Thursday, February 20, 2025
Monday, January 20, 2025
Medhane Alem Ethiopian Orthodox Cathedral
January 20, 2025
St George slaying the dragon
With an 8+ hour layover at Addis Ababa, the airline offer a free hotel room and transit visa. I had planned to visit Lucy (1) at the National Museum, but it is closed for renovations.
A ten minute walk away from the hotel is the Medhane Alem Cathedral (2) of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (3). Finished in 1931, the style is unlike other churches I have seen, featuring a square design with porticos all around. While the interior was closed, the exterior has brilliant blue mosaics ensconsed in niches under the porticos. I sat and enjoyed the fresh air, breeze and relative quiet (4) while the faithful came, knelt, crossed themselves 3 times (in the Orthodox way), and kissed the icons.
Turning to leave before dark (5), music suddenly was broadcast through speakers in the church. I lingered to listen to the music and the birdsong from the trees nearby.
(1) Lucy's skelton are the oldest hominid remains ever found; her DNA is in all humans alive today. A sign at the airport says "Welcome to your motherland."
(2) Transliterated from the Amharic (a) መድኃኔዓለም ካቴድራል meaning "Savior of the World."
(a) Like Hebrew and Arabic, Amharic is a Semetic language.
(3) Western Ethiopia is mainly Christian, dating from the Christianization of the Kingdom of Akzum in 331, C.E. Eastern Ethiopia is predominantly Muslim.
(4) Relative to Mumbai, the skies were clear and cars honked their horns only when they needed to!
(5) I wanted to return in the daylight mostly to avoid falling in a hole in the sidewalk.
The Cathedral
Unlike Eastern Orthodox depictions, there is no lower bar on the cross
Madonna
Richly carved doors
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Panorama Point, Matheran
January 19, 2025
About 600 feet below Matheran Hill top, a salient extends north to the (aptly named) Panorama Point. The trail goes past Amman Lodge, the last point cars can go towards Matheran, and from which shuttle trains run to the Hill Station (1) We were glad to quickly pass the cacophony at the parking lot and rejoin the trail on the far side.
As with our hike yesterday, almost no one was on the trail north of Amman Lodge; we encountered a total of 5 people on the 3 miles (round trip) to the point along the slightly overgrown path. The point offers sweeping 270° views to the surrounding hills and countryside. Below the point, the rail line makes a sweeping curve below the salient, with the location of the ascending train readily discernable by the noise of the straining engine. The hike back up to the hotel completed the 6 mile hike, with 600 feet of down and up.
For the descent back to the main line at Neral, we opted for a 20 minute taxi ride, rather than the 2+ hours on the train (2). Buying a ticket at Neral for Mumbai, the ticket seller remembered my friend; I think he was impressed by her victory in the ticket-purchase skirmish yesterday.
The increasing crowds and noise reflected the Sunday "mega block," which we were unaware of. The mega block is a mass cancellation/delay of trains on Sundays. After more than an hour, a jammed train came, which people shoved onto before it even stopped. I'm surprised people didn't fall out the other side of the open-door cars. After some fruitless haggling with the local taxis about a ride to Mumbai (3), we returned to the station, where the nearly-empty 2:11 train came at 3:15, a half hour after the mobbed 2:30 train.
After a hectic day, we opted for a nice hotel near the airport, a short Metro ride from Ghatkopar station (4), well north of the Mumbai Central area.
(1) The same process used in Zermatt, Switzerland, where cars drive to the penultimate station on the line, with frequent shuttle trains to car-free Zermatt.
(2) While always enjoying a narrow-guage train ride, it was a bit long yesterday, and we would have arrived back to Mumbai much later.
(3) Mumbai traffic is apparently monumental, and the local taxis prefer just to go to and from Matheran.
(4) The Mumbai metro is fairly new (and air-conditioned) and people actually line up in a reasonably organized manner to get on.
Walking down to the salient
At Amman Lodge: He's a Good Boy
Overgrown trail, Panorama Point in the distance
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