east Keren Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Eritrea is a very young country. The long war of independence from Ethiopia is just over a decade ago and right now the country is in the throws of a major upgrade in infastructure.

Eritrea was part of the Italian empire built by Mussolini in the early days of the facists. He saw it as the African Riviera and spent vast amounts of money building up the capital, Asmara, and a spectacular rail line to the coastal port of Masawa.

Keren is Eritrea's third city. It is ringed with mountains and still boasts much of the art deco inspired architecture of the Italians. The hotel from which this photo is taken may be a fading beauty, but one can imagine what it was once like.

Keren has been the scene of two famous battles - one between the British and the Italians in the '40s that was particularly savage and a second, much quicker battle when the Eritreans defeated the Ethiopians.

This pic was taken early morning with my little 2MP snapper. Wish I had my CP5700 back then!

mitternacht, ChrisJ, paguru, st-eos, Olga, manub, sengir, clederperez, anney, linask, konok trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

ChrisJ (70373) 2004-04-28 8:59

I may try posting a ws tomorrow. I think a panorama of the mts alone cropped just above the central palm tree would have more impact. Still an excellent shot.

[workshop] [compare]

paguru (1052) 2004-04-28 15:12

Hi Tom, I like the beautiful light on the mountains and the shape of the hill in the middle layer. The dark foreground with the geometrical shapes of the houses makes a nice addition/contrast.

st-eos (137) 2004-05-06 19:31

Great note and super photo to match it. What's the standard of accomodation / transport / infrastructure like?

erthmuffin (1537) 2004-06-02 15:54

i didn't think this picture was particularly spectacular, although it's interesting in the respect of seeing what eritrea looks like, but i like the note, it is very informative.

Olga (901) 2004-06-02 16:17

that is an amazing picture, and a very good light. simply amazing.

kooki (550) 2004-07-23 4:14

I Tom, I like your way you take this view. The Crop work from Chrisj don't give nothing more interesting.

redsonja (78) 2005-10-01 11:23

I loved this photo--makes me wish I had travelled to that part of Eritrea. Unfortunately, only had a month. Very clear and comprehensive summary of Eritrea's history. Thank you for that.

oddmodd (0) 2006-02-06 12:59

Wow.. what a back-drop to wake-up to every morning... reminds me of many small town here in the United States in states housing the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains.

clederperez (29) 2006-09-26 16:10

Nice piture. I like colors and the illumination. I think you chose a perfect hour of the day to take the picture. The mountains on the background with those smoke-like clouds are very nice either. And very informative note.
Bravo!

anney (143) 2006-11-27 15:46