Randal and I went for a walk this morning, took a new route, saw a brand new baby lamb, got lost, met some young girls who tried to teach me how to say sheep and goat in Turkish, got lost, met two amused Turkish women who pointed through there fields as a "short cut" back to the coast road, passed by two very suspicious BIG cows, one with horns, and finally got back to the boat STARVING! This afternoon I spent an hour with the online Mango language product on the RCPL website. I’d tried it not very successfully, when we were in Turkey, but now that I’m taking lessons from a real person, I can use this online product and understand it.
I have my Turkish word cards to paint and label and a scarf to knit as a Christmas gift. I did paint an orange and learn the word is portakal (from the word Portugal because the Portuguese introduced oranges into countries who then named it for them. So much to do, so much to do! I have adventures worth of photos to share and will try to catch up. This one is a start.
Ru
About a week ago, Randal and I were wondering if winter in Cyprus wouldn’t be as great as we’d hoped. Thanks to some cold rainy weather we were spending too much time on the boat, our usual Thursday Deks walk being rained out. We were getting, I’m embarrassed to say, bored. Two things my mother used to say about boredom: “Only bores get bored,” and “if you’re bored, go for a walk.” I certainly know going for walks cures boredom. Making new friends and learning new languages also, has not only eliminated boredom, it has left us with too little “free time” these past few days. Or so it seems and that’s why I’m behind on my emails.
Tuesdays are Turkish lesson days and this past lesson ran from 10:30 am until 1 pm. After that Randal and I biked to the Lamar supermarket about an hour away. We left the marina about 1:45 pm, stopped for gasoline, got to the market, shopped and were back on the bike heading home about 3:15 pm. We stopped in Yenierenköy at the hardware store sometime around 4 pm as it was getting dusk and finally got back to DoraMac chilled and tired just before 5 PM. Wednesday morning was walk up into Sipahi and Wednesday evening our new friend Eve came for dinner. Eve, an Israeli, is a single-hander. We’d met at a “Monday evening cruiser get together” and had invited her for a chat and drinks one night. Eve left today for travels and will be back in March. We wanted to nab her one last time before she left so had invited her for an informal salmon patty dinner Wednesday night.
Eve
Eve has a catamaran that she charters. She had been married with two children and teaching ceramic arts also creating one-of-a kind pieces in her studio. One day, after her two children were grown, she decided she wanted to be a charter sailboat captain. Her husband wanted to be a recreational cyclist. They parted amicably each to pursue a dream.
Thursday was a Deks Walk Day with an added tour at the end. The usual group met at Deks 9 AM and then piled into 2 cars to caravan down the road for a coastal walk to the ruins of the 5th century AD Ayios Philon Church. According to the local guide book, “Ayios Philon is the last remaining remnant of the ancient Phoenician city of Karpasia which used to be a marketplace between Salamis and Anatolia.” Thanks to fellow walker, Julia and her husband Robin we actually made a visit to Salamis on Friday.
We were ferried to a spot about 1 ½ hours from the Ayios Philon Church and the Oasis Restaurant where we would have a coffee at the end. Then we would have been driven back to Deks except Julia and Robin kindly drove Randal and me farther down the coast to visit another site, Aphendrika.
The beaches along the coast are nesting spots for sea turtles.
Denise and one of the walkers, Sue, have volunteered during the nights of hatching. http://www.seaturtle.org/mtrg/projects/cyprus/
From across the hillside tractors came zooming down the path stopping at this cultivated field.
Oh boy, a puddle!
The dogs really are such fun to have with us on the walks.
They run two miles for every one that we walk!
Sheep ahead so the dogs go on the leads.
This was the funniest group of sheep. They would walk ahead and then stop and all face us and then walk on, stop, and then face us until we finally passed them by.
Lining up to face us.
I don’t know if they were entertaining us or we were entertaining them. There were no shepherds in sight here or later when we saw 3 more herds of sheep.
We left the sheep behind and continued on to the beach.
The beaches had litter washed up from the sea but the water was clear and you can see the ripples in the sand under the water. Closer to the Church is the old harbour where apparently you can snorkel and see odd bits buried in the sand.
Ayios Philon Church
“In the centre of Dipkarpaz, if you leave the road that takes you to along the southern coast of the Karpaz to Apostolos Andreas Monastery, and take the northern coast road instead, you will end up at Ayios Philon.
The church here, was built in the 10th Century, on top of a much earlier, possibly 5th Century, basilica, and is virtually all that remains of the ancient Phoenician port of Karpasia. Founded by King Pygmalion of Cyprus, it was a flourishing trading port, half way between Salamis and Anatolia. It was, however, abandoned in 802, after Arab raiders burnt and sacked it and its inhabitants moved inland, founding Dipkarpaz. (This is a fate seen time and time again when we look at the coastal villages of the time.)
Traces of the old harbour wall can still be seen off shore, but the majority of the village is now under sand dunes to the west of the church.
The church is named after St Philo, who converted the people of the area to Christianity, and had been ordained by St Epiphanios in the 4th Century. (St Epiphanios’ Basilica is to be seen at Salamis) It is a typically domed Byzantine church, with a three-part apse and a courtyard surrounded by columns. There is a cistern and baptizing room, as well as numerous mosaics all around from the earlier structure.
Ayios Philon is a pleasant place to pause your exploration of the Karpaz. From here you can continue to the Aphendrika, or turn back to Dipkarpaz to continue to Apostolos Andreas Monastery. Or have a snack overlooking the old harbour while you think about it.” http://www.whatson-northcyprus.com/interest/dipkarpaz/philon.htm
We did have a snack and we then continued on to Aphendrika courtesy of Julia and Robin. That will be my next email.
Church interior
Ruins of the 5th Century Basilica and the Church interior.
The mosaics look to be laid out like a Jewish Star.
Hunting for the same spot shone on the Ayios Philon postcard we bought in Yenierenköy.
In August Randal and I had gone looking for the ruins but somehow had missed.
Found it.