At a mill where the locals would take their newly purchased grain to be turned into flour.


Rail.


Poultry.


Traditional Eritrean dresses.


Volkswagen.


Shop.


At about 1pm we went to pick up Mehritab's son from school.


His son eagerly giving me a tour through his school! The main language of instruction at the school was Italian and alot of the teachers were from Italy.


A map of Africa and Italy side by side.


The kids piling onto the buses for the ride home.


At Mehritab's house with Donald Trump's surprise election as President of the United States dominating the news on the BBC.


We then went back into the city to a local restaurant and had some injera bread, a national dish in Eritrea and Ethiopia, along with some spicy fish stew and salad.


I also exchanged some US dollars for Eritrean nakfa. The official (and pegged) exchange rate is about 15 Nakfa to the US dollar, although the black market rate is quite a bit more.


Our next and final stop before heading to Keren was Medeber metal workshop and market.


At the market scrap metal is recycled and transformed into new objects.


Mehritab said that the government had exempt the markets from any taxation to encourage the recycling of the scrap into new uses.


And a very photogenic gentleman who kindly obliged when I asked to take his portrait.


At about 3pm we then begun the drive north out of Asmara to Keren, the second-largest city in Eritrea.


The plan for the next three days was to head to Keren for one night, then return to Asmara before driving east to the port city of Massawa, before returning to Asmara the following day.


A mural on the side of the road, paying tribute to the Eritrean women who fought during the Eritrean War of Independence. Up to 30% of the Eritrean fighters in the war were women.


Crops in the valley below as we continued the drive north-west. During the war, massive numbers of trees were cut down by the Ethiopians, both for fuel and to reduce cover for the guerilla independence fighters.


A monument to the fighters killed during the 30 year war for independence from Ethiopia.


After the British conquered the Italians in Eritrea during World War II, Eritrea was made a British protectorate until 1951. Then in 1952, the UN decided to federate Eritrea to Ethiopia, hoping to reconcile Ethiopian claims of sovereignty and Eritrean aspirations for independence. In 1961 however, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie dissolved the federation and annexed Eritrea, triggering the 30 year Eritrean War of Independence.

Stopping to admire the picturesque and very photogenic landscape.


A car and a bus making the journey back to Asmara from Keren.


An Ethiopian T-62 tank down a gulley beside the road. In the 1970's Ethiopia came under the influence of the Soviet Union after Emperor Haile Selassie was ousted in a coup by a Marxist military junta, and thereafter received significant Soviet support and supplies to battle the Eritrean People's Liberation Front during the Eritrean War of Independence.


Traditional huts in a small Eritrean village.


And on the outskirts of Keren just before 6pm with the sun now well below the horizon.


After handing over the necessary travel permit (as required for all tourists) at a checkpoint at the entrance to the city, we headed to the Keren Hotel for our one night stay.


The hotel had a roof top bar where we grabbed a bottle of Asmara beer each to relax after the long but eventful day.


Looking down on the street below.


The town was largely without power due to a black out so the only lights were from cars and buildings with generators.


Out for a walk in the (very dark) evening to find some dinner.


Where myself and Mehritab shared some injera again at Restaurant Fickri & Selam, this time with goat.


And back to the hotel just after 9pm at the end of a great first day in Eritrea.