Kandahar, Herat, Kabul, Mandalay...........
But things changed since then......

Julies: Me, too. My Uncle lived there in the 1950s-1960s and, although he was very well traveled, he always maintained that there was no country on earth as beautiful as Ethiopia. I've always wanted to go, as well, but not sure about the situation today for tourists..

I travelled there years ago - travelled from Cairo to Cape town. They have the most beautiful churches, they think that that is where christianity started - but sadly you can't get within a street of the men's churches, women's churches are not as amazing good food too!

several churches have Mass on Sundats

the most well-known church

amazing that all thse churches were carved from rock over 30 or so years

this was one of the Sunday services

Corrected typos in thread's title