The Taitu is the hotel my Italian and I stayed in while we were in Addis Ababa.  We both really liked it and I would recommend it to others of you that might visit Addis Ababa someday. Built at the whim of Empress Taitu in 1907, it is the oldest hotel in Addis, and the main building is virtually a museum piece full of beautiful old furniture.

The interior of the Taitu Hotel:

The restaurant downstairs is reasonably priced and is quite good. If you choose to eat outside, you can hang out with the cats too:

The back entrance to the hotel grounds:

You’ll notice a motorcycle parked in the foreground of the above picture… I stopped to talk to the owner for a moment and his story was an interesting one. He was German and had recently left his job in Germany for a three-year motorcycle trip around the world. He had ridden down from Germany – taking the ferry to Egypt and then riding through Sudan and down into Ethiopia. Next up were Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland and any other countries that capture his interest.

Following Africa is a cargo flight to get him and the motorcycle to Buenos Aires. From there it is a matter of working his way up through South and Central America to North America. He particularly wanted to see California as well as Death Valley, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Seattle and Alaska.

From Alaska it would be another cargo flight – this time to Australia or New Zealand. From Australia and New Zealand, he intends to start working his way up through Asia until he gets to the mainland and starts slowly working his way back across the ‘Stans to Europe and home.

I thought it was great and told him that I’d left my job three years ago to pursue a similar set of adventures – travel and motorcycles being a part of that… He noticed my wedding ring and I explained that that had been another one of my adventures of the past three years. That went over well and he said he’d love to meet someone during his travels as well. I suggested a nice California girl for him which he liked.