It may be an hour hike up hill from Yeka Mikael church in Addis Ababa, but the semi-monolithic Washa Mikael (literally, St. Mikael’s cave) is well worth the efforts. Watching a sunken 1600 year old structure, entirely carved from a single slab of stone within such a short distance from Addis is sure to impress. The path is gentle at the start but gets tougher as you go up and after about fifty minutes you reach the level and it is a gentle stroll past a couple of villages to the church.
The conceptof the church is the same as the Lalibela’s rock-hewn churches.
After visiting the church we will be climbing to Melata Gara or Bold hill at Yeka mountain. An easy and very good short hiking to enjoy sightseeing of Addis Ababa.
Give it a try, it is still a lovely place. We have it on good authority the views on the way down from are pretty.
8687 ft max elevation
8202 ft min elevation
