Bahar Dar was not a town I had done much (let’s be honest –
any) research on because my journey here was purely due to the fact that it was
cheaper and easier to fly out of here to Addis than from Lalibela. Gashu had told me yesterday about a series of
monasteries here – one of which was a place where the Ark of the Covenant was
allegedly kept for about 800 years, so I figured it was worth the day trip to
go see this place.
A day on the lake is always worth it
The story behind the Ark being in Ethiopia goes back to the
days of Solomon. The Queen of Sheba
heard about how great of a dude Solomon was, so she went to Israel to meet
him. The two of them hit it off, and
after she returned home to her kingdom, she gave birth to his son,
Menelik. Eventually Menelik wanted to
meet his dad, so he went to Israel himself.
Solomon took a shine to his kid, and decided that when Menelik went back
to Ethiopia he would send the Ark of the Covenant with him to protect him
(along with 12,000 Israelis). Menelik put the Ark at the monastery on Lake
Tana, where it stayed for hundreds of years, until another king decided he
wanted the Ark to be closer to him and moved it to Axum, where it remains to
this day. Of course, no one is allowed to see the Ark except for one or two senior
clergymen at the church where it remains, but all of Ethiopia and the Coptic
Christians here believe the true Ark is there.
With the Indiana Jones theme music playing in my head, I
arrange for a tour to go see the monastery on Lake Tana where the Ark used to
be kept before it was moved to Axum. I
don’t know the name of the monastery per se, so instead I ask to be taken to
the famous monastery, and clarify “the one with the Ark.” And they said “yes,
yes – we’ll take you there.” We take a
small boat across the lake – which is coincidentally both the largest lake in
Ethiopia and the source of the Nile river.
The lake is dotted with islands, most of which have monasteries on
them. The boat ride takes about an hour,
and we dock at what appears to be a large island in the lake, but turns out to
be a peninsula. There we meet a local
guide who takes me to the monastery. As
we’re walking, I ask about the Ark and the guide clarifies that this isn’t the
monastery where the true Ark was kept, but they have a replica of it here. Shoot.
I was really looking forward to having my Indiana Jones moment. Apparently that monastery is further away
(the lake is really big), and it isn’t frequented by tourists because the
original monastery was destroyed and so what stands there now is a much more recent
rebuilt version. I’m disappointed, but
decide to make the most of this trip anyway.
Because fiftheenth century paintings are just as cool as the Ark...right? Actually, yeah they were pretty great...
We walk uphill through a coffee plantation and other foliage
to get to the monastery. The path is
incredibly rocky, so I have to be careful not to trip break a kneecap or
something. Because if I’m going to trip and fall, of course
it would be an hour boat ride away from civilization. Plus I don’t want to be “that girl.”
While good at building monasteries, they haven't quite mastered the art of leveling roads
Anyway, the monastery turns out to be
absolutely beautiful and worth the trip – even though the replica Ark is kept
in the sanctuary, where no one can see it.
It’s circular in shape, and built of hardened mud and straw on the
inside and wood on the outside. Like all
Ethiopian churches, it has 3 sections – the outer section where all of the
chanting is done (and the drums are played), the middle section where communion
is taken, and the sanctuary, where no one is allowed except clergy and other
special people. In this circular church,
the three sections are rings, with the center of the building being the
sanctuary. This monastery was built in
the fourteenth century and has been beautifully painted with murals depicting
various religious stories all throughout. Fun fact: the painting was done with natural colors extracted from plants grown locally
Like these!
Some of the stories are easy for me to recognize – like the
nativity scene, or Lazarus being raised from the dead, or Moses crossing the
Red Sea. Other scenes are less familiar,
and it turns out it is because they are from some of the “supplemental” books
to the Bible that the Coptic church teaches (but which other branches of
Christianity ignore). For example, one
of the murals depicted a man who was a cannibal and ate 78 people, but he also
gave a drop of water to a thirsty person in the name of Mary, and so when he
died, Mary decided he could go to heaven because of the one kind act that he
did in his life.
No cannibals in this painting. Just lots of guys with spears.
One interesting point about the artwork was that the artists
would depict people straight on (e.g. you can see both of their eyes) if they
were a good and righteous person, but if the person had bad moral character,
then they would be shown in a profile view (e.g. only 1 eye). I’m not sure how these artists would have
treated Tiki. Maybe they would have used
their artistic license to give her back her other eye…
Something's telling me that the artist didn't like this person...oh wait - he only has 1 eye!
After wandering around the monastery for a bit, we started
walking back to the boat. I spotted a
monkey along the path and wanted to take a photo, but it started running away,
and so naturally I start chasing it. The
Ethiopian people selling trinkets outside the monastery thought it was
hilarious – me running after the monkey with my camera in my hand shouting “Wait!
Wait! Stand still!” So much for not being
“that girl.”
But I'm cute so I get away with it
Next we take the boat back, but first we stop off at the
place in Lake Tana where the Nile river begins.
My guide had told me that hippos like to hang out in that area, but that
seeing them is hit or miss. Thankfully
my luck took a turn for the better, because when we get to the area where the
Nile begins, we spot not one but two hippos, swimming side by side! The boat allows the hippos to get pretty
close to us – a stone’s throw away maybe.
In that moment I was acutely aware of a random fact I heard somewhere –
that hippos cause more deaths in Africa than any other type of animal. Thankfully, these two didn’t seem too
interested in our boat, and instead they just kept swimming along. They were a lot bigger than I had expected –
we only saw their heads and they were massive!
I wasn't able to collect enough data to determine whether they were hungry, hungry...simply hungry, or if they had just eaten.
After we get back to Bahar Dar, my guide asks me if I have
time to have coffee. By this point, all
I had eaten today was a banana, so I tell him I’d actually love to grab a bite
to eat if he has a place to recommend.
He takes me to a coffee house, which also serves food. The menu makes absolutely no sense – the translations
from Amharic to English script aren’t very descriptive, and I’m not feeling
particularly adventurous about this “authentic Ethopian” restaurant today. I tell the guide I’m vegetarian, and he tells
me that my only real option is either a bean powder (um…no), or pasta. Surprisingly, most places in Ethiopia offer
pasta on their menus. I’m guessing this
has to do with the brief Italian occupation of the country from 1935-41, but in
this case I’m thankful for the option. I
order “spaghetti with tomato” and am pleasantly surprised by the spicy
arribiatta sauce that comes on the pasta.
We sit and drink Ethopian coffee out of their traditional serving jars
and chat about Bahar Dar and what it’s like to grow up here.
The rest of the day was spent in travel back to Addis. I meet a group of American guys on my flight who
are traveling around Ethiopia together on vacation because their grandparents
emigrated to the States from here in the 60’s.
It’s nice to chat with some fellow Americans. While I enjoy traveling alone, it gets lonely
sometimes. I end up being seated next to
them on the flight too, so we talk a lot about what we’ve done and seen in Ethiopia. They asked me if I wanted to go clubbing with them tonight in Addis, but I figured the smart move would be to prioritize sleep over partying.
We land in Addis and I’m met at the airport by a driver from
the Sheraton. Apparently the Sheraton in
Addis is reallllly nice, so they inform me that my limo is waiting for me. They then apologize because they are short on
limos and so would it be ok if I shared with two other people who just arrived
as well? While the idea of a limo sounds
nice, it turns out to be a Volvo limo from about 1973. Still, it’s better than a tuk tuk! The Sheraton is indeed absolutely gorgeous,
and due to my (still lingering) status with Starwood hotels, they’ve upgraded
me to a corner suite. My hotel in Bahar
Dar was so gross that I didn’t even take a shower yesterday. By comparison, the Sheraton is a veritable oasis,
awash with luxury in the form of clean linens and high speed internet. God bless the Sheraton.
If this place had a theme song, it would be Handel's Messiah...
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