Keren is a historical, cultural and beautiful city on the Northern foothills of Eritrea. It is the countries second biggest city, home to many of its many tribes, including the Bilen and the Tigre which account for 80% of the countries population.
To me, Keren felt a bit like Sudan, with men wearing thawbs (long white dresses) and the food was also similar, like the fool (bean dish) there being the same as in Sudan. It was much more dry and hot than Asmara as well.
The main attraction in Keren is the Church of Maryam which is inside a massive beobab tree. It was free and completely emty when I was there, but not much to see other than a statue and some pictures inside the tree.
The landscape here was also very different to landscape in Southern Eritrea. I had wanted to explore the mountains next to the city, but was told there are still landmines there. The bus ride home was with the oldest bus ever, where I had to wait for 3 hours for it to fill up before we went.