In April 2006 I was lucky enough to be part of the first Explore group to Eritrea. We started in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, a city that looked more European than African with its modernist architecture including a number of art-déco gems. It was also quite astonishingly clean, and easily seemed worthy of its accolade as the cleanest and safest capital city in Africa. And at 2,350m above sea level, it was quite a pleasant temperature too. Over the following week we went north to the regional capital of Keren, south to visit archaeological ruins near Kohaito and east to the Arabic trading port of Massawa.

Keren was an interesting provincial town where we had the feeling that tourists were not a common sight; at the camel market I don't know who found whom more interesting between the locals and the tourists. The children were not sure if they wanted to be photographed or not - they would pose for us, then suddenly lose their nerve and hide. However, once they saw themselves on the tiny screens of digital cameras they were queuing up to be in the picture. One of our group ended up looking a bit like the pied piper with a huge entourage of children following her round.

While we were in Keren, our trusty tour leader Pete and Tsehaye, the local guide, arranged a visit to the Evangelical School for the Deaf, the only such facility in Eritrea. Some of us felt a bit uncomfortable at first, but in fact it was a highly rewarding and uplifting visit. The school catered for girls and boys and taught them the three R's as well as some life skills. The headmaster told us that their students have to take the same national exams as fully able-bodied children. They still excel, he explained, often scoring top marks -although when it came to identifying the UK on their World map, most seemed to think it was in the USA...

Massawa was a sea port with a strong Arabic feel. There had been fierce fighting there in the liberation war and much of the old town had been badly damaged. The continuing tensions with Ethiopia meant that there was not much traffic going through the port, but there seemed to be a great spirit of optimism. Walking round the town a woman invited my wife and I into her house for 'coffee'. This meant the elaborate coffee ceremony, a process that includes roasting and grinding the beans and ends with a delicious cup of seriously strong coffee. It was a real privilege to be able to meet her family and friends and talk about their time in Massawa.

Returning to Asmara we completed the last part of the journey by train - a 1938-built Italian steam loco. The Eritrean railway was built by Mussolini but had suffered badly during the liberation war. In recent years it has been rebuilt using retired railway workers to repair the track and restore a number of old steam locomotives.

We caught the train from Nefasit and the journey was pretty spectacular with the railway on a narrow ledge twisting and turning in and out of tunnels. At one point we came to a stop and were told to disembark with our cameras. The driver reversed the train back over a viaduct and then came charging forward again with plenty of huff and puff, just so that we could photograph it! We met the driver, who was 82, and the fireman who was 70 and they both looked like they were really enjoying themselves.

Back in art-déco Asmara it was our last day, and Pete and Tsehaye [tour leader and local guide] had one more treat in store for us: ten-pin bowling at Asmara's wonderful 1950s bowling alley, one of very few left un-modernised in the World. A charming man was on hand to score for us (no computerised scoring here) and he was giving people tips on their technique, despite the fact that he could not speak English! At the far end was a young boy whose job was to stand the pins up and to roll the balls back. It was a really good fun way to end the trip, made even better by the fact that I snatched the lead with my very last ball to win.

Find out how you can visit Eritrea here.

Back to Done That...

We really like the people who send in their stories and poems. Their views are always worth listening to. Sometimes they might differ from that of Explore, but that's okay because the world is an interesting place and we like to discover and talk about it, even if we don't agree. Just so you know.