From Bahar Dar you can reach the Blue Falls. Tissat (smoke of fire) or Tis Abai (Smoke of the Blue Nile). It falls over a width of 400 metres down 40 metres. On the way to the fall you cross a Portugese bridge, made by a architect from India. This is the first bridge ever maid over the Nile.

From Lake Tana the Blue Nile starts its journey to Khartoum and on to the Mediterranean. Over a length of 800 km the Nile is rushing through Ethiopia. Near Bahar Dar it was falling over a wide of 400 meters 45 meters down in a nice waterfall. Unfortunately because of dams that is not as impressive anymore as it used to  be.

Bahar Dar is a modern small town on the southeastern shore of Lake Tana in the north of Ethiopia. It hosts the fabled Blue Nile falls, the beautiful highland Lake Tana and 14th-century island monastic churches.

It lays on a altitude of 1850 metres and has a very nice center with wide lanes, surrounded by palmtrees, lots of gardens and tropical flowers and plant. The local fishermen still use papyrus boats. There is a main colourful market witch is well known for its weavers and wood workers. From the former palace of Hailè Selassiè there is a splendid view over the Nile valley.

From Bahar Dar you have to explore some of the ancient monasteries that have been built around Lake Tana or on the many islands in the lake. There are 37 islands dotted all over the lake and 30 of them house churches and monasteries of great cultural and historical interest. They contain beautiful manuscripts, objects of worship and crosses dating back to the dawn of Christianity.

These include Dek Stephanos, with a good collection of icons, as well as the remains of several medieval emperors, Kebran Gabriel (closed to women), and Ura Kidane Mehret with its famous frescoes.

The art in a church on a island in Lake Tana