Asmara: a first-timer's guide to Eritrea's modernist capital

Why visit Asmara

Few capitals feel like Asmara. Traffic is light, the air is cool and dry, and the main avenue, Harnet Avenue, fills each evening with people dressed up for the passeggiata, the slow social stroll inherited from Italian times. Espresso and macchiato are served from gleaming old machines, bicycles outnumber cars on some streets, and buildings that would be museum pieces elsewhere are simply where people live and work.

The architecture

The city was laid out mostly between 1935 and 1941, when Italy poured money into its colony ahead of the invasion of Ethiopia. Architects experimented freely, and the result is a living catalogue of Rationalism, Futurism, Art Deco and Novecento styles. The famous sights are close together:

• **Fiat Tagliero**, the 1938 service station whose concrete wings stretch fifteen metres like an aeroplane.
• **Cinema Impero** on Harnet Avenue, with its tall Art Deco facade and original interior, plus Cinema Roma, Cinema Capitol and Cinema Odeon.
• **The Catholic Cathedral**, its Lombard Romanesque bell tower a landmark you can sometimes climb.
• **Enda Mariam Orthodox Cathedral**, with its bright mosaics, and the Grand Mosque near the market, showing how the city's faiths live side by side.
• **The Bowling Alley**, with 1950s American lanes still set by hand.

Markets and neighbourhoods

North of the cathedral, the **central market** sells spices, berbere, coffee, baskets and silver. Next to it, the **Medebar** recycling market is a noisy, fascinating maze where craftsmen hammer oil drums and scrap into buckets, stoves and tools. Ask before photographing people. Further out, the **tank graveyard** on the edge of the city is a stark reminder of the independence war, and the **British and Italian war cemeteries** are calm places for reflection.

Food and drink

Asmara mixes Eritrean and Italian cooking with ease. Try zigni, a spicy stew eaten with injera or the flatbread taita, shiro made from ground chickpeas, ful for breakfast, and fit fit. Italian style pizza, pasta and pastries are everywhere, and the local Asmara beer is light and cheap. Coffee is a ritual: in homes it is roasted and brewed in a jebena over three rounds.

Practical tips

The city centre is easy to walk, and short taxi rides or shared minibuses cover longer distances. Money is cash only for visitors, so change dollars or euros at an official exchange office soon after arriving. Internet is limited to some hotels and internet cafés and is slow. Photography of government buildings, the military and some infrastructure is not allowed, so keep your camera down near official sites. Apply for your travel permits here before heading anywhere else, and allow a day for them.

Day trips

Within easy reach are the hilltop monastery of Debre Bizen, which admits men only, the green forest of Filfil in the eastern escarpment, and the old railway towards Nefasit when steam excursions run. Check what your travel permit needs to cover for each.