1. We flew on Nasair, a regional airline, to Asmara.

2. Italian professionals and artisans flooded into Asmara and built shoe factories, laboratories, plazas, hotels, the railroad and even an alpine-style cable car.

3. A town of northern Ethiopia south of Asmara. Emperor Menelik II decisively defeated the Italians here in 1896 to secure recognition of Ethiopia's independence. Population, 21,107.

4. He urged officials in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, to cooperate with U. N. agencies and international organizations to address the issues of hunger and food shortages.

5. The minute we landed at Asmara International, I was struck by how bright the light was.

6. Asmara is located on a stony plateau, 7, 700 feet above sea level. It is essentially a city above the clouds.

7. Asmara became an Art Deco laboratory during the 1930s for designs that seemed, well, just too out there for mainland Italy.

8. After a few days in Asmara, we headed to Massawa, Eritrea's swelteringly hot and therefore not surprisingly sleepy beach town.

9. There's almost no crime. Asmara is known as one of the safest cities in Africa.

10. Some said they wanted to be lawyers, soldiers, pilot and doctors, but he was the one who said he wanted to be president," said Dewi Asmara,[/asmara.html] a former classmate.

11. Once in Eritrea, though, the paperwork is not over. You must apply for permits to travel outside of Asmara and explain where you will be staying and for how long.

12. Visiting here is like spending your vacation in a vintage shop. Old men in dapper Fedora hats and antique Italian shades haunt Harnet Avenue, the palm-studded main drag in Asmara, the capital.

13. The professional services industry, in good faith for the vast number of visitors Beijing friends to provide special fares to Asmara.

14. On January 9, Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki met with visiting Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan Asmara, capital city of Eritrea.

15. Another former prisoner, identified as Essay by the magazine, was detained at a prison in Asmara for 11 months.

16. Dieng says Eritrean refugees arriving at camps in northern Ethiopia are saying the Asmara, Eritrea, government tries to prevent them from leaving, and that conditions are deteriorating.

17. The barley, found in farmer's fields surrounding the capital city Asmara in Eritrea, has the highest level of genetic diversity ever discovered.

18. This has led to the split of the organization, the moderates to stay in Djibouti and the hard-liners continue to be based in the Eritrean capital Asmara.