Sunday, the day of rest, so we did. There were a few things we had to do however. The swimming pool needed testing and I noticed that a couple of the sun loungers badly wanted lying on. It was also the climax of the Ryder Cup golf so that had to be attended to as well.
David and Anne needed to go out and I had a blog backlog as usual. All in all it was beginning to look like a pretty busy day going nowhere.
Fortunately everything went swimmingly, about 40 lengths actually. The sun loungers stood up to the strain well and we all know what happened in the Ryder Cup. The blogs got published.
We need to get dressed up a bit because we are going out to eat in the 867 bedroom 5 star plus Elexus Hotel and Spa. The place is massive with enough marble to refill the Carrera quarry. There are lots of restaurant options but we had opted for Chinese.
The table d'hote menu consisted of 4 courses, with several dishes to represent each course. Fine quality alcoholic drinks were included in the price of about £25 per head. Basically you got as much to eat and drink as you liked. The quality of the Chinese food was the best that I have ever tasted. We went for a postprandial walk to look out the back at the aquatic facilities.
This is the beach area.
Looking back at two of the wings of the building.
More of the beach area.
The biggest swimming pool I have seen.
Now we're back in Kyrenia and having a wander around some of the sites. First of all we are exploring the castle which guards the harbour entrance.
The castle probably has its feet in Roman origins which the Byzantine conquers extended ready for Richard I to take the island whilst on one of his crusading holidays. He passed it on to the Crusader Lusignans. They held sway for the next 300 years until the Venetians arrived in force. In 1570 the Otterman Empire took all before them including Cyprus. There was a British period between 1918 and 1960 when the castle was used as a police barracks and prison.
It's a fine walk around the top of the walls with great sea and town vistas and scant regard given to health and safety.
The view over the old harbour. Our restaurant of two nights ago is the large white building across the centre of the harbour.
Within the castle is the shipwreck museum. You will have heard of the Mary Rose and maybe the Vasa in Stockholm, well this is similar, a time capsule from 2300 years ago. It was a Greek trading vessel about 14 meters long and 4 meters across. She had a crew of 4 sailors. The route can be calculated from the contents of the hold. She visited Rhodes, Samos and Kos before floundering 1.5 kms off shore in 30 meters of water. The crew seem to have survived. This is the oldest ship recovered from the seabed in the world.
The picture above is the original ship enclosed within a glass box for preservation. You can see some of the nearly 300 amphorae of wine from Rhodes in the picture below. There were also 29 millstones from Samos.
Thousands of almond nuts were found that are thought to be food for the crew. Some of these have been successfully germinated.
South east and up the hills from Kyrenia is the village and Abbey of Bellapais. This is a very beautiful location which was occupied in Roman times but the Abbey itself was started by Augustinian monks early in the C13. Later they were joined by a group of Norbertinians, who have Spaldonian connections.
"The mellow beauty of the abbey was not the natural bedfellow of asceticism" as an early visitor observed. The monks took not just one wife but two or three, and would only accept their own sons as novises. By the time the Genoese arrived in 1373, the abbey was ripe for pillaging and much of the treasure was abducted. The Otterman invasion destroyed more of the abbey but they did leave the church for the Greeks to use. They continued to do so until 1974.
The whole area now is a mixture of archeological site, art exhibition space, concert hall, upmarket restaurant and place of worship and celebration. The whole mix works very well the varied activities complimenting each other rather than causing distraction.
This is the old refectory, whose superb acoustics are now exploited as a concert hall. You might notice that the piano tuners are in. Spot the old pulpit so the monks could not have a meal without the word of God. Pretty good rose window as well.
Here's the view from the outside
Finally, you know that I like to end on a sunset. This is the sun going down over Kyrenia. In the foreground is the Stone Castle Restaurant where we ate last night.
David and Anne needed to go out and I had a blog backlog as usual. All in all it was beginning to look like a pretty busy day going nowhere.
Fortunately everything went swimmingly, about 40 lengths actually. The sun loungers stood up to the strain well and we all know what happened in the Ryder Cup. The blogs got published.
We need to get dressed up a bit because we are going out to eat in the 867 bedroom 5 star plus Elexus Hotel and Spa. The place is massive with enough marble to refill the Carrera quarry. There are lots of restaurant options but we had opted for Chinese.
The table d'hote menu consisted of 4 courses, with several dishes to represent each course. Fine quality alcoholic drinks were included in the price of about £25 per head. Basically you got as much to eat and drink as you liked. The quality of the Chinese food was the best that I have ever tasted. We went for a postprandial walk to look out the back at the aquatic facilities.
This is the beach area.
Looking back at two of the wings of the building.
More of the beach area.
The biggest swimming pool I have seen.
Now we're back in Kyrenia and having a wander around some of the sites. First of all we are exploring the castle which guards the harbour entrance.
The castle probably has its feet in Roman origins which the Byzantine conquers extended ready for Richard I to take the island whilst on one of his crusading holidays. He passed it on to the Crusader Lusignans. They held sway for the next 300 years until the Venetians arrived in force. In 1570 the Otterman Empire took all before them including Cyprus. There was a British period between 1918 and 1960 when the castle was used as a police barracks and prison.
It's a fine walk around the top of the walls with great sea and town vistas and scant regard given to health and safety.
The view over the old harbour. Our restaurant of two nights ago is the large white building across the centre of the harbour.
The picture above is the original ship enclosed within a glass box for preservation. You can see some of the nearly 300 amphorae of wine from Rhodes in the picture below. There were also 29 millstones from Samos.
Thousands of almond nuts were found that are thought to be food for the crew. Some of these have been successfully germinated.
South east and up the hills from Kyrenia is the village and Abbey of Bellapais. This is a very beautiful location which was occupied in Roman times but the Abbey itself was started by Augustinian monks early in the C13. Later they were joined by a group of Norbertinians, who have Spaldonian connections.
"The mellow beauty of the abbey was not the natural bedfellow of asceticism" as an early visitor observed. The monks took not just one wife but two or three, and would only accept their own sons as novises. By the time the Genoese arrived in 1373, the abbey was ripe for pillaging and much of the treasure was abducted. The Otterman invasion destroyed more of the abbey but they did leave the church for the Greeks to use. They continued to do so until 1974.
The whole area now is a mixture of archeological site, art exhibition space, concert hall, upmarket restaurant and place of worship and celebration. The whole mix works very well the varied activities complimenting each other rather than causing distraction.
This is the old refectory, whose superb acoustics are now exploited as a concert hall. You might notice that the piano tuners are in. Spot the old pulpit so the monks could not have a meal without the word of God. Pretty good rose window as well.
Here's the view from the outside
Finally, you know that I like to end on a sunset. This is the sun going down over Kyrenia. In the foreground is the Stone Castle Restaurant where we ate last night.
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