Why Lalibela, Ethiopia, Is the Next Machu Picchu | Vogue

"Pre-dawn and I are not the best of friends, so finding myself outside an Ethiopian church at 5 am on a Sunday, moved to tears, ranks among the most remarkable experiences of my life. Born of a 12th-century vision by King Lalibela to build a second Jerusalem after the original was captured in 1187, these sanctuaries were carved into the rose-gold mountain rocks and dug into the ground by hand—an extraordinary feat with or without the angels that, legend has it, lent a hand. Perfectly preserved, they feel both delicate and monumental, impossible to detect at a distance yet utterly majestic up close. Unlike many marquee sites, the complex throbs with living religious fervor: the handful of foreign visitors are rendered all but invisible by a thousand-strong crowd of monks and nuns, hermits and worshippers, children and grandmothers, all wrapped in white. Part of the magic is its mystifying lack of foreign visitors, and it is as majestic and awe-inspiring as the Machu Picchus of the world." - Melissa Twigg