Bahir Dar (ባህር ዳር — "Shore of the Sea" in Amharic, population 356,000 — the capital of the Amhara Region of Ethiopia and the gateway to two of the most extraordinary natural and cultural sites in Africa) is the city on the southern shore of Lake Tana (the largest lake in Ethiopia, 3,600 km², the source of the Blue Nile River — the river that provides 85% of the water in the Nile as it flows north through Sudan and Egypt): the Blue Nile (the "Abbay" in Amharic — the "Great River": the river that drains Lake Tana through the Blue Nile Gorge (one of the deepest gorges in Africa: the gorge cuts 1,500m into the Ethiopian plateau over 450km) and the Blue Nile Falls (Tis Abay — "Smoke of the Nile" in Amharic: the waterfall 30km south of Bahir Dar where the Blue Nile drops 37–45m over a 400m wide basalt lip: the most spectacular waterfall in Ethiopia and one of the most important waterfalls in Africa)). Lake Tana contains 37 islands, 20 of which have monasteries or churches: the island monasteries of Lake Tana (the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo monasteries founded between the 14th and 17th centuries on the island sanctuaries of Lake Tana — the most important collection of medieval Ethiopian Christian art and religious objects in the world: the monasteries contain the original "tabot" (the replica of the Ark of the Covenant — the most sacred object in Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity: every Ethiopian Orthodox church contains a tabot, and the Lake Tana island monasteries are believed to contain some of the most ancient and most sacred tabots in Ethiopia), illuminated Ge'ez manuscripts (the hand-painted vellum gospels of the 14th–16th centuries), and the mummified remains of former Ethiopian emperors.
Lake Tana (3,600 km² — the largest lake in Ethiopia and the source of the Blue Nile): the morning boat from the Bahir Dar waterfront to the Zege Peninsula monasteries (the most accessible island/peninsula monastic complex on Lake Tana — 30 minutes by motorboat from Bahir Dar): Ura Kidane Mihret (the most important monastery on the Zege Peninsula — founded in the 14th century, the current circular "drum" church (the "meqdes" — the circular Ethiopian Orthodox church building with the concentric ring plan: the innermost circle (the "qiddiste qiddusan" — the "Holy of Holies") contains the tabot (the Ark replica) and is accessible only to ordained priests, the middle ring (the "qiddist") is for communicants, and the outer ring (the "qine mahlet") is for the choir and the general congregation): the 16th-century wall paintings covering the entire interior (the most complete set of medieval Ethiopian Orthodox murals in existence: the scenes from the Old and New Testaments, the life of the Virgin Mary and the Ethiopian saints painted in the distinctive Ethiopian style (the large eyes, the frontal pose, the flat color fields and the narrative register bands): the most important collection of medieval Ethiopian Christian art accessible to visitors).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Blue Nile source (the point where the Blue Nile (the "Abbay" — the "Great River") exits Lake Tana through the barrages at the town of Bahir Dar): the Blue Nile originates in the small streams of the Ethiopian highlands near Mount Gish (at an altitude of approximately 2,900m in the Gojjam highlands 60km south of Bahir Dar) and flows into Lake Tana through multiple inflow streams — the lake acts as the reservoir that regulates the flow: the exit point at the southern end of Lake Tana is the conventionally accepted "source" of the Blue Nile. The Blue Nile (1,450km from Lake Tana to Khartoum where it joins the White Nile to form the Nile proper) contributes 85% of the annual water and 95% of the silt load of the Nile as it flows through Sudan and Egypt: the Ethiopian plateau rainfall and runoff that fills Lake Tana during the rainy season (June–September) creates the annual Nile flood (the "inundation" — the flood that made Egyptian civilization possible by depositing the rich silt on the Nile valley floodplain every year from July to October).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBahir Dar market (the main commercial market of the Amhara Region capital — the most important agricultural market of the Lake Tana basin: the Saturday market (the largest market day) with the highland farmers bringing the teff (Eragrostis tef — the most important grain in Ethiopia: the smallest grain in the world, used to make injera), the barley, the sorghum and the coffee (the Ethiopian coffee — the origin of all coffee in the world: the wild Coffea arabica was first domesticated in the highland forests of the Kaffa region of southwest Ethiopia from which the word "coffee" most likely derives)): the Ethiopian weaving (the shemma — the traditional Ethiopian white cotton cloth with the colored border embroidery that is the everyday garment of the Ethiopian Orthodox Christians: the shemma is worn draped over the shoulders as a "gabi" (the thick double-woven version worn by men in the cool highland evenings) or the thinner "netela" (the women's shawl worn over the head and shoulders at church services): woven on the traditional backstrap loom by male weavers (the traditional Ethiopian weaving is a male occupation — unlike most textile traditions in Africa where weaving is a female activity).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideInjera firfir (the most common everyday form of injera in the Amhara Region: the left-over or fresh injera torn into small pieces and sautéed in the "berbere" spice mix and "niter kibbeh" (the Ethiopian spiced clarified butter — the butter clarified and then infused with onion, garlic, ginger, fenugreek, turmeric and black cumin): the firfir is simultaneously the simplest and the most intensely flavored form of injera preparation) and tej (the Ethiopian honey wine — the most ancient alcoholic beverage in Ethiopia (documented in the Kebra Nagast (the "Glory of Kings" — the 14th-century Ge'ez text that narrates the story of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon and the founding of the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia): the honey wine fermented with the leaves of gesho (Rhamnus prinoides — the Ethiopian hops substitute: the gesho leaves and branches give the tej its characteristic bitter, slightly resinous quality that balances the sweetness of the honey): served in the "berele" (the traditional tej flask — the elongated bottle-shaped glass flask with the narrow neck that is the iconic shape of the Ethiopian tej service)).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTis Abay ("Tis Isat" — "Smoke of the Nile" in Amharic: "tis" = smoke, "abbay" = the Blue Nile): the waterfall 30km south of Bahir Dar where the Blue Nile River (1–2km downstream from Lake Tana) drops 37–45m (the height varies by season: 45m at the peak of the rainy season (August–September) when the full flow of the Lake Tana outflow passes over the falls, and approximately 37m in the dry season when much of the water is diverted by the Tis Abbay 1 and Tis Abbay 2 hydroelectric dams (the two diversion dams that were built upstream of the falls in 2001 and 2009 respectively: these dams divert approximately 85–95% of the normal dry-season flow away from the falls and into the turbines — the falls are significantly reduced in the dry season but still spectacular)): at full flow (the rainy season, August–September), the waterfall is 400m wide and the mist (the "smoke" of the Amharic name) rises 100m or more and can be seen from 5km away. The approach (the 2km walk from the road to the falls viewpoint across the basalt plateau, crossing the 17th-century Portuguese bridge — the "Emperor's Bridge" — built by the Portuguese Jesuit mission to Ethiopia in the 1620s).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideDebre Mariam Monastery (the island monastery of Debre Mariam — "Mount of Mary" — on one of the 37 islands of Lake Tana: accessible only by the traditional papyrus tankwa (the reed boat of Lake Tana — the "tankwa" (the papyrus reed boat made from the papyrus reeds that fringe the shores of Lake Tana: the same construction technique as the reed boats of ancient Egypt and the totora reed boats of Lake Titicaca in Peru — the papyrus bundle boat is one of the most ancient watercraft technologies in the world)): the 17th-century church of Debre Mariam contains the mummified remains of the Ethiopian emperors Yohannes I (ruled 1667–1682) and his son Iyasu I (the "Great" — "Iyasu the Great": the most celebrated Ethiopian emperor of the 17th century, ruled 1682–1706, who built the second Fasilides palace complex at Gondar and expanded the Ethiopian empire): the mummified remains are wrapped in royal garments and kept in the inner sanctuary of the church accessible to male visitors only.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLake Tana at sunset (the evening light on the largest lake in Ethiopia: the sunset boat from the Bahir Dar waterfront offers the best views of the lake at the most photogenic hour): the papyrus tankwa fishermen (the traditional papyrus bundle boats — the single-outrigger or unbalanced reed boats in which the Lake Tana fishermen set their gill nets for the endemic cichlid fish species of Lake Tana (the "zilzil" — the endemic Lake Tana cichlids, including Oreochromis niloticus (the Nile tilapia) and the large endemic species of the genus Labeobarbus): the fishermen pole their tankwa boats through the shallow reed margins of the lake): the hippopotami (Hippopotamus amphibius — the large hippo population of Lake Tana: the hippos live in the shallow reed beds along the lake margins and are most active at dawn and dusk when they emerge to feed on the lakeside vegetation): the African Fish Eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer — the "voice of Africa": the most recognizable call of any African bird: the descending, haunting whistle of the fish eagle carries across the surface of Lake Tana in the evening).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideKitfo (the Ethiopian beef tartare — the most important festive meat dish in Ethiopia: the raw minced beef (the finest grain beef from the hump of the zebu cattle (Bos taurus indicus — the humped African-Asian cattle breed that is the dominant livestock animal of the Ethiopian highlands): the beef is minced extremely fine (hand-chopped or minced on the stone grinding board), seasoned with mitmita (the Ethiopian dry spice blend: bird's eye chili pepper (the "berbere" is the wet spice blend; the "mitmita" is the dry, finer-ground version: primarily cardamom, bird's eye chili, clove and black pepper) and the niter kibbeh (the spiced clarified butter): the kitfo can be served "leb leb" (the "just touched by fire" preparation: the briefly warmed kitfo) or "tire siga" (the completely raw beef): served with ayib (the fresh Ethiopian cottage cheese — the mild, crumbled fresh cheese that balances the heat of the mitmita) and the collard green cooked in garlic and niter kibbeh (the "gomen" — the most common vegetable in Ethiopian cuisine).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFasil Ghebbi (the "Royal Enclosure" of Gondar — UNESCO World Heritage Site): the walled compound containing the palaces of six Ethiopian emperors of the Solomonic dynasty (the dynasty that traced its lineage to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, ruled Ethiopia from 1270 to 1974): the Castle of Fasilides (Emperor Fasilides — ruled 1632–1667: the founder of Gondar and the builder of the first and largest castle in the enclosure: the three-story castle with the battlemented towers, the large throne hall and the lion-cage pits where Fasilides kept the live lions that were the royal symbol of the Solomonic emperors (the Lion of Judah — the lion was the symbol of the Tribe of Judah from which the Solomonic dynasty claimed descent: the last Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, was formally titled "His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God and Emperor of Ethiopia")), the Library of Iyasu I and the banquet hall of Dawit III: the most important collection of medieval African royal architecture surviving intact.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideDebre Berhan Selassie ("Mount of the Light of the Trinity" — the Ethiopian Orthodox church on the hill above Gondar): the most celebrated example of Ethiopian Orthodox religious art in the country: the painted ceiling (the most famous feature: the 80 oval cherub faces painted on the wooden beam ceiling of the nave — each beam panel painted with a pair of large eyes, a round face and outstretched wings, covering the entire ceiling of the church with 80 repeating angel faces: the sensation of walking beneath the ceiling of 80 watchful angel eyes is one of the most extraordinary visual experiences in any church anywhere in Africa): the wall murals (the complete pictorial narrative of the Trinity, the Old and New Testament scenes and the life of St. Mary in the vivid Ethiopian style (the large almond eyes, the flat color fields, the narrative register composition) painted on all four walls of the inner sanctuary and the ambulatory).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideFasilides Bath (the royal bathing complex built by Emperor Fasilides on the Qaha River at the edge of Gondar): the central pool (the large rectangular stone pool surrounded by the two-story stone building (the summer palace with the arched loggias facing the pool on all four sides) and the banyan trees (the ancient Ficus trees whose aerial roots create the forest of pillars around the pool): the most important use of the pool today: the Timkat (the Ethiopian Orthodox Epiphany — the most important festival in the Ethiopian Orthodox calendar, celebrated on January 19 (the Julian calendar equivalent of January 6, the Western Christian Epiphany): the Fasil Bath is flooded on the eve of Timkat, and the tabot (the Ark of the Covenant replica) is carried to the pool in procession and placed on the pool platform: at dawn on Timkat morning, the faithful (tens of thousands of pilgrims dressed in white) are sprinkled with the blessed water from the pool in a mass re-baptism ceremony: the most spectacular Christian festival in Africa).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTej bet (the "tej house" — the traditional Ethiopian establishment dedicated to the service of tej (the Ethiopian honey wine): the tej bet is the most characteristically Ethiopian social institution: a simple room with wooden benches, earthen floors and the "berele" (the elongated flask-shaped glass tej bottles) lined up behind the counter: the tej is made from honey (the highland Ethiopian honey — Ethiopia is the largest honey producer in Africa and the fifth-largest in the world), water and gesho (Rhamnus prinoides — the Ethiopian plant whose leaves and branches are used as the bittering agent in tej brewing: gesho gives tej its characteristic slight bitterness and resinous aroma that distinguishes it from simple mead): the tej ferments for 1–3 weeks (shorter fermentation = sweeter, younger tej; longer = drier, more complex): traditionally served without a menu — the host brings the berele and you drink until you decide to stop or the berele is empty.
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