Piassa ze Arada at a glance

By Leulseged Worku
getsh100@yahoo.com
Different writers have reflected their views and practical experiences about the old, but the beautiful piazza . Even if I am not those sharks that swim at the ocean of piazza or a fish that attempts to run away from its predator, I can say a little about this old but beautiful village.
Piazza or Arada is one of the oldest village in Addis. As far as I am concerned it is the place where modern civilization started in the country. That is why we could find the first modern buildings, Churches, Mosque, Modern shops, and Hotels, and Restaurants.
If you had the chance to visit this beautiful village, you could find attractive traditional houses built by the Greek and Arman architects. You could see the first Ethiopian Hotel with its magnificent traditional architectural design.
Sources indicated that around the end of 19th century, the area around St. George Church began to play the leading socio, economic and political role of the city. During the reign of Menilik,Piazza boomed and several modern buildings, post office, entertainment centers, Hotels and shops were built.
Before the emergence of the new villages in Addis, Piazza was considered as the only breathing center center for social and economic activities.

Piazza can be also said one of the tourist attraction areas in Addis. During the times when our country hosts international conferences, piazza is the busiest area. This is due to the fact that the area has a number of gold and souvenir shops.
The nagging beggars along its narrow pavement are also the other features of piazza. Unlike other areas, beggars in Piazza are selective towards whom they should beg. They prefer foreigners instead of local passerby. Using their broken English language they will give a hard time to the tourist.
Piazza is completely different at the night. The shops and cafeterias which had been giving service in the day time will leave the ground for the bars and night clubs. The beautiful girls and gentle men who had decorated the streets of piazza will be replaced by the young sex commercial workers and street boys. The tourists and customers by the young drunker.
If you have the chance to walk along the street of piazza in the night you can see bunch of commercial sex workers giggling or insulting each other. Unlike other areas, Here in Piazza commercial sex workers do not care about their beauty or the kind of cloth they wear. If you closely observe them, you might come across with a beautiful prostitute with her missing teeth. If you are not lucky to find such a girl, believe me you will meet a pregnant commercial sex worker waiting for her customer.
Behind the row of its beautiful shops, piazza hosts small state-owned shanty dwellings. Despite their size and quality, this houses are shelters for unbalanced families members. Some times, this shanty houses can serve as a refreshing center for young Arada boys to chew chat and to watch pornographic films with a reasonable price. If you can't afford its cafeterias and restaurants, Piazza can treat you under the roof of this shanty houses.
The bars in Piazza are also unique. Here in Piazza you can find all type of bars. If you are a kind of gentle drunker, piazza can provide you a peaceful bars with soft and oldies music. In contrast, if you are not interested in this kind of bars, piazza can also provide you the noisy night clubs which resembles the legendary hell.