Kyrenia

Saturday

This morning we went to the Turkish side or the north side of the island.  Since I had recently done it for just a day trip, I remembered how easy it was to get there.  It still surprises me, though.  A group of seven of us picked the bus up near our apartments and we went to the city center.  Then we had to walk down Ledra street to the 'border'.  There you give them your passport and then walk on through.  It doesn't look any different at first, but once you get to Kyrenia it's a whole nother place!  We took a van to Kyrenia, which is the mountainous area on the north side.  It was a gorgeous view the entire time.  Then we got to our hostile, which is located in a harbor, over a restaurant.  It's an amazing location.  We put our stuff into our room (all seven of us had a sleep over) and then went back out to walk around.  Immediately, we passed a tandem paragliding shop!  My friend, Kayla, and I decided to do it about an hour later.  So we were taken up the mountain and each took turns.  It was an awesome experience that I will never forget-even better than a helicopter ride over Venice!  The rest of the day was spent walking around.  At one point we found a ledge to sit on for quite a long time, that overlooked the harbor.  It was gorgeous to watch the sky change.  We had a nice dinner and then went back to the hostel.  We were all planning on watching a movie together until the man in charge of the hostel invited us to hear his friend play authentic Turkish music.  We all went and sat at an outdoor restaurant along the harbor.  It was beautiful music and we all really enjoyed it.

Sunday

This day we got breakfast to go and sat by the water and ate.  Then we went to an old monastery and church with beautiful arches and scenery, overlooking the town.  After that we walked around the small town.  It is definitely a place I would love to go back to.  Then two older friends and I went to find a beach.  It was somewhat unsuccessful, but we did find a waters edge with the Kyrenia castle behind it.  It was yet another beautiful sight to see.  We spent awhile there and then left.  But I am SO excited to return to Kyrenia as much as possible.  Especially when it only takes 3 and a half euro to get there!

Paragliding!

View of the harbor.

Old Monastery/Church

Ayia Napa

It's been a long time since I've updated my blog.  It's hard for me to find things to write about when I'm just living day-to-day life and not traveling.  But hopefully you all will find things interesting either way!  I'm on my third week of classes and enjoying it.  It's still an adjustment to take classes in a foreign country....perspectives are obviously vastly different in many ways.

So this weekend we went to Ayia Napa, which is supposed to be the nicest beach town on the island.  It was gorgeous and a really great place.  The weather was a little cool, which was actually nice because the heat in Cyprus sometimes seems never ending!  The bus ride to Ayia Napa is about an hour, but we took a few detours.  We stopped at a Byzantine church and Famagusta.  Famagusta is a ghost town.  When the Turks invaded Cyprus in 1974, all the people of this town were forced to leave.  It was a very happy town and was running well.  It also attracted many tourists.  Sadly, the people have never been able to go back and have to look at it everyday from their new homes.  It's a sore subject for them.  It was really sad to hear about it.  But it's always interesting to learn more and more about the history of this island.

View of Famagusta

We arrived in Ayia Napa in the late afternoon on Friday.  Wow, it was gorgeous.  We stayed in a beach resort hotel with an amazing pool, that was right on the beach.  That night we went out for karaoke!  It was a lot of fun and the other tourists and locals enjoyed watching us.  Surprisingly, they are not used to Americans coming to Ayia Napa.  Most of the tourists are British.  That seems to be the way most of Cyprus is though.  Saturday we spent all day at the beach.  It was great.  I also rented a four wheeler with my friend and we drove around the town.  We got to see some great views of the sea and the rest of the town.  That was definitely my favorite part of our trip.  That night we went out for seafood meze with our entire group of 20-some people.  The next day we left and came back to a much cooler Cyprus, yay!

View from our balcony at night.

View from balcony during the day

View of coast from four wheeler

Last night we booked our trip to Amsterdam, Brussels, and Germany!  And tonight I will book my flight to Egypt!  I can't wait for more traveling!