Storybook

Kyrenia / Girne - North Cyprus

(see previous installment of this story HERE )

I found this to be one of my favourite towns on the whole island. I don't know if it was the right combination of sea and hills, sights and regular neighbourhoods, or just the right amount of bustle for my taste. As soon as I got off the mini-bus I was pleased.

All I knew was that there was an old fortress to visit, and a monestary. So the first thing I did was to search out the tourist office. It is in a tiny corner of an old turret, in a small port with all kinds of quaint shops and local sights. I wandered along it in absolute delight, then came upon a nice cafe where I sat in the glass enclosure outside nursing my obligatory morning cappuccino.

(black arrow points to the port)

The historical information about the town I read says that, due to that big key that stretches out, this location had a very strong natural defense. To the right of the port is a fortress/castle that dates back to about 900. It took me almost the whole morning to tour it!

The interesting thing about Cyprus, to my mind, is that it's been conquered and settled so many different time by so many different countries. Each one, whether the Greeks, Romans, Armenians, Greeks again, Alexander for a while, Richard the Lionheart, Greeks once more, Turks, put their own unique stamp on the buildings. In fact they often took apart each other's fortresses to redesign them! So this castle in Kyrenia is like a living historical map of the island.

Here's a photo from above I stole from the internet

Inside the walls is an open square, and each side served a different function (soldiers guarding the sea side, clergy, royalty, servants).

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My, what a monster-sized door! I wonder what they used it for, back in the middle ages.

At one corner stands a Byzantine chapel. The thing about the successive occupations of Cyprus, and the resulting deconstruction, is that some facets didn't survive. A lot of Christian monuments on the north side, for example, have been modified by adding turrets and/or domes, and are now mosques. This tiny chapel, however, stands untouched

Every section of the castle has a spooky stone staircase leading down into various rooms. A very good effort has been made to show the changes over time, with illustrations and mannequins placed much as the people would have been. There is even a Turkish dungeon, where Queen Eleanor imprisoned a couple of poor souls for over a year. It's basically two pits dug 20m into the stone, 7m X 10m, with nothing but bare rock. The scene is dramatically demonstrated today with mannequin figures. I had a seriously creepy feeling after looking at that and reading the sad story . .. no photos, sorry!

(for more info on this castle fortress go here Brief history of Kyrenia / Girne castle )

I took some time to view other sights close by the fortress, like the icon museum, before heading up the hill to the monestary. When travelling I refuse to take taxis any time I normally wouldn't at home; the monestary is 6km up the hill and it was already mid-afternoon (my last mini bus to Famagusta left at 6:00). So I decided to take a taxi up the hill, but to walk down.

View of the monestary and surrounding neighbourhood from a street below

the church

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obligatory Wall of Icons

outside of monestary ruins in the waning afternoon light

I started down the hill back to where the bus company was. The map was confusing and I started getting nervous that I would make it back in time. With only 45 minutes to go I stopped at a gas station to ask directions and found out I was still like 2 km away! Oh no. I hadn't had any lunch either. There was a buffet-style restaurant on my route. I wanted to order a tasty sandwich to go, and a couple of beers. As I've said before, speed is not really in the locals' vocabulary, the pace on Cyprus is the epitomy of 'island time'. We fumbled through the language barrier with me trying to order, then a nice Brit couple order a chicken sandwich for me, explaining I was in a hurry. I showed them my map and where I needed to be before 6:00; they told me it was possible but I would have to rush.

With my trusty food and beer in hand I raced down the hill into town, ended up making it with plenty of time to spare.

Next time . . . . Lefkosa

-Keta
KetaDesign

Karpaz Peninsula - North Cyprus

(view my previous entry about my trip to Cyprus HERE )

The next day I rented a car and drove up the Karpaz Peninsula with a couple of friends. (well, the boy drove. he wanted to, and it was a Jeep . . . I don't know how to drive standard!). If you look at a map of Cyprus

Karpaz is the 'finger' that points to the north-east. It's a narrow stretch of land lined with beaches and cliffs on both sides. The very tip is rocky, with a couple of small rock formations jutting above the water before the horizon reaches out endlessly into blue Mediterranean.

It took about three hours each way (driving from the university at Famagusta), with some stops to take photos and generally look at the stunning scenery.

Still more than an hour away

on the furthest right of this photo you can just barely make out the flags on the tip of the point.

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A nice looking little bastion for a few lucky vacationers (only open during tourist season)

I like this photo in the late afternoon light . . . it looks warm and inviting even though we were a bit chilly on that windy day.

Less than half an hour from the point!

Turkish and North Cyprus flags blowing bravely in the wind, deserted army post off to the left

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View from the top; a few rocks then the lovely sea.

Obligatory art shot. heh.

Finally, it was time to turn around and head back.

Our little road snaking back inland.

Next installment . . . Kyrenia !

-Keta
ketadesign.ca

Famagusta - North Cyprus

(previous post about this story HERE )

After a few days of natural splendour at Cape Grekko, staying at a caravan park with picnic tables, running drinking water, toilets with soap and a large hearth for cooking it was time to move on with the trip. We had to run back to Lanarca quickly to pick up the newly-filled propane tank (for cooking). That very morning we headed to the border crossing, then on to Famagusta.

The crossing itself was easy enough; a guard asked us for our passports then had us get out of the car to get a visa paper stamped. Being a dual citizen (Czech and Canada) I use my Canadian passport whenever travelling internationally (especially within the British Commonwealth) and my Czech -now Euro- passport when travelling in the EU. Officials are not as used to seeing a Czech passport as some others maybe, but at least it's still EU! I like to do anything to speed up the process. We were stopped at the border for less than five minutes, due simply to the level of traffic, and immediately back on the road.

We rolled into Famagusta and headed straight for Silver Beach, where my brother stayed in his caravan for many months last year. It's less than three minutes out of town, just past the university, so very convenient while still feeling like you are out in nature. Again finding wood to burn for a fire was easy. We had dinner as the sky was darkening, my brother felt like watching a movie but I wanted to stay outside at the windy ocean front. I kept feeding the fire, and found a radio station with a British broadcaster (it's amazing how quickly we come to miss familiar sounds and languages!) so was reasonably entertained just watching the stars and the fire well past dark.

I slept very well in the tent, getting up briefly once to close the vent flaps as they were fluttering annoyingly in the brisk wind. The morning brought warm sunshine. My brother got out of the caravan at almost the exact moment that I emerged from my tent. As I was getting my toothbrush and stuff out of the car I saw a pack of dogs pass right by us, larger dogs like Collies and Retrievers and stuff, first two, then another three dashing to keep up. Hmm, perhaps the tent wouldn't be enough cover for another night!

My brother had a bunch of work to do and I was anxious to get the camera out on such a clear blue day, so he dropped me off at the gates of the old city. I hadn't had a chance to go to a bank machine on the North Side yet (I hate having retailers exchange my money! I always end up paying more) so blundered around inside the walled city until I found a bank machine I could use. It was right in the old town square, where I was facing an old church - since converted to a mosque - and a couple of cafes. So far I had only had an orange and felt a nice breakfast and coffee was in order.

Now, on the South Side . . . I don't know what the deal is perhaps they are used to American or British tourists who do not know what COFFEE is . . . every time I asked for a cappucino I was offered Nescafe (which comes out of a machine and is pure chemicals. not coffee at all) so I started asking first if they have espresso (no confusion there) THEN asking them to make me a cap with two shots of espresso. Sometimes it took some explaining, but eventually they all got it. On the North Side espresso was hard to find, but . .. who needs that, when they make real Turkish coffee!!

I asked the fellow for a coffee, some toast and a water. He made sure it was really Turkish coffee I wanted (and oh yes, it was indeed) and told me that they put garlic on their toast. Not two flavours I generally mix, coffee and garlic, but hey! what the hell, right? A stack of delicious tart bread, almost like sourdough, lightly toasted and a side dish of DELICIOUS garlicky butter. It had some other flavours too. I ended up having two coffees and enjoying a nice moment outside just writing in my journal and overhearing the various nattering conversations of the taxi drivers waiting for a fare. I couldn't eat all the toast so wrapped up a bit of a sandwich for later. In all it was 8 Turkish Lira (about 5 Euro). Pretty good deal, considering in Larnaca one (double) cappucino was 4.50 Euro.

I headed straight for the old Mosque

Front

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Interior

I was still wearing my knee shorts so they gave me a long skirt to pop on (to cover my legs). Of course I had to take off my boots before entering, as always.

They had an open copy of an illuminated manuscript of the Quran behind a case (much as they have the Book of Kells here at the UBC library). I couldn't resist snapping a photo!

I headed back outside, and found a group of ruins (an old church and some other buildings) that I decided to take more 'artsy' photos of

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Old Turkish Prison

Tomb of Yirmisekiz Mehmet Cheleb (I have no idea who that is, but he's clearly important to rate his whole own building!)

And finally, from somewhere on top of the wall of the old Turkish Prison from within the walled city . . . a view from above

Next time . . . Karpaz Peninsula!

Enjoy.
-Keta
ketadesign.ca

Cape Grekko - Cyprus

(this story is continued from the first installment HERE )

When I landed in Larnaca it had been raining for several days, the pilot even announced that there was a bit of a gale warning. "Oh well," I thought "it's still warmer and better weather than Vancouver right now!" We parked the caravan by the seawall downtown and went for a bit of a walk along the shore. I needed to clear my head from the stale air on the plane. As we were returning it was getting dark; I had decided to treat my brother to a dinner out. The rest of the trip would be eating cheap or cooking ourselves, but for the first night a proper feast seemed appropriate. I later learned that Cypriots take dinner quite late, so - at 6:00 - we had the restaurant to ourselves.

I ordered Meze, which can come as meat or seafood (I opted for meat) and plenty of beer. My brother and I caught up on old times as the plates kept coming. And coming, and coming! Meze is basically a mix of all kinds of dishes, each restaurant has their own version. It's meant to be shared between two people but I honestly think the amount of food we were served could have satisfied four. We ended up taking a doggie bag (another dinner for both of us plus a lunch for my brother) of the meat and half a loaf of medium dark rye bread. It really was a good deal . . . before we left the server treated us to a glass of local "Cyprus Ouzo" on the house. Went to bed very full, tipsy, and satisfied.

We had to stay in Larnaca for a couple of days as my brother took care of a few business things, but didn't much like sleeping on the side of a busy road - even if it was on the edge of the ocean. So for the second night we drove to an old monestary (since converted to a mosque) that some people had suggested. We stopped to take a look at the old building, where we found a group of kitties. Now, South Cyprus has wild housecats everywhere. And they're not mangey and starved like you would expect, but rather fluffy and cute! My brother supposes that - as the fishers clean and gut the fish right there on the dock - the cats get all the fresh heads etc., which is why they are so well-fed and healthy looking.

When we drove up in the caravan there was a group of them taking an afternoon nap. I wanted a photo without disturbing them too much, which ended up working out well because shortly afterwards the guard came to feed them.

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We drove down a remote dirt road, parking above a field that stretched out to the salt lake (where flamingoes gather this time of year). It was still quite windy, and I - being a true Canadian, with all my camping experience - was bent on starting a fire. As I marched around the field collecting wood my brother prepared the salad (since we had all that meat and bread leftover). He had a wind-guard tucked away in the caravan which worked well to protect the flames.

I heated up most of the meat just before dusk so we ate mostly by campfire light. I would have liked to stay out for longer but the wind was rather cold so the fire didn't last. We went inside to watch a movie.

The next morning was bright and sunny, I felt like it would get hot later so put on my long shorts. Good thing too, because it got up to 19 C! Locals looked at us in our spring clothes like we were nuts, and they made me laugh in their big thick coats and sweaters. For our first road trip we set out for Cape Grekko, loosely following a map (my brother prefers to drive right along the coast were possible). We stopped at a beach for lunch, and saw an interesting little harbour - a tiny canal winding inland filled with small, quaint fishing boats - so decided to explore around for a while. There was a large old boat up on drydock that we climbed onto.

(there was some historical reference to what the boat had been but I can't remember what it was)

The tiny canal

We stopped at Agia Napa (a bit of a tourist town) for the first night's sleep. We spent the afternoon walking around the town (which is very touristy - I don't much like that); on our way into town I spotted a short dirt road next to a construction site that seemed to lead to the waterfront. We checked it out just before dusk and were able to park beside a large empty field. At the end of the field was a seawall, then rocky shorefront. Again I searched around for firewood before dark, finding an old discarded pallet that my brother broke apart. We trucked down to the waterfront and built quite a large fire! The wind had died down, bringing clear skies that - at night - were lit up with so many stars I couldn't help but remark a couple of times.

My brother likes to eat mostly vegetables, and I'm not exactly a huge meat eater myself, so - having finally devoured all the leftover meze - I bought a large cauliflower which I cooked up just with some oil, lemon, onions, garlic and a splash of beer. Here on the west coast of Canada our vegetables don't get so large and plump in winter . . . I couldn't even fit the whole cauliflower in the pot so my brother had some of it raw with homous.

At Cape Grekko my brother stopped right at the entrance to the park; there is a tiny white church there, and some cool caves and interesting rock formations above the water.

(you can just see the Blue Monster, my brother's caravan, peeking out from behind the rocks)

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The church inside . . . Greek Orthodox is a bit different from Catholic.

They sure do like their icons!

(I believe that's St. George) I love this stuff, as regular readers know, because I draw old illuminated manuscripts and ornamental pages from the bible and the Book of Kells.

My brother wanted to go down to the water and explore the caves, while I wanted to hike along the nature path, so we separated.

The church from a distance, inside the park.

A short ways along the path I discovered a caravan park. Upon returning I told my brother about it; the picnic tables had little roofs over them, there was running drinking water, toilets, and a big hearth for our campfire! Pure luxury compared to parking seaside. He'd been to Cape Grekko before but never wandered down that path so didn't know about the place (which made me laugh actually, and wonder a little bit) so we decided to park there and hang out for a couple of days in comfort. Luckily it was REALLY sunny and warm, we both went swimming.

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From this day on I decided to sleep in a tent instead of inside the caravan. I had really started getting into vacation mode and was enjoying the pure bliss of the great outdoors.

The next day I hiked a large part of the trail inside the park, stopping to take a photo of some Cormorants. Practically the only wildlife I saw on the whole island! haha. Actually it's not funny, but what can you do? Cyprus has been inhabited by humans since at least 1500 BC. And with all the various invading armies over the millenia, I guess whatever game or fowl could be hunted has long since been eaten.

Next time . . . Famagusta (North Cyprus) . . . read the story HERE

Enjoy!
-Keta
ketadesign.ca

The Isle of Cyprus: a trip in three parts

Cyprus is a land divided, quite literally, by an emptied buffer zone of at least 30m being guarded by the UN. The north side is Turkish (referred rather relentlessly by the south side as 'currently occupied Cyprus') while the south remains Greek. There are Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots whose heritage and family history is staunchly based in Cyprus. Not to be confused with mainland Greeks or Turks! After Turkey's incursion into the north side in 1974 Greeks were relocated to the south side (often barely with a few household possessions), then Turkey launched a systematic campaign to flood the north with mainland Turks (currently the Turkish population in North Cyprus is 2:1 mainland Turks vs. Cypriot Turks) much to the chagrin of real Cypriots of both kinds.

The south side is in the EU and just at the beginning of this year converted to the Euro, while the north uses the Turkish Lira as currency. Including my few days with family in London I returned with four different kinds of money in my wallet!

Here's a map: the wacky green line is my travels, with the arrow underlines pointing to the places I visited. You can see that in three weeks I covered only half the island! Much more to see when I return (which I will).

The winter weather is quite comfortable for a Canadian, only a couple of light long sleeves were needed and sometimes not even that. The locals, however, made me laugh out loud with their super-huge winter coats and sweaters! I don't even wear that much here, unless I'm going skiing or something. Average temperatures were 16 C during the day and about 6 C at night. I got some colour on my face and hands.

Both the north and south side promote tourism, however mid-winter is major off-season. Seaside resorts and accommodations were generally closed, but whatever is open was very friendly and hospitable, with lots of freebies and good deals. The flight altogether including massive insurance was C$1400. I always fly cheap class (figuring the small amount of luxury you get in Business is not worth the exorbitant price increase); for both my trans-atlantic flights I had an empty seat next to me. Clearly the right time of year to fly through London!

It was a 'trip in three parts' because for the first week I travelled the beaches and natural wonders in my brother's caravan, the second week I lived with a university student in Famagusta (north side) and the third week I stayed in a hotel in the capital Nicosia (south side). From Famagusta I took various day trips; first up the Karpaz Peninsula (the 'finger' that sticks out on the NE corner), then to Kyrenia (a very historical port town that has changed hands from Alexander the Great to Richard the Lionheart to the Greeks to the Turkish to the Armenians back to the Greeks then the Brits then back to the Turks so often that it took half the day just to tour one ruin and read everything!), then to the capital Lefkosa (south side) before crossing the pedestrian border there the next day into Nicosia.

The brown line is an ancient wall built in, 1100 I believe, by a Venetian architect. The black line is the divider, the UN buffer zone of emptied buildings, even with cars left just as they were on the street when the people were evacuated. It is called the 'Green Line' and is guarded by UN forces. It's rather surreal. Particularly for someone coming from formerly Soviet occupied Czech, and the Berlin Wall having been a HUGE symbol of that occupation. You'll be walking along a street nice as can be, when suddenly before you there is a barrier of barrels, panelling, sandbags or whatever they could find I guess, and a tiny hut housing a soldier with a machine gun. NO PHOTOS ALLOWED, too bad! Would have been very poignant.

I did however get some good shots of other things, including blue Mediterranean beaches, and various old cities (mosques, churches . . . wherever they allowed cameras). I will be picking up my prints tomorrow (I must invest in a digital camera, it's getting increasingly difficult to find the kind of film I want and processing is becoming expensive) so will have lots of good stuff to share over the coming week or two.

next installment . . . CAPE GREKKO

For now, enjoy!
-Keta
ketadesign.ca