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.
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.
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.
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