Experience the best of Axum

Axum was the capital of the Aksumite kingdom, a trading power that minted its own coins and reached across the Red Sea in the first centuries AD. Its stelae field is filled with giant granite monuments carved to resemble multi-storey buildings; the tallest one still standing is over twenty metres high, while the largest of all lies fallen in pieces. One obelisk, carried to Rome in the 1930s, was returned in 2005.

The Church of St Mary of Zion is held by Ethiopian tradition to shelter the Ark of the Covenant, kept in a chapel that a single guardian monk may enter. Nearby are the tombs of kings from the sixth century, the Ezana Stone, the palace ruins of Dungur and a pool known as the Queen of Sheba's bath. Adwa, scene of the victory over an Italian army in 1896, lies to the east, and beyond it Yeha has a stone temple older than Axum itself.

Food is injera, the sour flatbread, with spiced stews called wot, followed by strong coffee prepared in a ceremony and sweet honey wine. At about 2,100 metres the days are bright and the nights cool, and the long rains come in July and August. Pilgrims gather for the feast of Mary of Zion in late November.