Debre Libanos

Depart Addis Ababa at 07:30am. At slightly over 100 km from Addis Ababa, Debre Libanos is one of the best day trips from the Ethiopian capital. The church is monumental and pretty awful on the outside, but the stained -glass windows are attractive.

Debre Libanos has one of the most interesting church museums in Ethiopia. Besides the usual ecclesiastical item there are Italian guns, giant cooking pots, crowns of past emperors and their wives, musical instrument and an old wooden shackles. Fifteen minutes up the hills from the monastery is the cave of tekla Haimanot ( the monastery founder ), where the saint is said to have done all this praying , it is also the source of Debre Libanos famed holy water.

What to bring

• Comfortable Walking Shoes
• Sunscreen and hat
• Sunglasses