Due to the occupation of Addis Ababa by Italy in the 1930s, the country retained some place names in Italian. Merkato means « market » in italian, it is a large open-air marketplace in the Addis Ketema district of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The city has 4.5 million inhabitants and is the 16th largest city in Africa. The city is divided into 10 borough, and Addis Ketema is the biggest with more than 300,000 inhabitants.
In this open-air market, you can buy anything: the challenge is knowing where to look because the market covering several square miles. In this area 15,000 people work and 8,000 businesses operate. You can buy some food, spices, and famous ethiopian dish. You can find kitchen items as well. There's also all kinds of clothes. Above all, you can buy petrol for your cars.
In fact, many cars come to this market for fuel, sometimes causing accidents between pedestrians and vehicles. Due to development of the city, numerous sellers are forced to move. Even if the market is very chaotic, it remains a fabulous place to discover.
