David Engstrom
'65-'68 Italian linquist

• Welcome sign on a building downtown. A lot of the shops & bars have signs of congratulations for independence or just showing the date of independence.
• The Maingate - They wouldn't let me in, but no one said anything about pictures. Maybe I was too fast.
• Looking over the wall where a lot of the "fighters" and their families now reside.
• Behind Kagnew are acres of war detritus just outside the back gate (out to Stratcom & Tract C). There are burnt out tanks and deuce and a halfs on the Keren and Dekamhare roads.
• I'm pretty sure this is Tract C, but with the windows and no fence, it looks a little different.
• Bar Tekila was just down from the first traffic light coming down the hill from the main gate. On the road out to the airport.
• The Star Bar is still the Star Bar, but the Bar Fiore, a few doors down, is now the....
• The Bar Flower is the former "office" of Stella, Tunafish, & numerous coworkers.
• Queen Elizabeth Ave is now Avenue Addis Ababa.
• Cinema Roma - Another landmark on the way downtown.
• The Keren Hotel used to be the Albergo d'Italia, or "Minghetti's". (About three blocks North of Liberation Avenue, just beyond Foto Bini, which is still there.)
• Govt Headquarters on Avenue Ras Makonnen (except in the old days it was "Via" Ras M.)
• Govt Building on the same street.
• Post Office - I think it was the Post Office back then, too.
• Market - They're still touchy about pictures in this neighborhood - a guy wagged his finger at me.
• Pictures of St. Mary's: [1] | [2]
• Some things never change, a jerry cart. Looking up at Kidane Mehret Cathedral.
• I wonder how many of the GI's cars are still running.
• Some things do change. A group of schoolgirls and their backpacks.
• Massawa Road - Down on the flats. The 4th crossbar is the one with that Italian dialect inscription, "Ca Custa Lon Ca Custa."
• R&R - Now the Hotel Dahlak, the best place in town.
• The Royal Palace is visibly scarred from the fighting, it's right across from the Dahlak, up at the North end of Taulud Island just before you get to the last causeway.
• Hotel Savoia - The first thing you come to on Massawa Island, at the end of the last causeway. It's still a hotel. The rooftop bar on the Hotel Torino, just behind, goes til all hours, though the Trocadero is long gone.
• Commercial Bank - On Massawa Island, pockmarked from the shelling.
• War damage in Massawa - Most of the repairs are well underway.
• Yacht Club - According to a local guy it's now a "hotel," though "condo" might be more apt.
• Cement Works - The Italian landmark on the way out to Gurgussum Beach. It looks as good now as it did then.
• Offbase - Just outside Kagnew, by the back gate. I know some civilians lived on this street. Did any military families?
• Old 'n New - At the bottom of the hill, by the fountain. Fiat Taglero definitely had more charm than what's going up now.
• Shopping - About a block up and parallel to Liberation Ave (Ave Haile Selassie I).
• The market.
• The Grand Mosque.
• Jerry cart - Or is it Ghari?
• Fountain East - I remember it, but I don't know what it was called.
• Dekamhare Rd - War litter, though there was a good bit more along the Keren Road.
• Hotel Keren - Formerly the home of a certain Signore Pascuse. Whenever that was.
• Keren - View from the roof of the Hotel Keren.
• From a rooftop in Keren.
• He won't be stopping at the Total station. Actually, I heard the camel is Eritrea's national seal because it was so important in moving war materiel.
• The Bar Durro just outside Asmara.
• Heading down the Massawa road. I'm sure the houses were there, though the mosque is new.
• Bridges along the road.
• Dongollo.
• The Flats - The Plain of Sabarguma. No major change here.
• The Taulud Building, now government offices.
• Looking across the causeway to Massawa Island.
• War damage scenses: [1] | [2]