We ventured to a nearby outdoor cafe for breakfast – ordered
one English breakfast and the lighter vegetarian breakfast for Elizabeth.
Shortly after, the waitress brought out two English breakfasts and to cover her
mistake said: “This is better!” as she placed the English breakfast in front of
Elizabeth. After breakfast we went for a
walk around Larnaca, to the Castle of Larnaca, believed to have been built in
the middle ages and rebuilt during Ottoman times, to defend against sea attacks
on the town. After the Ottoman times the
British occupiers used it as a prison (complete with gallows). From the ramparts you can see the sea, as
well as the endless sea of beach umbrellas. Then a visit to the Byzantine
Cathedral of St Lazarus. A beautiful, ornate church built in the early 10th
century during the reign of Emperor Leo VI.
It contains the tomb of St Lazarus (which was obviously empty).
Our new best friend Salah picked us up about 12.30pm for the
one-hour drive to Famagusta (which included a border crossing) and during the
journey we learned that he was a professor of English and had taught in Malta
and also at a university in Damascus, Syria, only fleeing (and leaving most of
their possessions behind) when the current civil war broke out. He married a Syrian girl - “she is so
beautiful, she could have married anyone” and “She does not wear a veil. She
wears mini-skirts.”
Upon arrival at our charming guest-house accommodation within
the old walked city of Famagusta we were greeted with cold drinks and cake,
then we set off on foot to explore the old town, which is defined by the
early-16th century Venetian walls that totally surround it. Over fifteen metres high and surrounded by a
now-waterless moat, the ramparts failed to keep the Ottomans at bay and the
city fell in 1571. Then to the Mustafa Pasa Camili, formerly the Cathedral of
St Nicholas, built in the early 14th century but converted into a
mosque after 1571 and still used as such today.
Although obviously of Byzantine origin and the finest example of
Lusignan Gothic in Cyprus, it is now totally devoid of any embellishment or
ornamentation. Then to St Peter and St Paul Church, a mammoth church, also 14th
century and still structurally intact, but now completely empty and undergoing
renovation. Nearby were the ruins of the
Venetian palace with its triple-arched entrance, the ruins of another 14th
century St Nicholas church and the Ottoman bath-house. We stopped for a delicious late lunch and
then wandered the back streets, looking at the blend of the old and the new,
and made our way back to our digs for a rest prior to dinner.
Tomorrow – off early, a few miles north to the ancient
city-state of Salamis, the ruins dating back to the 11th century BC.
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