Cyprus - My 7 day circuit across the country - Day 2 morning (cont.) - North Cyprus - Salamis - St. Barnabas' Monastery - the Icon Museum - The 6th of November 2016

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We then headed towards St. Barnabas' Monastery, which was erected in 477 near the spot where the Apostle's grave was discovered. The construction is said to have been financed by the Byzantine Emperor Zeno himself, though two centuries later it was demolished in one of the devastating Arab raids on Cyprus.

What remains of that former construction are the foundations of the original Byzantine edifice, once the present Church and Monastery are said to have been constructed in 1756, on the orders of Archbishop Philotheos during the Ottoman rule, now housing an Icon Museum.

Over the years the number of resident monks reduced and by the 1950s it is known only three brother monks remained. They were the ones who dedicated themselves to the Church premises, with much of their time spent  painting many of the frescoes and icons which are in display.

Some of the frescoes we came across on the right hand side by the entrance depict some of the Saint's life episodes including the discovery of the location of his tomb and his body following a dream by Bishop Anthemios. Although some were in a fairly bad state the expressions on many of the depicted figures touched me.

Because we wouldn't have enough time to thoroughly look at every icon Michel drew our attention to the ones which deserved to be looked at because of either the meaning of some of the iconographic representations or some sort of unique detail.

(To be continued)

Cyprus - My 7 day circuit across the country - Day 2 morning - North Cyprus -The remains of a Bronze Age town in Engomi-Alasia - The 6th of November 2016

In order to explore the Northern part of Cyprus we had to go through one of the five divided capital of Nicosia's crossing points beyond which Turks are in charge since the 1974 troop invasion. I was quite curious as to how easily or not we would be able to cross the borders, which thanks to our Cypriot Greek guide Androulla we went through without any visible problems.

I noticed the change in the landscape despite the fact that we soon found ourselves in the middle of the remains of a Bronze Age town, which archaelogists estimate to have been founded in the 18th century BC and have grown rich on trading in copper, which was excavated on the island and exported to Anatolia, Syria and Egypt.

Our attention was soon drawn to what Michel so exhultantly showed us about the former Mycenaean settlement.

Excavation works conducted since 1896 did unearth the ruins of the late Bronze Age settlement, with its low houses lining narrow streets. We stumbled upon several vestiges dating back to that epoch which abunded in the site. The ruins yielded a tablet with Cypriot-Minoan writing, not yet decyphered and a famous bronze statue of the Horned God, dating from the 12th century BC, which is now kept in the Nicosia Museum.


Strolling around the excavation site we came across the horned God's sanctuary and the "House of the Bronzes" where many bronze artefacts are said to have been found. We were shown details that we would have otherwise missed, had we not had such an enthusiastic guide.

(To be continued)

Cyprus - My 7 day circuit across the country - Day 1 evening - Larnaca- strolling around the shore; Nicosia - Cleopatra Hotel lodging - The 5th of November 2016

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Upon leaving Saint Lazaros Church we walked down the street that ran towards the seashore area and the coastal promenade lined with palm trees just a few metres away. Built in 1625 the once Ottoman fort stood on our right in a rather discreet way. It is said that when ships sailed into the harbour, which no longer exists they used to be welcomed by a gun salute fired from it.

The Venetian winged lion statue was quite impressive in its own way as it stood out with its back onto the stretches of sand overshadowed by a light rose coloured sky. We decided not to stroll any further and make our way into Nicosia instead.

 

 

Letter box probably dating from the British ruling period. 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we reached Nicosia we were lodged at Cleopatra, where we would be staying for three nights. As I opened the window of my bedroom and looked at what to be seen from it once more I realised the atmosphere was not too dissimilar from the one back home.

 

 

 

 

It had been a fairly tiring day but as I dived into the bedsheets I knew I was really looking forward to what the following day would bring ...