ZEGUE PENINSULA

Located around 15 km from Bahar Dar, the Zegue peninsula is the most popular excursion on Lake Tana, and requires a half-day visit. We linger at three sites: Urane Kidet, Azwa Maryam and Beta Maryam, a pretext for a stroll along the peninsula's coffee-growing rainforest landscapes. Hermits seeking isolation from the world founded the first Ethiopian Orthodox Christian monasteries on the islands of Lake Tana in the ^4th century. Today's buildings date from the ^18th century. The boat can pick you up on the other side if you have privatized it. Insistent souvenir sellers line this tourist route.

Transportation. To get there, you can take the local shuttle boat (25 birr) which leaves every hour and takes 1 hour (first departure 7am, return 8am, etc.), but be aware that the last returns are quite early (ask around 3 or 4pm). To privatize a boat for 1 to 5 people, expect to pay 500 birr for half a day, including fuel and driver, the advantage being that you take your time and we wait for you.

Guides. They're waiting for you at the boat's exit when you dock on the Zegue peninsula, and from now on a local guide is compulsory. So don't take one in port or in town if that's the only place you plan to go, because you'll end up paying twice! They're young, and lately we've found them quite well trained and educational in explaining the paintings, construction and architecture. It's a very interesting visit, and the friendly guides know how to keep the pushy salesmen on the side path at bay. We recommend walking with the guide, as the scenery is magnificent and he'll lead you to a small viewpoint.

Ura Kidane Mehret Church. Located on the Zegue peninsula, which is also home to the Beta Mariam and Azwa Mariam churches (Beta Giorgis having burned down), Ura Kidane Mehret is one of Lake Tana's most important sanctuaries, famous for its paintings dating from the ^18th to ^20th centuries, most of which have been restored. The circular, thatched church houses a maqdas entirely covered with biblical and historical scenes, which unfold in a sort of immense comic strip. Nearby, a small museum holds some interesting treasures: crowns, crosses, a Bible... Easily accessible, the church is much visited, attracting a throng of souvenir sellers, children and "guides" who are as tiresome as they are useless. Pretending not to understand English is a good way to ignore them.

Azwa Maryam Monastery. Following a 1.5 km path from Ura Kidane, we reach Azwa Maryam, a ^14th-century circular church with ^18th-century paintings. The priest's treasure trove includes many antiques.

Mehal Giyorgis Church. On the other side of the valley, 2 km from Ura Kidane along a different path, is Mehal Giyorgis, founded in the ^13th century and rebuilt and embellished with paintings in the ^18th century. According to legend, its founder was Abune Betre Mariam, one of the seven Ethiopian saints who dedicated his life to the expansion of monasteries on the islands of Lake Tana. The adjacent Abune Bete Mariyam church houses a museum with icons, murals, crowns, crosses, vestments, illuminated manuscripts..