On their way to trek the stunning Simien Mountains, visitors often stop at Wolleka, an Ethiopian village that was once home to Falashas — Ethiopian Jews — where residents still preserve the Jewish heritage left behind by crafts people who long ago immigrated to Israel.

Ethiopian tourism is growing thanks to improved infrastructure, according to a report in TimesOfIsrael. More and more international tourists are making their way to Gondar, gateway to the Simien Mountains, known as the Grand Canyon of Africa.

The Falasha village of Wolleka is No. 5 in the top 10 destinations in Gondar, after a traditional restaurant, royal castles, and trekking in the mountains, according to Lonely Planet.

“Research suggests Falashas may have provided the labor for the construction and decoration of Gondar’s castles,” Lonely Planet’s entry for Wolleka reads. “Sadly, the pottery for which they were once famous has mostly degenerated into half-hearted art, though the figurine trinkets do make cool souvenirs.”

Ethiopia wants to be one of Africa’s top five tourist destinations by 2020, TravelWeekly reported.

“So far, Ethiopia has not really promoted its tourism very aggressively,” said Mike Fabricius, tourism strategist at The Journey. This is about to change. Ethiopia is poised for rapid tourism growth, developing government-owned Ethiopian Airlines into one of the fastest-growing airlines on the continent with Addis Ababa as an aviation hub.

In 2016, Ethiopia plans to roll out an international marketing campaign focusing on traditional target markets including the U.S. This marketing campaign will address common misconceptions, such as the idea that Ethiopia is unsafe, TravelWeekly reported.

Ethiopia also plans to develop new travel routes and circuits in lesser-known parts of the country.

Just as you leave the city of Gondar in Northern Ethiopia on the road toward the Simien Mountains, a hand painted sign with blue Stars of David announces “Wolleka Falasha Jewish Village.”

A few hundred Jews lived in Wolleka village for generations, until they left in the 1980s and early 90s. Some made their way to Addis Ababa and went to Israel from the capital. Others traveled by foot to Sudan and were airlifted to Israel during Operation Moses in 1984, according to TimesOfIsrael.

After Ethiopia adopted Christianity as the state religion, Jews, known as “Falashas” or “strangers,” had their land confiscated for refusing to convert, according to Lonely Planet. To survive, many became professional craftspeople including potters, blacksmiths, embroiderers, cloth and basket weavers.

Wolleka’s reputation as a craft center made it a natural home for a tourist market, TimesofIsrael reported. Current residents choose to celebrate the village’s Jewish roots rather than let them disappear into the past.

One family keeps the keys to the old synagogue,which is a 10-minute walk from the road. The turquoise Stars of David painted on the mud walls outside are fading, but inside, the paint is preserved — a mosaic of natural paints made from red earth, ash, and water.

“We keep this for a memorial,” said Ethiopia Berihe, 40, matriarch of the family that holds the key to the synagogues. “It’s like a historical place. Maybe their children will come here to visit.””

For 10 birr (46 cents) per person you can look inside the synagogue, but be prepared for an entourage of persistent sales kids, according to Lonely Planet.

Children holding trays of nik naks and crafts hover around the doorway, vying for visitors to “buy from me, buy from me,” TimesOfIsrael reported.

“We get tourists from all over, Americans, Australians, Spanish, Israelis,” said Berihe. “Sometimes they buy and sometimes they only come to visit. Most people that come don’t know about the Jewish part, except for the Jews that come.”

There is also a Jewish cemetery in Wolleka, with a Jewish Agency memorial to the Ethiopian Jews who died on the way to Sudan. Brightly painted graves are all adorned with Stars of David.

Few of the Jews living today in Gondar have been to Wolleka, though they are proud that the site has retained its Jewish character. “I like that when tourists come, they can still see the synagogue and the cemetery,” said Atenkut Setataw, a cantor at the HaTikva synagogue which serves Gondar’s Jewish population, in a TimesOfIsrael interview.

“I hope when all the Jews are gone, people who have relatives buried here will continue to help keep up the graves,” said Gashaw Abinet, another cantor at the synagogue who went to Wolleka for the first time with a visiting reporter. He has lived in Gondar for 17 years, waiting to move to Israel.

“Sometimes, I feel like we are like the bones left behind,” he said. “Our fathers are already forgetting their brothers.”

Many of the residents left in Wolleka are from the Qemant tribe, Abinet told TimesOfIsrael. According to oral tradition, the Qemant tribe is originally from Northern Africa, possibly Egypt, arriving in Ethiopia with Beta Israel, the Jewish population. Legend has it that the Qemant followed the Beta Israel after learning they had spirited away the Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Ethiopia some 2,500 years ago.

Qemant once was a separate religion with many similarities to Judaism, but most Qemant have converted to Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity TimesOfIsrael reported.

Not much has changed in the village since the Jews left, said Berihe, who has lived all her life in Wolleka. She said she misses her former Jewish neighbors. The village still displays Stars of David on many of the homes.

“The advantage we have is the crafts and metal (work),” said Berihe. “The Jews taught us how to do pottery and metal. When they left, we kept doing it.”