Keren

Two hours' winding descent northwest of Asmara, Keren spreads its Italian-era arcades and mosques across a bowl in the Anseba hills - a crossroads town where highland and lowland Eritrea meet to trade, most famously at the Monday livestock market, when camels, goats and their negotiating owners fill the wadi in a spectacle unchanged for generations. The town's oddest treasure is the Mariam Dearit shrine: a chapel built inside the hollow trunk of a giant baobab, pilgrimage site for Christians and respected by all, standing in a grove outside town. Silversmiths' lanes, the old railway station and hill viewpoints complete the amble.

What you actually see

• The Monday camel market - the wadi filling with livestock and argument.
• Mariam Dearit - the chapel inside the great baobab.
• The Italian-era centre - arcades, cafes and the old station.
• The silversmith lanes - Keren's jewellery-working tradition.

When to go

October to March is the cool, dry window; Mondays are non-negotiable if the market is the aim, and the May festival at Mariam Dearit brings the shrine its great pilgrimage day.

Honest expectations

Eritrean travel runs on permits for movement beyond Asmara - arrange them in the capital as required, and let local practice guide photography, especially at the market and shrine. Facilities are simple hotels and honest food. The charm is entirely real and entirely unpolished.

Nearby

The Anseba valley, the old rail route toward the coast and Asmara's plateau.