Lalibella & Howzen

Inside of a Howzen rock church 800 years before King Lalibella's rock churches

Rock Climbing (don't let go!)

Had to follow the priest up to the church

Deanna and I in Howzen

Had to rock climb up to this church

Howzen

A rock church outside of lalibella under a rock cliff

The Rock church of King Lalibella himself

                      Walking into one of the rock churches

Lalibella Church

Priests Praying

St. Jerges Church at Lalibella

Walking down into St. Jerges Church down inside of the rock

Inside of one of the rock churches in Lalibella

After All Volunteer Conference (AVC) I decided it was time to see a bit more of Ethiopia and so a fellow PCV and I took a trip to Lalibella. Ethiopians are deeply religious people and Lailbella is one of the most holiest places in the country.The town of Lalibella is named after King Gebre Meskal Lalibella reigning in the late 12th century and is famous for the monolithic rock-cut churches. There was a total of 13 rock churches built in clusters of 3-4 during the kings time. The craftmanship of the internal structures of these churches were amazing for the times. above are some pictures

Our final destination was a tiny village 3 hours north of Mekele called Howzen. It was said that Howzen was founded by a set of christian missionaries that came over during the reign of King Kaleb over 800 years before the time of King Laliballa. We went again to see a set of rock churches in the area. These rock churches are a bit different instead of the churches being separated from the rock entirely expect for the floor, like in Lalibella. These churches were built on cliff sides of rock mountains. So they entail a hike and a rock climbing portion till you finally reach the entrance to the church.  Then there is a hole you climb into to actually see inside the church. Also attached are some pictures. There are typically well preserved paintings on the sides of the walls and along the arches and are pretty amazing.