At about 11am we headed to the café La Dolce Vita for morning coffee with Dr. Kahsai.


Dr. Kahsai is a former pilot, and part of his business is organising foreign aircraft mechanics to fix and maintain Eritrean helicopters and planes. He said when he has a tourist coming, he puts their visa application in with the mechanics, and hence my visa only took just over 2 weeks to approve, versus the typical 6+ weeks for others.

It was also November 10th and less than 24 hours since billionaire and former reality TV star Donald Trump had been elected as the leader of the free world, so we had some very interesting conversation over cappuccinos and croissants.


Myself and Mehritab then continued the tour of Asmara. The Art Déco styled (and currently dry) Mai Jah Jah Fountain.


A statue of Alexander Pushkin, considered to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. Pushkin was also one-eighth Eritrean.


The old Italian-era markets. Italy actively encouraged emigration to Eritrea and by 1939 over half of Asmara’s population was Italian. During the Italian colonisation, racial segregation laws forbid native Eritreans from entering this part of Asmara.