Gondar was Ethiopia's capital for about two hundred years, and it still carries itself like it. Emperor Fasilides founded the city around 1636, and he and his successors built a walled royal compound, the Fasil Ghebbi, filled with stone castles that look as if they belong in medieval Europe, with towers, battlements and arched windows, though the style mixes Ethiopian, Portuguese, Indian and Arab influences. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a walk through the grounds, with their crumbling walls and jacaranda trees, is a good introduction to the country's imperial past.
A short distance away lies Fasilides' Bath, a sunken pool inside a walled garden, where each January the Timkat festival sees the water blessed and crowds in white robes jump in. Just outside the centre, the church of Debre Berhan Selassie is covered inside with brilliant seventeenth-century paintings, including a ceiling crowded with winged faces that seem to watch you wherever you stand. It is one of the loveliest church interiors in Africa. The people of the city are mostly Orthodox Christians, and the sound of chanting drifts from the churches at dawn.
Gondar sits at about 2,100 metres on a ridge north of Lake Tana, with a population around a hundred and fifty thousand, so it has fuel, shops and plenty of places to eat. The streets are busy with tuk-tuks, minibuses, donkeys and goats, and in the cafés the coffee is served in the traditional ceremony, roasted fresh on a small stove and poured from a clay pot. Order injera with tibs, a spiced stew of beef or lamb, and you will not be disappointed. The altitude gives mild days and cool nights.
This is the start of the road north to the Simien Mountains, via Debark, a distance of about a hundred kilometres. The road climbs through terraced farmland, villages of round huts and open grassland, with the great escarpment appearing on the horizon. Riders should expect livestock on the road at all hours, uneven tarmac, trucks overtaking blind and people everywhere, and it is wise to avoid riding after dark. Start early in the morning, carry plenty of water, and be prepared for sudden rain in the season from June to September. The dry season, from October to March, is the best time to go.