Across the street from Black Lion Hospital, you can find dozens of shops lining the road selling various traditional handcraft pieces, jewelry and figurines. Some rare collectors’ items (e.g. ornate crosses) might require a special permit from the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage in order to pass through customs.

You can easily obtain the permit by taking the item and a receipt to the Heritage Registration and Inspection Department of the Authority in Amist- Kilo (opposite Addis Abeba Institute of Technology) which is in the same compound with the National Museum. Churchill Avenue, previously the center of city, is only about one Kilometer long. It starts at the marvelous train station La Gar and stretches up to City Hall, where an obelisk-looking tower marks the end of the road. It also hosts the French school, Lycee Gebre Mariam.