The case for seeing Lalibela before sunrise

By eight in the morning, Lalibela has largely become the version most photographs show: busy by ten, thinning out by early afternoon. It is genuinely impressive on those terms — and it is also the least interesting way to see it.

Arrive at five instead, while it's still dark, and you'll find pilgrims already gathered in the trenches with candles and white shawls. The chant reaches the surface before you can see where it's coming from.

The practical requirements are modest: a lodge within a short walk of the site, a guide on good terms with the resident clergy, and a willingness to stand in the cold for the better part of an hour. We supply blankets and a flask, and nobody has ever asked to turn back.

By around seven, once the light drops into the trench at Bete Maryam and lands across the northern wall, you'll have already spent two hours inside a working sanctuary — the arriving day-trippers are welcome to what's left.