Adigrat

Adigrat is a city in the Misraqawi Zone of eastern Tigrai, at an elevation of about 2,457 m, and has long been a strategic gateway toward Eritrea and the Red Sea. It rose in the early 19th century as one of Tigray's short-lived regional capitals, developed under the ruler Sabagadis, who built palaces, churches, and markets that drew both local and foreign residents; the town became an important centre for the salt trade carried by caravan from the Afar lowlands, though it declined after Sabagadis's death in 1830. It regained importance later in the century under Emperor Yohannes IV, who used Adigrat as a military and trade base guarding the salt-caravan routes between the Danakil depression and the highlands. Italian forces occupied the town at the start of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in 1935, and by 1938 it had shops, several hotel-restaurants, and basic postal and telephone services. Today Adigrat is best known to travelers as the main gateway to the highlands of eastern Tigrai, including the Gheralta rock-hewn churches to the south.

By Car / Road

Adigrat is reached by paved road from Mekelle, roughly 100 km to the south-west.

• Gheralta rock churches: Spectacular cliffside rock-hewn churches in the mountains south of Adigrat, among Ethiopia's most dramatic religious sites.

• Gheralta trekking: Hiking and church visits in the Gheralta massif south of town.

• Wukro — 40 km south, rock-hewn churches.
• Mekelle — 100 km south-west.
• Eritrean border — 50 km north.