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CIAAO Hotel
Massawa
The C.I.A.A.O. organization had many facilities.  C.I.A.A.O is an acronym for Concessione Italiana Alberghi Africa Orientale  which means something like Italian Hotel Concession of East Africa. (Many thanks to Dave Engstrom for the definition.) That I know of, there was a gift store in Asmara (which may have been part of a hotel), this hotel in Massawa and another hotel in Keren.  The Massawa C.I.A.A.O. Hotel was prefabricated in Italy.  As I remember it, it was in Milano.  It was put together in the late '20s or early '30s on the Island of Taulud.  According to Eritrean Guide, the Red Sea Hotel now stands on this location.  I do not know if it is the same building or not.  The above view shows the hotel after the U.S.Army took it over as a Rest Center.  The picture below was taken the previous year.

The next year, it was closed according to Chapter 4 of the History of Kagnew Station. It was then replaced by the Red Sea Hotel.  It was from this location that several of the later Kagnewite pictures of the railway were taken.

Photo courtesy of Chuck Moulton

The Red Sea was behind the C.I.A.A.O. Hotel.  There was also a small outdoor dance floor, a pool, and a small pier.  To the right of this scene were several cabanas.  Judging from the native home village shown in Asmara Style, these were probably servant's quarters during the Colonial Era.  I will scan and load a picture of those (and some gazelle behinds) when I find it.  My wife, a wildlife artist, probably has this in here picture morgue. On the horizon behind the pool lies Green Island.  To the right is a mountain.

This mountain is seen better on the two pictures below.  The first is near midday and the second is at sunset.


Behind those trees are the aforementioned cabanas.







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