The reason for carving these churches down into the rock was to escape detection from invading armies. As you can see, this massive beautiful church wouldn't be visible even 100 meters away.
Last comment 04/19/22.

This is the same church from a different angle. Remember, all of this was one solid piece of rock when construction began, and this church was carved out of it. Incredible!
Last comment 07/17/22.

These churches were built in the 12th or 13th centuries by a labor force of around 40,000. First the trenches around the church to be were chiseled away, and then the church was hollowed out from the inside.
Last comment 04/19/22.

After a hard day of touring, we relax a little with some Fanta. Since there are no banks, ATMs, or credit card machines in the whole town, we had to be very careful about what we spent. Luckily everything was pretty cheap.
Last comment 07/17/22.

Sara and I pose with our guides for the second day in Lalibela. The guide to my left was the one I had to negotiate prices with for the full three day tour. He was a skilled negotiator, but I had a huge advantage in that we only had a certain smallish amount of cash on us. Thus I was able to talk him down to about half of his initial price.
Last comment 03/14/08.

Today we were taking a trip out of Lalibela to some of the earlier churches in the area.
Last comment 04/19/22.

Lalibela is a small town itself, and once outside its borders it became very rural very quickly. Here is a small mountain village which we passed.
Last comment 05/15/22.

These boys were very cute and isisted on holding hands with Sara and Maya to help them up the steep at times hike to the church.
Last comment 04/19/22.

The local women were building the steps up to the church as we were walking up them.
Last comment 07/16/22.