Today we went down to Kyrenia for some shopping! I can’t believe we’ve been here since early May and this was the first time we have actually walked down to the harbour. The whole town was incredibly quiet in comparison to a normal summer’s day. You can see the lack of tourism and the hit of the pandemic. We had a really lovely time though and got everything done. Lucy wanted to visit the handbag shop and she was very successful in there and got a Kelly bag and 2 Hermes purses. Amazing handiwork from the place I always buy from. These are not cheap copies by a long chalk, but you do get a lovely bag for a fraction of the cost of the real thing. The detail is amazing. He works from the designer catalogues.
On the way into town, we called at the Pacific Car Rental office to change our rental dates AGAIN!!!! They must think we are absolutely barmy! Anyway got it done and we now have the updated paperwork till the 22nd July. They will come to the house and pick up the car on that day. We are going to Larnaca by taxi.
Next stop after the bags was to the amazing lamp shop down near the harbour. I’ve bought quite a few Turkish style lamps from him, both coloured ones and also an amazing brass and plain glass mosque style light that hangs in our upper hall. It’s a copy of a lamp in the Topkapi Palace apparently. He;s such a lovely man. Couldn’t be more helpful and friendly.
Anyway, Lu wanted a large floor lamp for the flat in Dubai. It took a lot of choosing but in the end she found a fabulous huge cylinder one with brass trim with the glass cylinder being in various shades of green. She also bought some of his amazing ceramic dishes. While the lovely owner was wrapping it all up for us we wandered down to the harbour and had a spot of lunch. It was totally quiet. Hardly a soul down there. Terrible for the business owners but the harbour looked as exquisite as ever. We never tire of seeing it, all the little boats bobbing and the reflections in the water.
There’s an amazing jeweller just behind the harbour -Senak – and we always like to look in there. He;s a Belgian Turk and he has offices in Hatton Garden, Amsterdam and Istanbul as well as Kyrenia. His daughter is a jewellery designer too in London, she trained at St Martins. He sells some of his pieces in Harvey Nicks. Nice man. He can make you anything you like if you don’t see exactly what you want. It’s much more “European” than some of the other jewellery stores in town, which are a bit, Turkish in taste. We had a pleasant time looking and admiring and Lu bought a small item.
Wandered back and picked up the lamp which is pretty big. Just over a metre. We got home and then found it wouldnt fit in any of the suitcases. Not surprisingly. We went back out and called at various places looking for a bigger bag – China Bazaar, an outdoor sports shop, Stormax…… in the end we went to a stationers near the university and bought the makings of a cardboard carton, loads more bubble wrap and strong tape. Then when we got home we manoevered the “dead body” as we wrapped it in old towels, more bubble wrap and finally the cardboard cartoning. It’s not heavy but it’s long. It looks like a mummy! She is taking it as an extra piece of baggage. Turkish Airlines are quite reasonable charges for that sort of thing. Fingers crossed it makes it ok. We couldnt really have wrapped it any better.
We were so hot by then….. wallowed in the pool for a while and then cooled off. Really enjoyed today so much. I hope next time we visit Kyrenia it is back to a more bustling normality.
We were meant to have dinner at the Vineyard tonight but poor Leon was late getting away, so we will try tomorrow. They will be going back to Dubai on Monday.