On Tana's islands and the Zege peninsula sleep medieval monasteries amid wild coffee forests: famed Ura Kidane Mehret — a round church whose interior walls are an encyclopedia of unfaded Abyssinian painting, scripture and saints through purely African eyes. The forest path from the jetty (monkeys and wild coffee) is half the spell; the murals need a guide's reading; some island monasteries remain male-only — confirm before extended tours.