We know that Cyprus is not really on the way home, more like a little detour, but we decided to spend some time here, having a summer holiday, before we would return to Austria.
Nearly 3 years ago, we were already at the harbour of Tasucu, with a ticket for the ferry in hand, but failed to take it, because of 2 positive Covid tests. Of course, nowadays, nobody asks for that test any more, and we made it onto the ferry. If you are interested in how that went, we documented it on IOverlander. Great was, that we could spend the night in the camper instead of a seat up in the passenger area.
At the moment, Cyprus is having some hot days, with close to 40 degrees, which reminds us a little of our days in Iraq. But, here you don’t have to cover your whole body with clothes and nothing stops you from a dip in the sea.
After arriving in the north of Cyprus, we quickly discovered, that our Turkish SIM card doesn’t work here. Therefore, we were circling the old town of Gires with our big camper to find a Turkcell shop.
When that was done, we were looking for a nice place at a beach. The first places were so full of rubbish, that we were worried if it was a good idea at all to come to Cyprus. The further away from town, the “better” it got, until we found a place which we could accept. We collected bags of rubbish which we took to the bins on the way out.
We still had a hiking guide for Cyprus, so hiking we went. The first hike we chose promised shade in the forest, but it was very hot anyway. We came past an abandoned Armenian monastery called Sourp Magar, which we explored, and had great views down to the coast.
Many of the sandy beaches in Cyprus are at the moment visited by turtles, which come here to lay their eggs. Luckily, they seem to be protected. Signs are put up every morning, where turtles had built a nest during the night.
High on the mountains lies Kantara castle, one of the Medieval castles guarding the north coast of Cyprus. Serving as a watchtower for pirate raids, an administrative centre and a place of incarceration, the castle saw next to no fighting. In 1191, it was taken by Richard the Lionheart during his campaign against the island’s ruler, Isaac Komnenos of Cyprus. Richard subsequently sold the island to the Knights Templar, whose rule abruptly ended after a major revolt in Nicosia. Cyprus was then resold to Guy of Lusignan, the former King of Jerusalem, who became the first king of Cyprus in 1192.
Beside of the rubbish people leave everywhere, we were shocked by the amount of plastic in the sea. Bigger and smaller pieces are floating everywhere in the water, and clouds of microplastic make swimming an unpleasant experience.
We came past this lovely church called Agios Thyrsos. From here another hike would start to some stone figures. As it was already very hot, we decided to drive there instead.
We found the figure of a woman, which once stood upright on the pedestal next to her, and the figure of a lying man. When and who had carved this figures seems to be unclear.
Arriving at Dipkarpaz, we did some shopping, especially for carrots, and drove to the coast and the church of Agios Philon. We found a good place for the camper above the cliff and went to the beach and later to visit the church.
Finally, we drove to the very end of the Karpas peninsula, where we met the wild donkeys of this area. The carrots now found happy recipients.
We found a place to camp at the Golden Beach, where the rubbish is not a big problem and there is nearly no plastic in the sea, what a lucky beach! Here we stayed for a while and enjoyed summer days at the beach.
We really enjoyed this unspoilt beach with only few visitors. We could camp behind the dunes with nobody around, just some annoying little flies. At the beach, a nice breeze and the pleasant water made it a great place to spend the day.