#The Eritrean Railway
was partially destroyed during conflict in the 1970s, but was restored to
working order a decade ago | Route: Massawa to Asmara,Eriterea |Miles: 77 |
Notable passengers: Italian troops sent by Mussolini ti invade Ethopia | Dining
car: not on board, but the sure to try an injera (spongy flatbread) at one of
the stops |Sit on: the left-hand side for the best mountain views
CONSIDERED by many to be the Holy Grail of rail travel, the
little-visited Eritrean Railway is one of th last working lines still using
steam engines. Barely changed since it was first bolted together by Italian
colonists a century ago, it’s a spectacle to behold: with noble tank engines
puffing and wheezing over 77 miles from the wharfs of the Red Sea to the
capital city of Asmara. En route, they pass through epic Old Testament
landscapes: mud-brick village pastures where shepherds drive their flocks, and
mountains which echo sublimely to the hoot of passing trains. It’s not always a
journey for the faint-hearted-gradients are steep and there’s more than one
stretch where the train wobbles from side to
side as a near-vertical drop looms inches away. Trains terminate at
Asmara: one of Africa’s loveliest cities, it shows the legacy of Italian rule
in the for of pizza parlours, coffee shops and Art Deco architecture.
Ffestiniog Travel offers five days on the Eritrean Railway
as part of its 13-day ‘Eritrean and Cairo’ itinerary (ffestiniogravel.com). As
well as trips aboard a chartered steam-hauled train, visitors get to ride on a
vintage Fiat Littorina railcar-a curious contraption that looks like a bus
mounted on rails.
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