Long layover in Addis Ababa

An all day layover in Addis Ababa?  Funny enough, this layover option has come up for us numerous times.  Since we use airline miles for most of our international trips, and we sometimes don't book far enough advance, there are often limited options for flights at the lowest mileage trade-in.  It's come up as an option coming home from Thailand and coming home from the Philippines and both times we reconfigured our trip so we could avoid the long layover and the city entirely.  Why avoid Addis?  Well, I'll be honest.  From the quick research I had done in the past, Addis didn't seem like a city I was dying to go to, and I was a little intimidated about trying to spend a full day there.  There didn't seem to be much to see and it didn't seem like the most tourist friendly city and I was honestly just a little overwhelmed by the idea of it.  For this trip though, the only option home from Seoul (at the mileage point we wanted) was the long layover in Addis so it was either skip Seoul, or go to Addis.  We decided to finally go to Addis.  We had a 14 hr. layover and because that was a forced layover through Ethiopian Airlines, we were entitled to a free hotel room and a free transit visa so at least we wouldn't have to pay for that.  We ended up not even going to our free hotel after all and didn't have a problem spending the day in Addis.  Luckily, we found a tour group called GoAddis (that incidentally also was feature in an epsiode of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown) and they took great care of us!

We signed up for a half day tour with Go Addis and since it was an off-peak time, it was just the two of us, one other guy (European dude), the tour guide, and the driver.  Our tour guide was super nice and friendly and took us to some great places!

First, we went to Shola Market where they sold all types of goods and spices.  It was really neat going there with our guide because our guide was friendly with the vendors and was able to really show us things up close.  It also helped that he would keep any aggressive salespeople at bay.

 

 

Then we made our way up to Eto Mountain where we saw a church and museum.

  

Afterwards, we went to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant for lunch.  Funny enough, Ethiopian food is the one and only cuisine that Will and I REALLY don't care for.  We think most of the food is fine but we both have a hard time with the sour taste of the injera and anyone who has had Ethiopian food knows, the injera is eaten with everything.  In telling people we were going to Ethiopia, so many people commented on how jealous they were because they loved Ethiopian food when we both happened to hate it.  However, when it Rome (or Addis), right?  So, we both gave it a try again.  This time, I actually really liked it.  I think it helped that the injera here isn't nearly as sour as in the U.S.  Will thought it was better but still wasn't a big fan.

 

Afterwards, we went to try Ethiopian coffee at Tomoca Coffee which is the oldest coffee shop in Addis.  I was excited to try this because Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and because we didn't get the opportunity to participate in one of the traditional 2-hour coffee ceremonies.  So what is Ethiopian coffee like?  Apparently, strong.  I had to get mine with milk and add quite a bit of sugar to make it tasty!

 

Afterwards, we headed to the National Museum of Ethiopia to see their main attraction: the skeletal remains of "Lucy" who is the oldest hominin every discovered, who walked upright and lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago.  They only have about 40% of her skeleton but what is on display is actually a replica.  The real skeleton is is in safe storage.  While the fact that it was a replica is a little disappointing, it was still neat to see and to read the museum descriptions.

 

After our half day tour was over, Will and I decided to make our own way to the Luxury Sheraton hotel which is easily the nicest hotel in Addis Ababa.  Our plan was to spend the rest of the evening doing spa treatments there and getting dinner before going back to the airport to head home.  Sadly though, the spa was under renovations so that was a major disappointment.  On the bright side, the hotel pool was open so we basically just hung out in the heated pool (with underwater music playing) until it was time for dinner, at one of the hotel restaurants, before heading home.

Overall, I really enjoyed the 14 hour layover in Addis.  Would I have picked it?  Probably not.  Would I want to return?  Eh, I'd probably pass.  But with our truly kind and competent tour guide, I felt comfortable the entire time and I'm actually super glad that we went.  It was a unique experience that I'll definitely remember!