Eritrea has managed to escape me on several trips. On my first trip to the area during the Horn of Africa tour, I planned to visit Eritrea after passing through Sudan. I applied in Djibouti, where the Embassy explained that they weren’t even getting replies from their own country. I wanted to try again in Addis Ababa. Due to the difficulty and time investment needed for visas for both Sudan and Eritrea, I had to put the visit on hold.

My second try was on my Sudans Tour. With further research and contact with several tour operators I found that visas on arrival were issued, but difficult to get approval for. Second failure.

Finally after communicating with a guide for almost a full year, I managed to secure an invitation letter. I was finally headed to country 191, Eritrea!

Reaching Eritrea from Italy was tricky. There were either very roundabout or extremely expensive routes. I ended up getting a mileage ticket with Star Alliance which took me from Cagliari to Munich to Berlin to Cairo and finally to Asmara. This included an overnight layover in Berlin. This long layover would allow me to revisit a city I haven’t seen since the wall was coming down in the 80s.

I’ve arranged a hotel through the tour agency and plan on touring the capital and possibly some sites out of town.

I’ll reveal the details of how I received my visa and my impression of the country on some following posts.