Sixty-second Post From Türkiye: Northern Cyprus and a Scout Camp Out

A few weeks ago we decided to take advantage of the quick and cheap, direct flight between Ankara and Northern Cyprus.
 I LOVE a direct flight!
Northern Cyprus or officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is the Turkish part of the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus, divided between Turkey and Greece since the late–20th century. While we were there Jack explained how it became a self-declared republic back in the 1970's but it's too long and complex to write about here so just look it up.
That's what the internet is for anyway!

What to do while waiting for a flight in the Ankara airport? Share a strawberry tart of course!

This is what happens when both parents fall asleep and the boy has unlimited access to his dad's cell phone camera.

Welcome to Northern Cyprus!

We arrived kind of late in the evening and all we did was check into the hotel and sleep. But the next morning we were welcomed by this view from our room. 

Nice!

Now, the entire island of Cyprus was under British rule at the time that automobiles started to become common, so the whole driving on the left thing is how people started off driving and they continue with it today. And since Jack HATES the driving on the left, it was up to me to take control of the rental car. It doesn't really bother me but it takes a few minutes to get used to shifting with my right hand every time.

Anyway, we decided to spend our first day exploring the island by car. With a drive  through the center and back to Girne where we stayed along the Northern coast. We drove all the way to the tip of the Karpaz Peninsula. 

As the island used to be a mix of Turks and Greeks, but now the Greeks live in the south and the Turks live in the north, there are many empty places of worship on each side. This little orthodox church is an icon museum that we stopped to see. But in typical Mediterranean fashion (😏), no one had bothered to come open it up for the day so we just took a picture. 

The water was so amazingly clear and blue!

Another little abandoned church along the coast.

Once you enter the Karpaz National Park, you almost immediately start to encounter the feral Cypriot donkeys. They are accustomed to handouts so they come right up to you.

 Even if you don't really want them to. 

Apostolos Andreas Monastery

Souvenir stands with an ocean view.

Can you believe how gorgeous this water is?! I did nothing to enhance this photo. It is straight out of my camera!

The road is a little crazy as you get closer toward the end of the island. But I grew up driving in the mountains of Idaho, so I was passing people left and right! But we made good time reaching the very tip of Cyprus. It was beautiful!

Just a tad-bit windy.

Gorgeous!

This is a view from up in the hills of some of the gorgeous beaches. We later went down the hill and swam at Turtle Beach for the rest of the afternoon.

 If you are there in the right season you can see sea turtles laying their eggs. 

If you zoom in on this photo you can see tiny people on the beach and get an idea of how big it is.

On day two we headed up into the mountains to visit St. Hilarion Castle. This is one of three crusader castles in Northern Cyprus and they say it is the best preserved. We only visited the one, so I can't really give you an opinion. But it was beautiful with amazing views and a nice long climb to the top. So we recommend it!

I had to wait for many a German and Russian tourist to move out of the way to get this photo.

View down to Girne and the sea.

Lizard!

 Trum and I are obsessed with all the lizards that live in abandoned castles.

Trum at the top of the tallest tower of the castle at the top of the mountain. Well done medium-sized boy who needed a haircut!

We came down from the castle and spent the afternoon exploring Girne's old town and harbor.

There are some beautiful Ottoman and Venetian buildings and walls. The best thing about the picture above is that right before it was taken I saw a teenage boy puke in the street as he was walking with his friends. I have a feeling he may have imbibed a bit too much, too early in the day.

Oh-travel, the joys you bring me!

Right on the harbor is the Venetian Fortress. So we took the bridge over to see it.

This fort is pretty amazing. It was built by the Venetians over a crusader fortification and has been used by whomever ruled the island, continuously, right into the 20th century. 

That's some solid construction!

Jack enjoyed some food from the sea. Trum and I had chicken. That's just how we roll!

One last view of the beautiful harbor!

We stopped at a local grocery store by our hotel, and while we were there a circumcision procession passed by. We have seen boys dressed up for the ritual, but in smaller towns they bring the boy, in his outfit, into town on a horse with drums and music. This family even had a film crew on a truck in front capturing the whole shebang! It was spectacular!

The next day we headed out by car again to visit a few great sites on the eastern part of the island.

We stopped first to visit St Barnabas' Monastery and Icon Museum. It was really lovely and they had a really nice archaeology museum as well.

Local Primitive Art

The Iconostasis

Heading down to St.Barnabas' tomb, passing a sleepy puppy. 

Next we visited the Royal Tombs of Enkomi. They date to the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Some go back to the 11th century BC. It was dry as can be out on this plain. But the ripe wheat fields all around showed why people have been living there for centuries.

You can see the preserved bones of some sacrificed chariot horses under the glass structure.

Next we visited the ancient city of Salamis. Salamis has been around since before 1100BC.

 It's old people!

In AD 46 Paul and Barnabas, a native of Salamis, traveled to Paphos where they revealed the gospel to the Roman governor Sergius Paulus (Acts 13:5). He was converted, and thus became the world's first Christian ruler. Barnabas later preached in Salamis where he was eventually martyred by the local Jews (tomb we visited earlier). 

You can still see bits of the tile wall decorations and marble inlay floor in the bath house.

Steam room.

Jack shares the good word in the theater.

I have never seen this before. The plants around the site were covered in snails. I assume they climbed up to get some moisture as the ground was soo dry. But what do I know. It was cool and creepy though!

After we all got sunburned at Salamis we headed in to Famagusta. This is a really interesting town. The old center is within Venetian walls and has a lot of great sites. 

This is the Gothic Selimiye Mosque, which was once the St. Sophia Cathedral. You can see that the towers were removed and a minaret was set on top. 

Some browsing in the afternoon.

Venetian walls and gorgeous flower gardens.

After our time in Famagusta we spent the rest of the day and evening swimming on silver beach. I am not sure why no pictures were taken, but it was awesome! The water was clear and a giant dog, who was on a walk with his owner, swam out to say hello to us. 

Side note: We went to the movies one evening in Girne and Trum met Dr. Strange. 

Or did he????

We had such a fun weekend in Northern Cyprus! I am so glad we went!

The next weekend we headed over to Düzce Province near Istanbul for a Scout Camp out and some rafting for the boys. Once again the area was so pretty and they had a grand time!

There were clowns there doing face painting and they totally freaked us out. Especially when they were smoking. Weird!!!

Meals and service included in the price!

The boys try out the zip-lines crossing the river. Cost extra, about 5 US dollars.

Monkey Bridge construction.
BSA adventures in Turkey!!