Sunday was a big sightseeing day with our lovely visitors, Don and Joan Hammer. They flew in to Larnaca and Gunray taxied them up for about 5pm on Saturday. Just as they arrived it went very dark and there was a torrential downpour! It was violent but shortlived. Not quite the welcome we’d anticipated.

We’d had a great dinner at Tervetuloa Saturday night- two nights on the trot! Of course they enjoyed the food and very much admired the gourd lights.

We’d given our Sunday sightseeing a lot of thought. Normally we’d have taken first time visitors into Nicosia to see the old town as part of the day. But not much is open on a Sunday and so we decided to explore places nearer to home. We began with driving up to Bellapais and we parked there by the ruined abbey. It is such a romantic sight, set in the picturesque village and of course the views down over to the sea are fantastic. The weather was perfect – sunny with just a few little clouds. We explored the abbey- the old church, the chapter house, the refectory….. the cloister. It’s a lovely setting and you can also see traces of old frescos in places. The name Bellapais is a corruption of the original abbey name in Norman French – Abbaye de la Belle Paix – Abbey of Heavenly Peace. It was built in the late 1100s AD by the Lusignan knights, crusader knights. We usually visit it at night and see it all spotlit so it was nice to explore in daylight. Well worth a visit.

Then we drove down into Kyrenia and parked up on the road above Kyrenia Castle. We walked down to the outer harbour, around the castle walls and with the old Roman Harbour to our right. Joan and Don were very impressed with the mighty castle walls. It’s a very pretty sight down there with all the yachts and boats moored up. We walked around the harbour admiring the views and then stopped off at one of the restaurants housed in an old carob warehouse. We sat out on the sunny raised terrace and had a light lunch of calamari and white wine. As usual the food down there was only so so but the views are fabulous and more than make up for that. We had a lovely lunch and then we wandered back up to the main street through the back streets of the old part of town and picked up the car again. Itts great to wander the little side streets of Kyrenia. There are so many old buildings, many being restored. They often have lovely old doors or balconies.

We drove up to the winding hill road that leads to St Hilarion Castle, the fairytale crusader castle perched on a rocky peak high above Kyrenia below. We stopped at the roadside viewpoint and took photos. It is such an extraordinary sight. How on earth did they get all those materials up there? Quite a feat.

Then Bob took us on the little road that goes right across the top of the mountain ridge all the way to Karsyaka/Lapta. Its a jaw dropping road with sheer drops on one side all the way, incredible views, beautiful pine forests….. we saw about 10 different family groups picnicking in the woods along the way. We’ve done the drive quite a few times and it really isn’t for the fainthearted but it is so worth doing. Takes about an hour.

We stopped about 2/3 of the way along to see the tank, left over from the 1974 Turkish rescue force. There is quite an exhibit around it detailing the history of Cyprus and the events leading to the events of 1974. An interesting read indeed.

By the time we got down to sea level again it was nearly 5pm so we headed home. A really good day touring around. In the evening we had a bbq beside the pool. I made a salad of frika, mint, onion and tomato and some Turkish flat breads and Bob grilled lamb kofta and chicken thighs. It was so nice to sit out under the stars and talk and chat…. Our time with Don and Joan has been far too short. We would love to have shown them more but that just means they’ll have to come back again.