We were up with the lark and drove away from the house at 9am just as the cleaning team arrived. Ran a few quick local errands ie renew our Turkcell phone contracts and buy some gin and tonics!
We took the route over the mountains and then turned east at the Gonyeli roundabout on the outskirts of Nicosia. From there it’s a straight shot to Famagusta, past the turning to Ercan airport.
We planned our first stop at St Barnabus Monastery near the site of the ancient city of Salamis, just north of Famagusta. We have been there many times but we like to stop there for a coffee break. There is a delightful little cafe in the honeycoloured stone cloisters and I always enjoy browsing the icons in the church and the amazing archaeological museum contained in the cloisters.
Before we went into the monastery, we walked about 50m down through the trees to the tomb of St Barnabus which has a little chapel built above it.. Barnabus was one of the early Christian apostles and was very active in the early Church, often alongside St. Paul. He was a Cypriot jew converted in Jerusalem and mentioned many times in the Acts of the Apostles. He came back to Cyprus many times, both with Paul and with Mark. He was martyred in Constantia (Salamis) sometime after about 56AD, stoned and tortured to death by a Jewish mob who objected to his preaching. He was buried nearby and his tomb was discovered in 478AD by Anthemios when Barnabus appeared to him in a dream and revealed to him the place of his sepulchre beneath a carob-tree. The following day Anthemios found the tomb and inside it the remains of Barnabas with a manuscript of Matthew’s Gospel on his breast. Anthemios presented the Gospel to Emperor Zeno at Constantinople and received from him the privileges of the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus, that is, the purple cloak which the Greek Archbishop of Cyprus wears at festivals of the church, the imperial sceptre and the red ink with which he affixes his signature.
Anthemios then placed the venerable remains of Barnabas in a church which he founded near the tomb. Excavations near the site of a present-day church and monastery, have revealed an early church with two empty tombs, believed to be that of St. Barnabas and Anthemios.[
I climbed down through the levels of the tomb into the cave like lowest level. People had written out prayers and placed them in the walls together with photographs…. Interesting.
It costs 50tl to enter the monastery which is a bargain. It’s a lovely honey stone building dating back to around 900AD. There is a church and a cloister with a central garden with a fountain. The last monks fled in 1974 and now the church building is an icon museum with very many fine examples. The cloisters have been turned into an amazing archaeological museum with some exhibits dating back to 7000BC and many more from 2500BC up through Roman times. Lots of wonderful pottery and glass, some jewellery and statuary. Well worth a visit if you are at all interested in the ancient world. It is incredible to see it so close up.
We had a coffee and moved on to the old, walled city of Famagusta. We parked up near the Sea Gate and walked around the narrow streets, literally lined with old buildings and many ruined churches and old palaces dating back hundreds of years.
Famagusta (Gazimagusa) is a medieval walled city in north Cyprus that has changed hands many times in its long history: once a Crusader stronghold; then a Venetian fortified city, prized by Leonardo da Vinci; then, after an epic siege in 1571, an Ottoman outpost; then, from 1918 to 1960, a British colony; today, the southernmost city of Turkish-controlled north Cyprus, who seized control in 1974.
It has been said that Famagusta once had 365 churches, each one paid for by a man or woman intent on buying their place in heaven. That’s one church for every day of the year – an extraordinary number perhaps explained by the large number of sects that used to coexist in the city: Latin and Greek, Maronite, Armenian, Coptic, Georgian, Carmelite, Nestorian, Jacobite, Abyssinian and Jewish. From the meagre 17 churches that still remain today, it’s hard to imagine the overwhelming spectacle of such a large number of churches crammed together in such a small area; yet, in some way, the remainders – most in ruins – still testify to the ghostly presences of all those other churches that have been erased from the cityscape.
It is always pretty quiet in the old city. We found a restaurant called The Pines near the ruined Venetian Palace for lunch. Bob had a chicken salad and I had a mixed omelette. After that, more walking until it was time for us to check in at our b&b – La Regina Veneziana, 2 minutes away at the top of the old town. It’s a lovely old place, stone rooms with the old fashioned wooden ceilings .We have a 2 room suite with a little terrace outside for evening drinks. There is a rooftop bar and a lovely breakfast area in the garden. Looking forward to our week here.
Tonight we walked down to the area around the Venetian Palace square for dinner. It was very atmospheric – all lit up . We ate at a restaurant called Castello, sat out on the pavement, it’s still that warm. It was the full meze – 13 small plates of cold meze, 9 hot meze, a platter of grilled meats, chips and salad. There was dessert but we passed on that but we did take a Turkish coffee. I had a g&t and Bob had a beer, there was a bottle of water. The whole lot with tip came to £49. Not cheap but very good value indeed. Can’t eat like that every night, that’s for sure….
