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.