Face of Africa Tours offers a full day city tour, to visit the main attractions of Addis Ababa. We start with a visit to the Entoto Mountain, where the city was first established, the Ethnographic Museum, the perfect introduction to the Ethiopian culture and lifestyles, located inside the main campus of Addis Ababa University, in Sidist Kilo. The building that hosts this museum was once Emperor Haile Selassie’s palace. Continue with a visit to the National Museum, home to ancient fossils and other fascinating artifacts. A replica of Lucy, the famous three and a half million year old skeleton found in the Afar region, is found in this building. After a lunch break in Taitu Hotel, the oldest hotel in Addis Ababa, situated in the former Italian neighbourhood of Piazza, we will have a delicious Ethiopian coffee at Tomoca, the oldest and first coffee roasting business in Ethiopia. Afterwards, the tour continues with a visit to the Trinity Cathedral, a 19th century baroque style church adorned by statues of angels and saints, very different from the Ethiopian traditional churches, where Haile Selassie and his wife men are buried, also has an adjacent cemetery where the graves of many important Ethiopian figures can be viewed. Finally, the tour ends with a stop in Merkato, the largest open market in Africa, where you can find all kinds of goods.
Addis Ababa (“New flower” in Amharic) is the third highest capital in the world with an altitude of 2,400 m. Founded in 1887 by Emperor Menelik II, it is also known as the capital of Africa for hosting multiple international institutions such as the African Union Commission and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Multicultural and full of authentic places, Addis is constantly growing and becoming one of the most vibrant places in Africa.