Asmara

Recalling the sunny day, I sat on the Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Asmara, it was going to be my second trip to Eritrea. In contrast to my two European friends accompanying me, I could hardly keep my thoughts calm. Thinking of how things might be today and of what might have changed since my last visit.

“Are the same people still going to be around?” , “Is the hairdresser salon of the old Eritrean-Italian couple still existing? “Gianni e Gina”, I think that was the name ,”.

All I knew was, that I am going to focus my travel activities on Massawa and the Red Sea this time. During my first visit to Eritrea I basically spent all my holiday in Asmara, doing the well known “family thing”. When we arrived things seemed to have slightly changed and after a short stay in Asmara we packed our luggage and headed towards the bus station.

The buses were slightly smaller than they used to be, which was good, as it shortened the waiting time until the bus filled with passengers in order to depart.

When the bus started the journey, I sank back into the seat and took a deep breath trying to get rid of my small jet lag.

Shortly, after we passed the outskirts of Asmara we reached the mountain slopes leading down from the highlands of Eritrea towards the lowlands around the Red Sea coast.

The view out of the bus and into the wide mountains and deep valleys was so impressive, it seemed unchanged since God created land on the third day. Meanwhile, Eritrean music was playing in the bus, while a mix of passengers consisting of young soldiers, local farmers and some elderly women joined the singer on the tape.

This is a wonderful phenomena you can only witness in few places on earth, and Eritrea is definitely one of them. It nearly broke my heart to see that in music they find their shelter and in music they find the peace they look for.

We arrived in Massawa in the late afternoon with the intention to check in at the Red Sea Hotel, which offers diving and snorkeling boat trips to a nearby island.

Unfortunately, rooms were fully booked so that we had to make our way to Gurgusum Beach Hotel in the outskirts of Massawa. However, before we set off to Gurgusum we succeeded in arranging a boat trip with the Red Sea Hotel to a nearby island for the next morning .

The next day after breakfast we arrived at the Red Sea Hotel. Two friendly employees took us to the diving and snorkel equipment center for a little introduction in water sports. I was quite impressed with the professionalism of the staff and how well equipped the facility was.

Our instructor was called Luciano and one could figure out that he had already done this hundred times before as he displayed an unbelievable routine in what he was doing .

This should be no surprise as thousands of Eritreans from all over the world possibly flock each year to Massawa to get their share of the red sea.

On the Boat

Meanwhile, we were given instructions in safety issues while out on sea and had to choose fitting diving fins, diving suits and snorkel equipment. To my surprise Luciano gave me a fishing rod and told me he will bring us to the island and pick us up from the island after 11 hours.

When I inquired about the fishing rod, Luciano told me it would be a great help in case I would like to catch fish for lunch. Somehow, I could hardly imagine myself catching a fish and I was proved right later.

The weather was beautiful and when we set off starting the engines of the boat we could see the silhouette of Massawa behind us, slowly becoming smaller and smaller. After we have been dropped off on the island by Luciano, he returned back with the boat to the main land, promising to pick us up again later in the evening.

We were told that the best coral reef for snorkeling was not that far away from the island, so it was easy for us to make several dives that day.

My first snorkling session ever introduced me to a wonderful and completely new dimension of nature. My only fear was that some shark could have me on his menue instead of me having fish for lunch. Especially, after one of the instructors told us earlier that his right big toe was bitten off by a Barracuda fish while diving.

Old Mosque Green Island

While I was scanning the under water world floating on the surface, I realised that no single fish close by would scare away from me.

Many times before I have heard that fish around the waters of Eritrea are not used to humans, because they hardly ever met any and therefore, do not shy away. After each snorkel session we would swim back to the island for water and a little break in the shadow next to seagulls and other marine birds.

The only building on the island was the old remains of a former mosque, everything else was made out of sand and a few trees and bushes. Due to the tranquility of the place, we could for the first time lay back and reflect on all the impressions made so far

To our surprise we realised after several hours that we were not alone on the island, because suddenly two men appeared out of the blue. The men told us that they were collecting sea shells on the island to make their living. I was told, Eritrea is exporting sea shells to Italy.

The Italians require the material for manufacturing exclusive shell buttons for Italian designer shirts. After our small talk with the men we went to collect our equipment as we were expecting Luciano to soon be back to pick us up with the boat as darkness was approaching on the horizon.

On our return to the mainland my friends promised me to go for dinner in the center of Massawa, because since I did not catch a single fish, we were starving to death. In the night, the center of Massawa shines as Arabic as the Old Souk of Doha and appeared to me as exiting as Sindbad’s fairy tales.

Everything seemed to be kept very simple and natural with no big tourism fuss, which I liked very much. The shops, bars and restaurants reminded me rather on Sudanese or Middle Eastern culture compared to the Italian style of Asmara.

When we finally made it to the restaurant, it was striking that hundreds of wild cats were strolling around looking to catch a piece of fish from the tables around Massawa’s restaurants. The grilled fish I was served came with a spicy tomato souse they called “Souse a la Somali”, but without beer as the they did not serve alcohol due to Islamic law. After we finished our late dinner we walked through a wonderful night in Massawa and returned tired from the excursion to our hotel.

The following days, I could not stop dreaming about fish until we returned to Asmara and our diet changed to dorho with injera (Eritrean Style Chicken).