Bahir Dar: the monasteries of Lake Tana

Overlooking Africa's largest lake, Bahir Dar is the departure point for dozens of centuries-old monasteries scattered across islands and peninsulas, plus one of the country's best-known waterfalls.

The center, with its palm-lined avenues, can be comfortably explored on foot.

A motorboat takes visitors to Lake Tana, the largest in Ethiopia and source of the Blue Nile, where dozens of monasteries stand isolated on islands and peninsulas difficult to reach by land.

Among these, the monastery of Ura Kidane Mehret, founded according to tradition in the fourteenth century, preserves on its circular walls religious murals with still very vivid colors.

Returning to Bahir Dar, the city market along tree-lined avenues offers local coffee and handicrafts before leaving for the last stage of the day.

In the afternoon, about an hour's drive away, the Blue Nile Falls, known in Amharic as Tis Issat, 'water that smokes', remain among the most celebrated waterfalls in the country.

In the dry season the waterfall's flow drops significantly, partly due to the nearby hydroelectric dam: visiting during the rains reveals a far more dramatic spectacle than the photographs taken in winter.

Some manuscripts preserved in the Lake Tana monasteries date back several centuries and are still shown to visitors today directly by the resident monks, without display cases or protective glass.