The old goddess of Aphrodite was born in the waters just on the shore of Cyprus back in ancient times. Today Cyprus has become one of the big charter travel destinations of Europe - so is Aphrodite long gone from the island lost forever - or are there still some trail left behind of the ancient goddess hidden somewhere where the big hotels do not reach her. I will go out looking behind every little rock on the island to figure out if she is still alive out there somewhere hidden away.
After the
visit to the castle I get on to the old city of Kyrenia the city is sort of infamous for
humiliating defeats against the Turks. The city got a huge fort to protect it
from assault but when it came to the Ottomans invasion of Cyprus in 1570 the
people of the city had seen the fast defeat of Lefkosia so when the Ottomans
arrived in the city the fort simply surrendered instead of putting up a fight
like you could have expected.
Then many
years later when the Turks starter their invasion of Cyprus from the north they landed
just outside Kyrenia and they quickly established a bridgehead just out of
town. From this bridgehead the Turkish troops were able to connect with the
Turkish part of Lefkosia in a short while after this the Turkish troops
continued their general advance until they occupied almost 40 percent of the
island and a truce were negotiated involving the UN troops coming to the island
and staying until the present day and the unforeseeable future.
There are
two main attractions of the city the harbor and the fort - and these two
attractions are very conveniently located right next to each other.
Hence I go down to the fort and go inside it
is a nice old fort with some small bastions built by the Venetians to protect
the harbor and be a stronghold for the city itself. Inside is an old Byzantine
church which has not been in use for many years. The old Venetian storage rooms
have been converted into a museum for a very old shipwreck found just outside
Kyrenia. The shipwreck is the oldest wreck found in Cyprus waters and has given a lot
of information about the old trade route. The ship used to sail to the Greek
islands and up along the coast of what is present day Turkey. Among
the goods being traded were amphora’s with wine and other goods.
The harbor
is pretty easy to tour you can see most of it from the fort and it is quite
picturesque there is one interesting little feature in the harbor - which is a
old building which used to be the chain house - during the old days the harbor
were protected by a huge chain which were raised to prevent enemy ships from
entering the harbor area. Today there is no use for chains any more but the
building still stands.
A bit out
of the city there are a small old abby which is only reached by car or taxi. It
is a nice old place centered around the traditional courtyard which in this
particular case has got four very impressive big Cypress tree - on of the sides of the courtyard
is collapsed but the rest is still more or less intact.
After the
last couple of pictures of the abby I start making my way back first to Kyrenia
and then Lefkosia itself.
