Holiday in Cyprus (4): Famagusta

On the second day of the northern part of our Cyprus trip (Wednesday), we drove from Kyrenia all the way to Famagusta on the eastern coast of the island which took just under an hour and an half. Originally built by the Phoenicians, the city was totally enclosed by ramparts by the Venetians and these ramparts still survive today. Part of the city is a ghost town – a section once occupied by Greek Cypriots who fled their homes when the Turks invaded in 1974.  

Our first visit was to what was originally St Nicholas Cathedral which was constructed between 1298-1312 and used for coronation purposes for the Lusignan kings of Jerusalem and Armenia. During the Ottoman reign, however, it was converted into a mosque – since 1954  the Lala Mustafa Pasa Mosque – and remains a mosque to this day. I have previously visited a place which was a great mosque and became a cathedral (La Mezquita in Córdoba) and a place which was a basilica  which became an imperial mosque which became a museum (the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul), so I am used to religious changes in this part of the world.  

After a stop at a well-known patisserie for coffee and cake, our next visit was  to Othello’s Tower, so called because Famagusta was supposedly the setting for Shakespeare’s play (the name was given during the British occupation). This citadel was originally built in the 12th century during the Lusignan period to protect the harbour. It is thought that, when Leonardo da Vinci visited Cyprus in 1481, he advised the Venetians – who by then had taken over the island – on the design of the defences of Famagusta.  

At this point, we left Famagusta and made the short drive to Salamis, the site of the greatest of Cyprus’s ancient cities. Founded more than 3,000 years ago by Mycean Greeks, it dominated the island until its near destruction by earthquakes in the 4th century AD. Most of what we see today is 4th century: the Roman theatre, the columned courtyard, the gymnasium, the 44-seat latrines, the frigidarium (cold rooms), the caldarium (hot water baths), the sudatorium (sweating rooms). 

We walked around Salamis at the hottest time of the day at near to the hottest time of the year, so I was kitted out in sun hat, sun glasses and sun lotion. The expression “mad dogs and Englishmen” came to mind.  Fortunately lunch was at an outside restaurant very close to the ruins overlooking the azure sea. 

Our final visit of the day – again only a short drive – was to the site of the catacomb tomb of St Barnabas, a native of Salamis who evangelised Cyprus. Since 1756, it has been the Apostolos Varnavas Monastery and, since 1974, the monastery’s cells have become northern Cyprus’s main Archaeological Museum in which Bronze Age pottery items are the star exhibits. 

For the third consecutive evening, dinner was at the hotel as part of the package and what we lacked in choice we enjoyed in quality. We all had the local fish and we all liked it.  


 




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