Bahir Dar, Lake Tana Monasteries

After an early morning flight from Addis Ababa, we started our day in Bahir Dar on the banks of Lake Tana and took a lengthy boat ride to various islands, spotting giant white pelicans and fishermen in papyrus canoes along the way.
There are many small islands in this large lake, most of which house monasteries from the 14th century, and all have colorful religious paintings. They are still in use exactly like they were 700 years ago, each containing a replica of the Ark of the Covenant with Moses' Ten Commandmends tablets. They claim the son of Solomon brought the original from Jerusalem in 900 BC, and it is now in the church at Axum north of here. But no one can see it except one dedicated priest.
We visited 4 monasteries today, all quite interesting, and tomorrow we drive to Gondar, a four hour journey.En savoir plus