Cafés in Mexico, Sar Bet & Old Airport

Mexico Square and the light rail

In 2013 much of the square was demolished to make way for the light rail, which now crosses it on an overpass; Mexico station is about 500 m east of the circle.¹ In 2010 the Mexican government donated a replica of an Olmec colossal head, which was placed in the square.²

Mexico station is on the common section, the 2.7 km stretch between St. Lideta and Meskel Square that the Green and Blue lines share. It opened on 20 September 2015.⁵ Blues café is a few hundred meters east of the circle.

The Old Airport, the African Union and Pushkin Street

The Italians opened the Lideta airfield in 1936 as Ivo Oliveti airport, and the Italian airline Ala Littoria flew there. In 1960 Ethiopian Airlines found its runway too short for Boeing 720 jets and built a new airport at Bole; Lideta was turned over to the military, and its single runway is 1,170 m long. The field lies about 4.8 km southwest of the city center, at 2,362 m.³

The African Union headquarters, a 99.9 m tower inaugurated on 28 January 2012, stands on the site of Alem Bekagn, a prison used during the Italian occupation. Tongji University and two Chinese state firms designed and built it, and the Chinese government paid its US$200 million budget.⁶

Ethiopia claims Abram Gannibal, the African ancestor of the poet Alexander Pushkin, as a native; Eritrea claims him too, and one Beninese historian has argued for northern Cameroon. The Ethiopian government named a street after Pushkin and placed a bust of him near the African Union headquarters in 2002.⁷

Cafés from Roosevelt Street to Sar Bet

Garden of Coffee, on Alexander Pushkin Street, specializes in single-origin Ethiopian coffee brewed several ways; check its current address before you go.⁴ Sport Cafe, on Roosevelt Street a few hundred meters from the African Union complex, opens daily from 09:00 to 20:00 and serves brunch. Daily coffee is closer still to the complex, Bake & Brew has Wi-Fi, and Nasa Cafe is a short way south.

Tomoca's Sar Bet café, opposite the Canadian embassy, is one of the chain's named branches, along with those on Bole Road and in the Radisson Blu.⁴ Donut Stop, further west, is the area's bakery.