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Published: August 1st 2006
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From Nov. 3-5, Christine and I went to Cyprus, a beautiful little island (for those who don't know, it's between Greece and Turkey). First, we figured out that we indeed can rent a car for less than $700 US! Our travel agent here in Cairo had told us to rent for 3 days would cost us that much...we got it for 60 Cyprus pounds (double to get the Cdn. price), and gas did not cost much. And it was even automatic, so I could drive, too.
I totally forgot that Cyrpus played a key role in the crusades, along with it's ancient roots, so I was in heaven for the history stuff. The first day, we checked out Lazarus church and the old fort in Lanarka, the city we landed in. Then we zoomed off for Lemesos, our home base for the next couple of days. After dropping stuff off at the hotel, we drove along the road to Pafos. On the way, we stopped at Kolossi Castle, an old crusader lookout tower. We drove on to Aprhodite's Sanctuary, and old temple complex. Upon arrival in Pafos, we went to the mosaic temple area - this place is a Unesco
World Heritage site, and has some of the most detailed and beautiful ancient Greek mosaics - absolutely stunning! The colours are so bright in some of them, and most show scenes from mythology. We also checked out another crusader tower, and then it was time to shop! Cyprus is THE place to shop - great prices and cool souvenirs. Then, back to Lemosos for the night.
Next day, we woke up somewhat early (7 am) and found our way through the winding, narrow, can hardly fit a car through medieval streets of old Lemesos. We went to Lemosos castle, and I was in my element. This is the castle that Richard the Lion Heart was married in, and it is amazing! Lots of passage ways and small rooms, all full with displays of early medieval artifacts. There was also a nice display of old armour and weapons, and I had a nice discussion about them with this kind, old British man (lots of British tourists in Cyprus, as it used to be a British colony at one time). Then we were off to the mountains. Rather scary to drive through at times, as the roads are so winding and
Kykkos Monestary
Well worth the long but beautiful drive through the mountains. our car had poor pick-up (very slow sometimes!). The drive was great, though. At the top of Mount Olympus (yes, there is one here, too!), there was even snow (just a tiny bit) - something I thought I wouldn't see for a while! Our ultimate far destination was Kykkos Monestery perched among the mountains. We thought as we drove up "This better be worth the drive!" and let me tell you...it was! Every wall and celing around the place was brightly painted with scenes from the bible. There is also this amazing museum where they have preseved old artifacts from church history...priest and bishop garmets, church items and many, many icons (Eastern Orthodox). Then we went back to Lemesos and shopped some more!
Our final day, we drove to Lefkosia (Nicosia), which is right at the border between Greek and Turkish Cyprus. The city itself is divided and of course, we wanted to be able to say we walked to an area occupied illegally by Turkey, so we did. At the only crossing, you must fill out a tiny sheet of paper with your name and passport number, then stand in line to get it stamped (they don't even
More of Kykkos Monestary
Going to heaven and being pulled down to hell. stamp your passport, as this may cause you problems in the future). Then, you walk through the bombed-out UN buffer zone, and then show the man at the next station your stamped paper, and you are in Turkey - well...sort of, I guess! In the buffer zone, the buildings are still owned by people, and they are waiting one day for the two sides to be reunited so they can reclaim their buildings. You could have blindfolded me, and I could tell you I was in a Middle-Eastern style place, as the men acted like they do here! D'oh! Most of this area is still not repaired from the invasion war of the '70's - many buildings riddled with bullet holes or just bombed out. Most interesting to me was a simple soccer field. The field was on the Turkish side, but the stands were on the Greek Cypriot side! We did a tour around the main areas, sometimes following the path on our map and other times going off of it to see the "real" city, not the one the tourist board wanted us to see! It's interesting because all of the churches here were converted into Mosques, so
A Mosque/Church
Most churches on the Turkish occupied side were turned into mosques. Note the minaret added to the building. you would see a gothic church, with the gargolyes knocked off, and the inside all carpeted and the minaret on the side newly built. Some of the insides of some churches were really changed so that Muslim worshippers know which way to face to pray (must face East). We did our tour around here and then crossed back to the Greek side. We walked around the old city here, and then went back to Lanarka where we had the traditional meze meal (a mixture of hot and cold dishes, about 15-17 of them!). Very filling.
So, I would say this was a successful trip (except for the Egyptian parasite still inhabiting my stomach!). Cheers.
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