Massawa is a city on the cost of Eritrea, about 120 kilometer North West of the capital Asmara. Buses leave all day when full, cost 31Nakfa/1,6USD and takes about five hours driving along some of the most beautiful serpentine roads I’ve seen. Alongside the road, for the most part, was a rail road built by the Italians that would could possibly classify as the Worlds most beautiful rail journey, but the problem is that there are no scheduled trains, so you would have to pay over thousand dollars to charter your own train.
Massawa is also the gateway to the Dahlak Archipelago, and I was invited to go there with some Ethiopians who had chartered a boat, but as I hadnt arranged my government permit in advance I couldnt go.
Instead I spent the days walking around the old Massawa port where there were run down buildings built by the ottomans and the French. The last day I also rented a bike and cycled to Gurgusum. The beach there was not beautiful at all, and except for a couple of souvenier sellers on camels there was nothing going on. Im very glad I went with the bike though. For about ten kilometers the roads went through some huge salt pans and the only traffic I met was people crossing it with camels. A lonely tank was also left there in the middle of the road, which was fun to explore.
