Meh! to the camelot thing. Maybe a lazy reference to Tolkien – the real siege of Gond(o)ar suits better? Certainly the sight of these 18th Century (and later) castles, churches, libraries and saunas seem utterly fantastical. I’m owning the eurocentricty of getting excited about castles and wolves ,(see earlier posts) in Africa. Anyway, Gondar didn’t disappoint..
Fasilides Castle
The royal enclosure
Each new king added a castle…
or a library….
Queen Mentowab (Ethiopia’s Cleopatra) built some of the best castles… and stables and dining castles…
Most are in good nick, except for bomb damage by the Brits in 1941. Turns out they were the good guys for a change, flushing out the Italians last stand in Gondar. The real “siege of Gonda(o)r”.
Lovely images