Story and photos by Sophia Erickson
Keren dubs itself the "cultural capital" of the country. Wandering around the barren, run-down town, one can only conclude that this title was selected because it was sufficiently vague to disguise the fact there is not much to see in the city at all. Its much-vaunted "camel market" turned out to be four or five camels standing around amid flocks of sheep. There was indeed a mosque in the town center, though it was not particularly noteworthy. The men wore white Ottoman-style robes, and some of the women wore brightly colored niqabs, giving Keren a slightly Middle Eastern feel. In fact it seemed so different from the rest of the country it was hard to see how this could be considered a capital of Eritrean culture.