Every new country we get to turns out to be a revelation, and Eritrea is no exception. Our trip to Massawa was a bit bumpy, with 25 knot winds and a nasty sea, but once in the harbour we have been nice and sheltered.

The port of Massawa is quite unlike French Djibouti, and the Italian past is much in evidence. Our Mr Fixit, Mike, the local unofficial agent is a great help, and gets us money on the black market, at a rate of 18 nakfas to the dollar rather than the bank's 12. He is completely reliable and you don't need to check the money he brings you. It's all under the counter, of course, and all exchanges are discreetly done.

The terrain behind the city is arid desert, with odd camels and donkeys, but surprisingly green for some reason.

A couple of days ago we took a trip up to Asmara, the capital, which is at an altitude of 8000ft. The bus trip up takes about three hours, and you notice the altitude when you arrive - we were all panting after climbing to the fourth floor of our hotel. The trip up is wonderful though a bit hair-raising. An endless series of hairpins as you climb steeply up the mountain road, disappearing from time to time into the clouds, and shutting your eyes each time a lorry approaches the other way at speed.

Asmara is an amazing city - a time warp of 1930s Italy. Mussolini's plan was to build a 'nuovo roma' in Africa, as the beginning of an Italian empire on the continent. Typical Italian streets and shops with wonderful old Caggia coffee machines, and gelata parlours. A lot of genuine art deco architecture, and other pre war Italian styles. Many of the shop and street names are in Italian, and many people still use the language. The cuisine is a wonderful mix of Eritrean, Ethiopian and Italian.

The main streets are wide, and lined with beautiful date-palms. We felt we were in downtown naples. It's a cliche to say the people are beautiful and friendly, but undoubtedly true. They go out of their way to welcome you, and there was no hint of animosity whatsoever.

After 20 years of a brutal war with Ethiopia, which, against the odds, they won, the people are famous for recycling everything, and we visited an amazing area which is devoted to this recycling and redeveloping, which has become a way of life for many of them.

So we really enjoyed our stay in the 1930s at 8000ft, though now we are back on Hygeia, getting ready for our trip north to Sudan and Egypt. We plan to leave tomorrow, and if the weather is favourable, we will try to go straight past Sudan, and touch land next in Egypt. If the weather is unfavourable, and/or we need fuel, we will duck into Suakin, or Port Sudan.

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