Eritrea travel guide

The Eritrean capital of Asmara is not at all what you might expect from an African capital of one of the poorest countries on Earth. Firstly, as the 6th highest capital city, Asmara literally elevates you above the heat and humidity plaguing neighbouring big cities. But Asmara's cool feel is more than mere geography. The anarchy and chaos of places like Djibouti or Addis have not made their way here. Wide boulevards remain largely uncongested and shockingly orderly. While the city may lack any significant tourist sites, it's instead the Italian influenced, street-side cafe culture that ends up filling your day. People watching is the name of the game. Although considering Eritrea is also one of the least visited countries on Earth, most of those people are likely watching you!

Eritrea is hardly teeming with major attractions and sites to distract the checklist ticking tourist. But what it lacks in architectural grandeur, it more than make up for in the authentic culture department. Several hours north of the capital, in the regional town of Keren, something magical happens every Monday. In a dry riverbed, a market springs forth from the dust. And from the surrounding countryside come a seemingly endless stream of villagers, with camels in tow, attempting to sell their wares. The sights, sounds and smells are exactly what a village market should be. There is no Disney-fying for the tourist masses, there simply aren't any. Just you, some camels and a lot of staring locals.

It can be rare for any country to show two completely different identities, even rarer for smaller countries. But the Eritrean coastal town does just that. In stark contrast to the Christian influenced Italian colonial architecture all over the central highlands of the country, Massawa sports a very different Islamic flavoured Ottoman style of buildings. The very small old town, on a tiny island barely connected to the mainland by a man-made causeway, cannot be judged on its square footage alone. The labyrinth of tiny alleyways is literally littered with architectural gems, using dry corals for walls and imported wood for window shutter, all in a slow but steady process of decay. There is no Disneyfication here. Massawa is real with the grim and toil of hundreds of years hanging heavy in the air.