Bahir Dar Favorites

Favorite thing: Coming by bus from Addis Abeba you cross the Blue Nile by this elegant bridge built by the italians in the first half of the XX century. The Blue Nile is the Ethiopian branch of the river, that later, in Jartum, joins the main river to end up in Egypt. The Blue Nile crossing is an amazingly beautiful landscape, the bus has to go down to the bottom of the gorge, cross the river and go up again. This is something you miss if you reach Bahir Dar by plane...

Favorite thing: At the bottom of Haile Selassie`s palace not far from the ferry station is a place where the locals like swimming. Join them and have fun but check about security first!

Its said that there is no Bilharzias in the Blue Nile!

Favorite thing: On the main road near the Lake Tana are four Internet places. Its 0.4 Birr / min. Non of the places got a cd writer.

Next door you can rent bicycles for one Birr /hrs. This is the price for locals, bargain or pay a Faranji price!

Favorite thing: The main market in Bahir Dar is enormous, so it's not always easy to find, where you are looking for.

A nice schoolboy Roberto, accompanied by some of his friends, guided me for a few Birr. He told a lot about the town, the local customs and showed me the most interesting parts of the market before dusk and closing time of the market.

I especially liked to hear about the local customs and to see the most colourful parts of the market, like this woman selling wool in very bright colours. In these colours the local scarves are woven.

Favorite thing: Bahir Dar has a large and lively market in the southwest part of the centre, 1 KM south of Lake Tana.

Especially at saturday, the main market day, it's a very bustling place. I really enjoyed to walk around at the market for some hours, late in the saturday afternoon, the day of our arrival.

At the market you can find the traditional agelgils, leather lunchboxes used by the local travellers for transporting their food. In Bahir Dar the agelgils are made of goatskin and look furry. Another article you can find at this market is the colourfully woven cloth with stripes and figures in different colours.