Farewell to Harar...

Zoe & I outside the Traditional Harari Guest House we stayed at...   Zoe exploring the formal sitting room decorated from floor to ceiling in traditional arts & crafts...     The boys will play Football (Soccer) anywhere and anyone is welcome to join in!    Harar beer...in our opinion the best beer in Ethiopia....   So of course being in Harar itself we HAD to have some...     Walking in the rain...   Leaving Harar...   Local huts made from different materials collected...  On the road again...  
Small town camel...     View from a tukul... Ethiopian Highlands - farmland...     My blessed tribe...  

These are the last pictures from the Harar part of our journey last July. From Harar we headed east back towards Addis Ababa with a stop at Awash National Park. 

It was such a great journey together...memories made.

Rimbaud's Harar...

“A thousand Dreams within me softly burn”
 

~Arthur Rimbaud

The view from French poet, Arthur Rimbaud's house The gorgeous windows of his house... Taking it all in... Zoe fell asleep while dad contemplated the view & life! Quotes adorned the walls...  

"Free and soaring, trailing a violet haze,
Shot through the sky, a reddening wall
Wet with the jam of poets’ inspiration,
Lichens of sun, and snots of bright blue sky;"

                                                                              

                                                                            ~ from "The Drunken Boat" by Aurthur Rimbaud

 

 

 Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud  (20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891)

 

 

 Rimbaud (self-portrait) in Harar in 1883.

 

 

French poet , Arthur Rimbaud was a  restless soul who spent his 37 years on earth traveling through three continents in search of himself. He came to live in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1880 as he became friends with the Governor of Harar, Ras Makonnen (the father of the future Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie). In Harar, Rimbaud worked in the coffee trade as the first ever European to do business there. Rimbaud's poetry, as well as his life, influenced many 20th century writers, musicians and artists from Pablo Picasso to Jim Morrison. 

 

These images are from 'Rimbaud's House' in Harar, however, it is unclear if this is the original house that he lived in or just the site. Either way, it was a magical place in which to get out of the rain and explore.

 

 

 

Inside the "The City of Saints":Harar

Entering the modern part of Harar Fruit & veggies for sale
    One of the five main gates into the old walled city of Harar Jugol, which was included in the World Heritage List in 2006 by UNESCO in recognition of its cultural heritage. Driving along the outside of the wall Small Mosque Little boy & heart etched graffiti Another of the five gates...the Western gate Inside the walled city ~ with over 360 twisting and winding alleys squeezed into 1 square kilometer The colours of the houses & walls were so amazing especially on this misty day     "Narrow Lane" My eldest, Owen & a beautiful blue wall The women, be them maidens, mothers or crone, amaze me... Kai, my second son has a huge heart that often has questions about what he is experiencing thus is never too far from me as we travel in Ethiopia...     Me & my boys...  

Harar is the Islam capital of Ethiopia and it is sometimes known in Arabic as "the City of Saints" ("Madinat al-Awilya"). This tiny ancient city is crammed with 82 mosques, colourful markets, coffee shops and crumbling walls. 

Since being founded in the 7th century by Arab immigrants, it has been a major trading center, linked by the trade routes with the rest of Ethiopia, the entire Horn of Africa, the ports of the Arabian Peninsula  to the outside world. 

Even though I've never been to Morocco, but it reminds me of it and makes me dream of traveling to Morocco even more!