GONDAR, ETHIOPIA (PART ONE)
Gondar is a city of about 1/4 million people (possibly more) in northwestern Ethiopia (elevation approximately 7000 feet). It has a lot of castles and churches from the 17th and 18th Centuries.

This is Part I of the pics--go here for Part II.

First, a view of the city from a nearby hill (at Kuskuam)...



Like with Addis Ababa, there was new development in Gondar (though on a much smaller scale)...



Just a few blocks away (surprisingly close to the city center) were views like this...



Gondar has a royal enclosure (Fasil Ghebbi) which has old castles and other buildings, mostly from the 17th Century. This includes Fasilides' Castle...









Inside Fasilides' Castle (unfortunately, you couldn't go to the top of the tower)...





There were good views of the compound from Fasilides' castle...



Another view from Fasilides' castle towards a more wooden area that included (non-native) jacarandas in moderate bloom...



Iyasu's castle is right next to Fasilides' castle...





Inside Iyasu's castle...



Nearby was some wild African soapberry (also known as endod)--Phytolacca dodecandra. This is closely related to pokeweed from the US...





Yohanness' castle...



Fasil's archive...







A view with both Yohanness' castle and Fasil's archive...



Dawit's Castle...



Messih Segged Bekafa's castle...





Mintiwab's castle...



Looking out to nearby parts of town from near Bekafa's castle...



A few miscellaneous pictures (including ruins) from Fasil Ghebbi...





Just outside of Fasil Ghebbi is a street with interesting gates...





Go here for Part II of Gondar.

All of the above pictures on this page were taken in March 2016 by Brandt Maxwell.

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