ukraine: ivano-frankivsk (it used to be stanislav)

I didn't originally intend to visit Ivano Frankivsk during this trip, but train schedules made it necessary to spend the day in the city. Wikipedia tells me the city is called Frank by locals, but who knows. Wikipedia also tells me that the name of the city is relatively new, it was known as Stanislav until 1962.

Ivano Frankivsk is the capital of the oblast, so of course it is where I had to come to go and get back to Kyiv from my days in the Carpathian Mountains. On the way back, I had to take a train from the mountains that arrived in Ivano Frankivsk at 0440, in the morning.

Since it was still before dawn I found the waiting room in the train station and dozed for almost four hours.

When I finally left the station I walked along a road that brought me to a church. (Surprise, a church in Ukraine.) This one wasn't listed on a travel app anywhere, it was just a 'regular' church. There were two beggars sitting out front. I didn't give them anything, but felt sortof guilty about it. The church wasn't exciting or unique in any way.

From there I kept walking, and the road took me to a giant government building. I think it was the general administration building for the entire oblast (state.) I didn't go in, as I'm pretty sure it isn't open for tours. I remember this building from my first visit, when there was a protest camp set up on the square in front. (The protest camp was the local 'branch' of the protest camp in Kyiv.) There was a statue of someone in front of the building, but that's it time time around.

On an adjacent street was where I spent the next couple hours. I went into a cafe and stayed there for a while, just because I could. Their wifi worked relatively well, which was also nice.

From the cafe I could see both the government building and another church. I don't know the name of this church, but it is listed in guidebooks and on travel apps. In my head I think of it as the blue church. I peeked into the church, but saw immediately that there was a private ceremony taking place, so I backed out straightaway.

My walk took me to City Hall, which is unique as far as city halls go, especially in this country.

The shape is distinct, and there is a gold dome on top. The sign on the front of the building says it is the only secular building in the country with a gold dome on top.

Like Lviv, the city hall in Ivano Frankivsk has a tower, and visitors can climb the stairs up to the observation deck. I walked in the front door and paid my fee to climb (only 20 griven, less than a dollar,) and up I went. The top two thirds of the climb was on very tight spiral staircases. The spirals were so tight I was almost dizzy from spinning around so much.

The view was nice. It wasn't spectacular, but I enjoyed looking out over the city. It was cold and windy, I could feel the wind a lot while I was up there.

There was also a museum in City Hall, but I skipped that. I saw some artwork on the walls but I"m not much of an art museum person, especially when I have limited time.

Back down the stairs and out of the building, and I kept walking. I wasn't looking at a map, and ended up going in the opposite direction of where I'd intended, but oh well. I ended up in a giant local market area. Stalls selling everything from food to clothing to toiletries, etc... I didn't need or want any of it, but it was nice to walk through and look. Part of the market is in a large circular building, which looked different if nothing else.

I circled around the entire market, then headed back in the direction I'd originally wanted to go. I got to what I thought was a church, but it turned out to be another art museum. I'm pretty sure it was originally a church. There is a bell tower with this church, but it is out front of the church. I thought about going in the museum, but opted to skip it at this point. I wonder if the bells ever ring.

Not too far from the church/art museum was another church, the Holy Ressurection Church. The front facade is tall, but not particularly exciting. The inside of the church is gorgeous.

It's not a place I will ever want to worship, as it is too busy, but I definitely appreciate the beauty of the art. The entire interior is painted in bright colours, with a lot of variety in the colours. The iconostasis at the front is gold, a few levels high. There are a few pews in which you can sit, which told me it wasn't an Orthodox church, as those don't have pews for worshippers. This was a Greek Catholic Church.

There were people coming in regularly, both people who wanted to pray and those who were visitors like me. I took my photos, but I also sat for a few minutes and enjoyed the atmosphere.

It's absolutely beautiful.

From the church I walked to City Lake. When I'd been in the city for a couple hours on Saturday morning I'd walked to the lake but I hadn't had time to walk around. This time I had plenty of time, so I walked all the way around the lake. The path isn't in good condition, though some repairs are being done. I imagine there are more people walking around the lake in better weather. (It was a nice day, but windy and much colder than I wanted for the middle of May.)

There is a small island in the middle of the lake, with benches and a couple photo taking spots. Nothing worth getting excited about. I liked the bridge to get to the island better than the island itself.

When I got back to where I'd started I made my way to City Park, not too far away. There is a main pedestrian walkway through one side of the park, good for strolling. There are a number of paved paths through the trees in another area, with benches for sitting. (I saw entirely too many couples sitting and making out – or more – on those benches.)

There are a couple small ponds in the park, but neither one of them had good water circulation, I could see stuff growing that shouldn't be growing in a well circulated body of water. The park is a great place for people watching.

I walked back toward the city center and somehow found the tourism information center, which I'd missed earlier in the day. They had a few postcards, and magnets. This was where I found out the city has only had the name of Ivano-Frankivsk since 1962. Before that it was called Stanislav.

Interestingly, I noticed the name of Stanislav (in several languages!) on more than one manhole cover while I walked around the city.

Also in the city center was a pink and white library building. Probably not the colours I would've chosen, but hey, who am I to say?!?

There were small stalls selling coffee and sandwiches and the like, but not all of them were open. I suppose they will be when the weather is guaranteed to be better.

From there I walked to dinner, which I had in the same place I'd had lunch. To get to this cafe I walked past the blue church again, and go figure, it was hosting another private ceremony! Will I ever get to go inside this church?

I hung out in the cafe for a few hours, eating and drinking. From there it was a short walk back to the train station. My train left about ten minutes late and I arrived on time in Kyiv the next morning.

I would like to come back to this region, but probably not back to Ivano-Frankivsk except for transit.

ukraine: vorokhta and the carpathian mountains

I've lived in Ukraine for six years, and somehow this is the first time I visited the Carpathian mountains. I have no idea why it took me so long.

Getting to this area was relatively easy, though time consuming. It started with a night train from Kyiv to Ivano-Frankivsk. I got lucky and was on a new train, which was pretty spiffy. As I was in a second class car (called coupe in Ukrainian,) my bed was quite long and comfortable.

The train arrived at 0740 in Ivano-Frankivsk, the train station there isn't nearly as grand as some of the stations I've seen around the country. Still, it is nice.

Since I had just short of two hours until my next train left, I went for a walk. I've been to Ivano-Frankivsk once before, for just a day. Just out of curiosity I looked up the city on trip advisor, and followed a path to a lake in the city.

I walked past a monument to WW2, which was beautified with a lot of flowers. It was backlit at the time, and there was a lot of fog too. Argh.

I walked past heaps of closed shops and cafes. Since it was early Saturday morning nothing was open. As it got to 0800 and after I could see some cafes starting their opening procedures, but they still weren't open.

Eventually I got to the lake, which isn't exactly grand. I watched three gentlemen fishing off a dock, but that was all I had time to do. I looked at my watch and realized I needed to turn around and get back to the train station.

Along the way I picked up breakfast in the form of a yogurt and water at a small market that had just opened. Thank goodness.

My next train departed on time, and for the first half I dozed off and on. At some point I woke up and stayed awake for the rest of the ride. It was a pretty ride, as it went through small mountain towns.

Finally, we arrived in a small town called Vorokhta. It is definitely a town dependent on tourism (hiking and such in the summer, skiers in the winter,) but still holds onto it's original identity. Like many parts of Ukraine, this area has been part of various empires throughout history. If I remember my reading correctly, it was once part of Austria Hungary, though you don't see any remains of that anymore.

I walked to my accomodation and checked in. I had booked myself into a cabin of sorts, sharing a living room with another couple. I didn't spend time in the living room, neither did they. Though I did take a photo in there at one point, because I loved the lighting coming through the giant windows.

After relaxing for a while, I went walking. I'd looked up the city on trip advisor and found a few sights. The first place I wanted to see was an old aqueduct/train line.

On the way there, I stopped at a church. The front gate was closed but not locked, so I opened it and went in. The church itself was locked, so I just wandered the grounds. This was a wooden Orthodox church, with very bright and shiny onion domes.

Another stop on the way was to pick up a snack at a small market. Who knew wasabi flavoured crisps could be so tasty?

I got to the street leading me to the old train line/aqueduct and followed it. The aqueduct is built over water, and most of it is surrounded by barbed wire. Notice that I just said most. I kept walking and eventually found a place where the barbed wire had fallen down. (Or maybe someone else had torn it down? I don't know. Either way, it was easy for me to step over and get a little closer.) I set up my tripod and tried to take a photo. It didn't work the way I wanted it to, but oh well.

Really close to the old train line is the new train line. I found steps leading up to the new train line, so up I went.

On both sides of the tracks I walked along sidewalky sort of paths, there were several areas that looked like lookout places. They were small areas that went out a little further, though I'm not sure what anyone would be looking at while standing in these areas.

I also took photos of the small shacks at each end of the bridge part of the train track. I presume someone stands in these shacks from time to time? Though both were completely abandoned, with broken glass and falling down signs.

I made my way back to the main road I'd originally followed, and kept going.

Not too far later I got to another church. This one was also wood, but with silver coloured onion domes. The front gate was open with this one, but again the church itself was not open. I took my photos and left.

Right next to this church was a pathway with a small green bicycle on a sign. I decided to follow it and see where it went. This turned out to be a great decision, though rather exhausting. First it went through a residential area with individual homes. Some of the homes had chickens on the property, others had larger properties that could almost be small farms.

Eventually the path started going though trees. These trees had been planted, so the lines were straight, but I was still happy to be among trees. Most of the path had been dirt, with the occasional section of gravel and larger rocks as 'paving.' When the path went through the woodsy area it was just dirt, with plenty of ruts. There was mud in some of these ruts, I tried to avoid it.

Unfortunately, I wasn't always able to avoid the mud. In one place, I thought my feet were going to safe places, but I was wrong. I sank into mud. Yuck. Somehow I managed to avoid falling over and getting mud everywhere, thank goodness.

I continued following the path for a while until a random place that seemed like a good place to turn around. Going back was a lot faster, as it was all downhill.

When I got back to the town center I realized I was super thirsty. I was kicking myself for not bringing my camelbak during this weekend trip, especially knowing I would be doing some hiking. Argh.

I stopped in the same mini mart as before, and bought a big bottle of water, and started drinking the water approximately 5 seconds after paying for it.

I went back to my accomodation and washed off my feet and shoes. By this point almost all the mud had dried on my feet and shoes, but I was still determined to get rid of it.

Eventually I went to find dinner. Trip Advisor only lists three restaurants for Vorokhta, it's definitely a small town. I went to the closest place, which was still almost a kilometer away. That's not a big distance, but my feet were tired from the walking I'd done earlier in the day.

Dinner was good, though I ordered too much. A meat soup, grilled vegetables, potato pancakes, and a dessert with berries and cream.

The next morning I woke up to heavy fog. It was actually kinda nice, knowing I didn't need to get moving fast to see as much as possible. I knew I wouldn't be able to see anything in the fog.

I went to breakfast at my place at 0900. By this point most of the fog had burned off, I could even see some blue spots in the sky. Yay.

Go figure, after breakfast it started raining. Not crazy hard, but definitely enough to keep me from starting my daily walk for a few hours. Oh well. Though I do want to see as much as I can, sometimes actually resting during a long weekend is a good thing. The rain (and sometimes thunder!) lasted until 1500 (3pm) which was rather annoying, (but awesome at the same time,) but eventually I got to go out.

When I went out I walked the same way I had initially the day before. I walked to the end of the road on which my accomodation was located, but went slightly further. It wasn't exciting, but I did cross the train tracks.

I walked back to the main street of town and turned left, the opposite of the direction I'd gone the day before. I walked back toward the train station, stopping at a souvenir shop along the way to buy a magnet. They had postcards available as well, but the postcards were for the region as a whole, and I much prefer to buy postcards of places I've seen.

The train station in Vorokhta is small, I crossed the tracks to get to a street on the other side of the tracks. There is a set of stairs and a pedestrian bridge going over the tracks as well, but getting to the tracks meant going back out to the street. It was easier just to cross the tracks.

On the other side of the tracks, on the street across the tracks, I found another church. This one was totally different from the other churches I found in town. This one had a Madonna in front of the church, and was built of brick. The front door wasn't open, so I was only able to look at it from the outside.

The one thing it did have in common with the other churches I saw in Vorokhta was that it was small.

Further down the street I looked off to the side and saw a small waterfall and creek. Next to the creek was a path, so I followed it. There were more mini waterfalls along the way, though the path got muddier and muddier as I went. I found a bridge to cross the street, made of small tree trunks. It wasn't super strong, but it was mostly stable. I crossed it, and unfortunately wasn't able to go much further, as the mud got out of control. I had two options: walk through water or walk through heaps more mud. I turned back and went back to the street.

Further along the street I saw something I'd seen on a few magnets, but was not listed in any of the travel apps. An old ski jump!! At least, it looked old to me. I found my way inside (the gates were open) and got closer to the jumps. I saw the old ski lift, it looked really sketchy. It wasn't running, and to me it didn't look like it would be running anytime soon.

The lift went straight up the hill of course, and I saw a set of stairs going up the hill as well. The stairs were made of cement, which didn't look like it was in good condition, but I started climbing them anywho.

At one point the stairs changed from cement to metal of some kind. The metal was rusty in most placs, and looked even worse than the cement stairs. Still, I followed them up the hill.

At the top of the stairs I found the top of the chair lift. It didn't look any better than the bottom of the lift looked. Not too far from there I could see the top of the ski lift.

I had to climb more stairs to get there, as the top of the lift was more steep than the slope of the hill. The stairs were in terrible condition, convincing me the place was abandoned. Entire missing sections of stairs, flimsy metal railings, rotted boards, etc...

I got to the top and loved the views over the entire area. That being said, I didn't stay up there for long because I didn't trust the stairs very much. I went back down, stopping halfway at a building of some sort. I'm not sure what the building was used for, but I presume it was used during jump competitions of some kind.

For once I was relieved when I got all the way back to the bottom of the jump complex.

Normally I love abandoned facilities, but this one scared me a bit. When I got to the bottom I looked it up online, and found it out it is still being used!!! That's downright scary. Wikipedia told me it is the biggest of five ski jump facilities still being used in the country. The last time it was updated was in the 90s, and the powers that be have acknowledged that repairs need to be done. No kidding.

From there I walked back home, and ate dinner in the dining area. I'm not sure if the place normally serves dinner on Sunday evening, or if I was just late, but I was the only one eating in the room, and the kitchen staff had all gone. Oh well, I was happy with the food.

I love sleeping in a place like this. It was silent outside, and there were no lights to shine in my window. If only this was possible more often.

The next morning I'd arranged to eat breakfast at 0900. I first woke up at 0620, then again at 0908. Ooops! Thankfully I was able to change clothes quickly and get down to the dining room by 0915. I had the same breakfast as the day before, they had the food ready for me.

It wasn't raining, but it was very cloudy, so I stayed inside for several hours and didn't do much of anything productive. I must admit, it felt good to relax.

When I did start walking I followed a path I hadn't explored before. It took me to a tiny little chapel, past heaps of wooden houses.

All the houses had been painted at one time, but now all the wood looked old to me as I walked past. Winter must be tough in Vorokhta, the houses must be stronger than they look.

Eventually I got back to a paved road, it happened to be the one that led to the old and new train lines. I was tempted, but didn't climb up to them again.

When I got back to the main road of the town, I turned west. I walked past more wooden houses, and found most of them to be quite picturesque. It was windy, and clouds were rolling through, so I was constantly afraid it would start to rain. Thankfully, it never did.

I got all the way to the edge of Carpathian National Park, I wish I'd had a car and hiking map and more days to do proper hiking in the area. As it was I walked a couple mini paths I was able to see from the road, though I didn't go very far. (I waited much too long to get going on this day.)

Eventually I found a place on the road that seemed like a good place to turn around. I walked back toward my room, stopping to pick up several varieties of cookies on the way.

I had the same dinner as the night before, the food was ready for me. One of the items was a Greek salad, I loved that the people in the kitchen had noticed and remembered that I didn't eat the olives the night before.

After dinner I went to bed. I didn't sleep, but it was good to rest. I got up at 0045, showered and packed up. Around 0130 I started walking to the train station. The walk wasn't long, only 15 minutes or so.

My train left at 0211 I think, or a few minutes afterward. Somehow it wasn't considered a night train even though it was the middle of the night. As I looked around I saw heaps of people like me who were laying down on the seats and trying to doze off while they could, but there were no sheets and mattresses.

The train arrived on time at 0440 in Ivano Frankivsk, the oblast capital.

I would love to come back to this area and explore/hike more!!

cyprus: larnaca

The bus from Nicosia to Larnaca, Cyprus left a few minutes late, around 1330. I think it was around 1445 when I hopped off, not too far from my hotel.

My original plan had been to check in at the hotel, change into a bikini, and head to the beach for a couple hours. Unfortunately, that plan changed completely with the sunburn I had from exploring Pafos. Even though it was later in the day, I could tell it was still going to hurt a fair amount if the sun touched my shoulders. As it was, the collar of my dress didn't feel so good, but I had no other options.

I stayed in the room for about an hour, absolutely loving the view I had. My hotel room had a tiny little balcony, and there was a slightly bigger balcony off the main hallway which had a table and chairs. From this table I had a great view of a pretty church, called St Lazarus. (To be honest, the photo on the hotel profile of this view is one of the reasons I chose this particular place to stay.)

When I finally left my room, St Lazarus was the first place I went. Like nearly every other church on the south side of the island, it was a Greek Catholic church. I'm pretty sure one of the other nearby buildings was also a church museum, but I didn't really have an interest at that point.

The interior of the church had a lot of wood, which I really liked. The ceiling wasn't anything exciting (in fact I don't remember it at all,) but the iconostasis up front was pretty impressive. I think it was made of wood, with a lot of gold paint. There was also a lot of red paint, and the whole thing definitely left an impression.

Amazingly, I was able to get really close to the iconostasis, which I've never done before. In Orthodox churches I've visited, (and in other Greek Catholic churches,) I've only been able to get to the bottom of the stairs that are usually under the iconostases. This time I could see that visitors were allowed to go up those stairs and get really close. Awesome. The doors in the wood were closed though, so I wasn't able to see into the area behind, which is something I've always wanted to do. I think you have to be a priest or a cleaning lady to go behind those doors; neither option is likely to happen for me.

I was also able to go down into the crypt under the church. It wasn't very far down, and was quite small. When going down the small flight of stairs I had to watch my head, which means darn near everyone who visits has to watch their head so it doesn't bump the ceiling above the steps.

As soon as I got down there I could smell and feel the humidity, yuck. I don't know how many people (or who,) are buried down there. I could see a few specific tomb looking coffins, and what seemed like large stones to me, but maybe there is a lot more I couldn't see? There wasn't much room to move around, and the ceiling was low, so I didn't stay down there for long. 

After leaving the church I walked toward the beach. From one to the other was probably no more than 300 meters or so, not far at all. In between the two are souvenir shops and restaurants and cafes. I wasn't hungry yet, and hadn't been in town long enough to buy anything.

Even though I couldn't lay out in the sun I wanted to walk on a beach a little, and put my feet in the water.

The beach in this area was not terribly pretty, not at all. That being said, it was a beach, and I'm usually happy to be on a beach. I walked in the sand for a while, then went back to the boardwalk between the street and the beach.

I walked a few hundred meters more, and the sidewalk brought me to the old fortress. The walls still stand, but the rooms inside the walls don't have much left. Each room has a small display, but it is something that has been created instead of what was originally there. I was able to see where they hanged prisoners, as well as old tombstones. I saw an old cannon, as well as the view over the water from the top of the walls. My entire visit was less than 30 minutes.

At that point I was tired but I felt like it would be cheating if I already went back to my hotel room. Instead I just kept walking along the boardwalk/sidewalk. I walked past ice cream shops, I finally broke down and bought ice cream from one of them. I walked past an immigration office. I walked past random souvenir shops. I walked past a few derelict buildings. Eventually I turned around and came back toward my hotel.

I ended up eating dinner at one of the bigger restaurants near the beach. I definitely didn't need to eat the whole meal, and I shouldn't have eaten dessert, but it was good, and I'm not good at using willpower when I'm traveling.

The next morning I was awake and ready to go early. I didn't have the whole day, so I wanted to make use of what little time I had.

I started walking down one of the smaller streets near my hotel, heading parallel but away from the beach. I'd used my travel apps to figure out my next sight, and this was the easiest way to walk there.

Even though it was only around 0915 when I walked by a small convenience shop, I stopped in to buy an ice cream bar for breakfast. Yum.

A little while later I got to my destination, a salt lake. I wasn't as impressed as I'd hoped to be, but such things happen. Since the lake is so close to the ocean, it has some of the same water as the ocean.

You can see dried salt along the edges, which were slightly muddy. It was also somewhat smelly, with that stale water smell we all know and don't love. I think the other side of the lake would've been better looking, but I didn't have time to walk all the way around.

I walked back toward my hotel, but stopped at the beach instead. My sunburn definitely wasn't healed, but it wasn't painful anymore, so I decided to spend a bit over an hour on the beach. I chose a chair, leaned back, and relaxed. The wind was going strong the entire time I was there, so I didn't feel the sun much at all. I was there from 1030ish to 1130ish, a very quiet time of the day.

From there I went back to my hotel and packed up, which didn't take long. Then it was time for a quick lunch (again, way too much food) and a taxi to the airport.

When I got to the airport I got to wait in a long queue which seemed to move really slowly. Ukrainian Airlines doesn't have online checkin, much to my frustration. Other people flying back to Ukraine had huge suitcases, I'm sure they'd all visited for the long weekend as well. Why do people bring so much stuff for a 4 day beach trip? Cyprus doesn't seem like a shopping destination to me, but maybe there is something I don't know?

Not long after, I was back in Kyiv. I definitely want to go back to Cyprus. Next time I want to rent a car so I can see more of the ruins around the island, as well as be on my own schedule to visit smaller towns and beaches.

cyprus: girne/kyrenia

After seeing postcards of Girne at a shop in Lefkosa (the northern side of the city of Nicosia,) I knew I wanted to visit. The postcards all showed a picturesque harbour, I wanted to see it for myself.

I had to get up early to make this day trip happen, which I wasn't keen to do, but oh well. My sunburn from the day before had fully set in, so wearing clothes to cover my skin didn't feel very good. On the other hand, I knew I couldn't wear anything with straps again, or the sun would've felt even worse.

Since I'd already figured out where the bus stop would be in Lefkosa, it was easy to get back to the bus stop. I saw just one person in the streets of either side of the city, thankfully it was someone with food. Pretzels are just as good a breakfast as any other, right?

The bus was right where I expected it to be, and after boarding it didn't take long to depart. This kind of bus doesn't usually have a departure time, I was worried I'd have to wait for it to fill up, which could've taken the entire morning. It wasn't full when it departed, but I didn't care.

A bit over an hour later, we arrived in Girne.

(Since Turkish is the language spoken on this side of the island, that's the name I'm using. The name in Greek is Kyrenia.) I used the maps to figure out where to go, which didn't take long.

I walked through a parkplatz and what I thought was a small park to go toward the city center. When I stopped to read a small sign I realized it wasn't a park, it was an old Ottoman cemetery. Pretty flowers around the area.

I followed the city streets as they sloped down, passing what used to be a couple of towers in the old city walls. The walls don't really exist anymore, but some of the towers still stand.

The government seems to be renovating a lot of the historical bits and pieces, probably in an effort to attract more tourists. I also passed a church that was missing a roof. I love old buildings!

Eventually I made it all the way down to the harbour. It wasn't quite as pretty as in the postcard photos, but that didn't surprise me. Or maybe I was there at the wrong time of day, who knows. Restaurants had crammed themselves into the land side of the harbour, you actually have to walk through a few seating areas to get to the boardwalk along the water.

All the restaurants were really cute, but I wasn't hungry and didn't want to pay those prices.

The harbour itself was also really crowded with boats. There were some bigger boats, which seemed aimed at tourist group tours. There were smaller speedboats, and fishing boats as well. The fishing boats were not all in great condition, I could smell stale water from time to time.

The harbour is protected by a wall, which was nice to walk along. It's a man made wall, with a concrete sidewalk for most of the way. This 'arm' reaches out mostly parallel to the harbour, so boats don't have a lot of area to play with when they're entering or leaving the harbour.

I walked to the end of the arm, just because I could.

I left the harbour through another one of the many small streets that come down the area behind the harbour. The streets are all small, and the homes don't have much space. By this point I'd realized that many doors are beautiful, whether they're painted or made with carved wood, or a combination of the two.

At one point I came to what I thought was a church. As I climbed the steps I saw the sign that told me it was actually a museum, and was closed for renovation. Based on the level of dust and rubbish, I don't know if any actual work was being done at the time. I really wish I'd been able to take a quick peek inside, but it was most definitely closed and locked.

At this point it was around 1115, and I still wasn't seeing many people. I don't know if it was typical for a Monday morning, or what, but the whole town seemed really quiet.

I wandered through more small streets, though nothing more caught my eye. It's a small town that seems to depend mostly on the tourism monies that come from having a gorgeous little harbour.

I did skip one sight, that of a castle. I did want to see it, but when I looked at my watch I realized I didn't have time. The maps and apps told me there was a shipwreck museum inside the castle, which must be at least a little interesting. Maybe next time?

I made my way back to the bus stop, and found a bus that left just 15 minutes after I boarded. An hour later I was back in Nicosia.