The following day we went to Limassol or rather the first on our list was the site of Amathous. Since the inter-city coach passed by this site, before getting there we had told the driver we wanted to visit Amathous and so he kindly told us at which stop to get off. We had to walk back a little, but that was quite all right, as it gave us the chance to see the tourist zone of Limassol. This is where I took a photo of an orange tree. These trees are often encountered in the streets and they really adorn them beautifully. Let there be no mistake, these are all wild oranges and they cannot be eaten. I know. The first time I saw orange trees in the streets was in Athens way back when and I must admit that I couldn’t resist and had to try one. The oranges looked that “real.” And they were real, of course, but bitter, sour or whatever. In a word: inedible. Now I just admire them and with a smile on my face remember my gluttony.
Limassol, an ornamental wild orange tree
Although there were not many people in the streets in the part through which we passed, still there were more opened hotels than in Ayia Napa. Limassol is the second largest city in Cyprus and it has probably developed some general form of tourism, while Ayia Napa used to be a small village that was abruptly turned into a centre of night life on the seashore. When the night party is over, Ayia Napa is asleep. I guess this accounts for the difference in the number of opened or closed hotels during a winter season.
Be as it may, we had a nice walk to the archaeological site of Amathous that flourished from the 11th century BC to the end of the 7th century AD. This is where one of the temples to the Great Goddess of Cyprus used to be. Over time, this goddess turned into Aphrodite and later on into Venus, when the Romans arrived.
Limassol, remains of the royal city of Amathous, the agora
The site is not very big, but there are a few interesting parts. I was particularly delighted by the place where water used to spring from the hill and pour into a couple of tanks-pools, in order to be transported farther using a system of wide stone pipes. Actually, even today water comes out from the earth drop by drop and when one looks at this from a distance it is possible to see clearly in the landscape where this water spring is, as there is a large green bush. Regardless of the fact that the water only drips, it collects fine in those pools, although I do hope that the maintenance services of the past functioned well and that the water was really potable. When the tanks are full, the water naturally flows from them through a hole in the wall or a dent in the stone fence, pours into a hole that is below the fence and enters the stone pipeline. And finally, these stone pipes that were used for leading the water to the agora are also fascinating. Perfectly fitted and fixed. Those ancient masons were truly amazing. It is always nice to be reminded that serious civilization used to exist way before the 20th century.
Limassol, Amathous, natural “faucet” and a water tank
Limassol, Amathous, a hole in the bottom through which water used to enter the pipeline
Limassol, Amathous, ancient waterworks: above the “top” of the pipeline, there is hole in the wall and a dent in the stone fence. It may also be seen how well the pipeline was fixed.
I was also delighted when I recognized where the thermae used to be. Only a small part of them could be seen, but it was completely clear to me what was there and I was particularly glad that I had learned about it during my visit to the site of Viminacium in Serbia. Later I was to see much bigger thermae at Kourion that were better for photographing, but I’ll talk about it later.
Limassol, Amathous
Then we went for a short walk by the sea following a paved path that led along hotels and resorts. Soon we came across a nice place where we sat to have a coffee with a view of a deserted beach, sea and the cloud-covered sky, but the break suited us well. Afterwards we moved to the local transportation in order to get to the centre of Limassol. Admittedly, we made a mistake and went to the end of the bus line, which was next to a huge shopping mall. Since neither of us was interested in shopping, we took the first bus back that eventually brought us to the centre of the city.
The centre of Limassol and the old buildings that may be seen there are really nice, but rather modest and it can all be visited pretty quickly. There is a medieval castle that has been turned into a museum, a myriad of restaurants and cafe, and a pedestrian zone full of shops – a little bit of Chinese merchandize, a little bit of local products and souvenirs, a little bit of old and a little bit of new... A little bit of everything, colourful and attractive for tourists.
Limassol, merchandize on display for tourists in the old part of the city
In Limassol we also saw the Great or Kebir mosque. It originates in the 16th century and continues to be active to the present day. Namely, there are still some Turkish Cypriots who remained on the Greek side after 1974, but few of them. On the other hand, in the meantime, some other Muslims have arrived here and they also use this mosque now for their religious rites.
Limassol, old part of the city and the minaret of the Great Mosque
Of course, there are many churches, as well. We passed by a large church built at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century named the Agia Napa church and dedicated to Virgin Mary.
Limassol, the Agia Napa church
Walking around Limassol, we realized we became a little hungry in the meantime, so we decided to take souvlaki at one cute local place. The shop was very basic, the large menu on the wall was written in Greek, but we somehow managed to understand what was on offer and thus we eventually had a nice meal sitting at the table that was standing on the pavement outside the shop.
Limassol, souvlaki in pita bread
With our tummies pleasantly full, we walked through the park that stretches along the sea and then we returned to Larnaca.
Limassol, walking area by the sea
The weather forecast for the following day said it would be sunny and thus we decided to rent bikes at a shop that was right next to our hotel. And that was – fabulous! To start with, the forecast was accurate: the day was glorious, sunny and with no wind. In other words, ideal.
Larnaca, a morning
First we went to the nearby salt lake where we watched flamingos and took photos of them. There are sea-gulls, wild ducks and other birds, but flamingos are the main attraction. I basically do not travel with any particular intention to chase birds, but somehow it just happens and every so often I come across some interesting samples. So, the same thing happened here. The salt lake where there are hundreds of flamingos is only a few kilometres away from the centre of Larnaca. Watching them as they dived their heads under water searching for food, it occurred to me: “What? The ostriches are said to bury their heads in the sand? Look at these!!! They keep their heads under water the entire day!”
Larnaca, the salt lake and the flamingos
Larnaca, the salt lake and a flamingo
As we rode the bikes on the pavement along the road leading to the airport, we made a couple of breaks in order to watch the birds and then we turned to the right and reached Hala Sultan Tekkesi, a mosque built at the place where Umm Haram fell off a mule in 648 and died. The tradition says that this was an aunt of Prophet Mohammad and the mosque built in her honour is one of the pilgrimage destinations of Islam. The two of us also went there to visit it.
Larnaca, the salt lake and the Hala Sultan Tekkesi mosque
Afterwards we continue with our bike ride around the lake. The asphalt road disappeared and a dirt road started. It was quite all right in the beginning, but then at some point we came across some serious puddles and mud on our way, so we barely managed to pass through. We had to get off the bikes and push them along the edges of the puddles, making sure that neither the bikes nor we fell into them.
Larnaca, the salt lake is to the left, the puddles are to the right
The plan was to make a circle around the lake, as well as to get to an aqueduct. We had a map, but it was not particularly clear and so we got into an area with nice houses, but no aqueduct. That is, we even managed to get to a small segment of the aqueduct, but it was not what we were looking for. We wandered between those houses for a while and were ready to give up, but then we came across a billiard-bar, took some refreshments there and sat in the sun pondering what to do next. Then we decided to try yet another option and soon we finally managed to find the remains of the Bekir Pasha aqueduct that we so wanted to find. The structure, also known as the Kamares aqueduct, originates back in the 18th century and it was built by the then governor of Larnaca who gave his own money for the project (!!! this sounds so nice and generous, doesn’t it?!) in order to have water brought to the city from a spring a dozen kilometres away. Very nice and impressive! By the way, the aqueduct may also be seen from the motorway that leads from Larnaca to Limassol and Paphos. Here we made a short break again in order to have a good look at it and then we continued along the path that leads further around the lake.
Larnaca, the Bekir Pasha aqueduct
This path has not been completed yet, so for the time being it is only a hard soil between stone kerbs, but we managed to ride well along these few kilometres and thus we got to one of the main streets that we came by to the lake earlier that day. However, we continued to make occasional breaks in order to continue enjoying in the wonderful vistas that surrounded us.
Larnaca, the salt lake
Larnaca, the salt lake and the flamingos
As our bicycle day was getting close to its end, we sat down in a cafe to enjoy the sun for a little while more and that relaxation was truly great. But, ouch! It was so difficult to get up once the muscles had cooled. And yet, in the final wave of our desire to keep on riding and enjoying, we went by our bikes to the centre of Larnanca, but it was not an easy ride any longer. I guess, the exhaustion had caught up with us and then we finally turned around and went back to the hotel. In the meantime, clouds started to cover the sky and temperature started to drop, so the return to the hotel was the right thing at the right time.
Later on, when we recovered from riding bicycles, we went on foot to have a nice dinner consisting of sea food and that was a perfect ending of a beautiful day.