Early Morning Cyprus
May 8,2023
Three am wake up call today !
We had an early ride to the airport in Antalya, then a quick flight to the Turkish northern end of Cyprus. We visited the archeological site of Salamis, the monastery/church and tomb of Barnabus, st Nicholas church is Famagusta and the royal tombs.
Salamis was a wealthy costal city and the home of Paul’s fellow evangelist on his first missionary journey, Barnabus (Acts 13:1-3).
Paul and Barnabus made their way throughout Cyprus beginning in Salmis. Excavations have found settlement here from the 11th century BC forward, with interruptions from earthquake damage each century. By the mid 600s AD the harbor was silted up and raids by Arab pirates were so common that the city was abandon.
The site has an enormous bath complex with mosaics still in some of the arches- not restored but still in situ! The marble mosaics of the temple floors, the agora, and some roads are also in situ with beautiful red and purple colors. There is a Roman style theater with 4 rows of original marble seats. Behind the theater are more shop stall and an area that was a fish market with a variety of pools for the various fish - thank you Vanessa for not missing this!! The stadium is unexcavated and a little hard to picture. This site is really striking as to how much of a wealthy Greco Roman city was incompatible with the life of Jew or a new Christian…. Temples to pagan gods, baths and gymnasiums where people were unclothed but was also probably an important place for business deals. We were able to see remains of the ancient harbor mole.
Next we visited a church and monastery dedicated to Barnabus with a small tomb chapel on site as well. It is no longer a functioning monastery but has a small Museum with ancient Neolithic finds and the church with a small icon Museum.
In the city of Famagusta - the largest city in Turkish Cyprus, there is a large st Nicholas cathedral built in a gothic style. The architecture is gorgeous, but it has been turned into a mosque.
We did a short walking tour through the “ghost town” area of Varosha - a Greek area of the city that was abandoned in 1974 during the Turkish/Greek conflict on Cyprus. The buildings of this extremely wealthy tourist area, including a long row of 105 exclusive hotels right on the beach, have been left exactly as they were at that time. People are allowed to walk and bike in here, but not go into the building. Very strange to see the row of abandoned hotels on this gorgeous beachfront, with people swimming and sunbathing along the shore anyway!
Back to the airport at 5 pm for a flight to Adana where our bus driver will meet us with our luggage.
Craig did some drone flying today as this was one of the sites that we needed footage for. All went well, no one complained and the drone is still safely in our possession .
