Asmara and its historic perimeter: A history lover’s delight

Eritrea’s beautiful capital, Asmara, is the most happening tourist destination of Eritrea. Known and adored for its cleanliness, climate, art deco buildings, boulevard … Asmara has many attractions to be explored.

The Italian cemetery, located on the elevated western part of the city, is a record of Asmara’s eclectic mix of its inhabitants before the 1970s. With its epitaphs in Italian, Hebrew and Arabic and life size marble statues, family crypts and lavishly ornamented graves, the cemetery definitely takes visitors on a trip back in time to a vibrant multicultural city.

The Sembel archeological site, located in the outskirts of the Asmara city, features remains of what probably was a village with marvelous construction plans. The site can be viewed from an adjoining building, which was constructed by the National Museum of Eritrea.

Daero Paulos is a village next in line after passing the Sembel site. A little north of the village is a cave of prehistoric drawings. With cave painting dated as far back as the Stone Age, Eritrea is one of the countries with the largest constructions of such ancient cave paintings. Similarly, Abarda’e is also home to prehistoric cave etchings. Others yet unexplored sites are also abundant.