From Keren to Asmara Eritrea - November 30 2007

 

We wake up at 3:30 and at 4:00 we are at the Keren bus station for an early bus to Asmara. Already a line of some 40 people is ahead of us for the first bus to enter. Many more will follow after us, dropping a personal item at the end of the queue to claim their position.

I am one of the last to have a seat in the first bus, but fortunately I have a seat in the front next to the driver, guaranteeing an easy exit at the checkpoints. When we pass the Keren checkpoint, the military don't want me to leave the bus. It is too dark to fulfill the emigration procedures. Only the ID cards and papers are checked.

At the Asmara checkpoint again I can stay in the bus, The travel permit is collected and returned by the military. At 8:00 we are in Asmara. With a taxi we return to our residence in the Corea Housing Complex, where we have a few hours of sleep.

In the afternoon I return to the center of Asmara, to stroll the streets of its historic perimeter. Some of the buildings in Harnet Avenue are packed in scaffolding and blue plastic. Temporary basins filled with cement for the plastering of the monuments, block the pavement of Asmara's main street. The renovation of numerous key buildings defined by CARP to preserve Asmara's architectural heritage is now in progress.

The more than 400 buildings, remaining from the Italian occupation period are part of Eritrea's history, but have long been neglected during the era of British and Ethiopian occupation and are now in a sad state of maintenance. With support of the World Bank a large scale rehabilitation program has started to preserve the colonial historic buildings.

To improve my sense of directions and to fulfill my daily health program, I walk the distance from the center up to my family in Sembel, passing the Nacfa building, Tegadelti Street, Godaif and the Sembel Residential Complex.

 

Bus station (for Keren and the Anseba region) - Asmara Eritrea.

Bus station (for Keren and the Anseba region) - Asmara Eritrea.

Bus station (for Keren and the Anseba region) - Asmara Eritrea.

Dessila (Damera Bar) - Harnet Avenue Asmara Eritrea.

Semaetat Avenue - Harnet Avenue Asmara Eritrea

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Luwam - Asmara Eritrea.

The streets of Sembel - Asmara Eritrea.

The streets of Sembel - Asmara Eritrea.

 

 

Telephone cards Eritel 2007 with themes of the Dahlak Archipelago. These
(used) cards are for sale. The proceeds will be for beneficiaries in Asmara.