We are on the whirlwind tour of North Cyprus!  Everyday we’re off on some adventure from early morning to night.  I’m really not awake enough to be typing but I’m afraid if not now, then when?  Along with having a great time with Charmaine and Linda, we have been having wonderful meals as they are both great cooks.  I’m the volunteer dish washer and am perfectly happy with that job.  This morning we were off by 8 am for our tour of Salamis.  After lunch Charmaine and Linda toured old Famagusta while Randal and I went off to have our teeth cleaned by Denise’s niece who is a dentist.  Lastly we did some food shopping getting back to the boat about 6 pm.  Dinner was great and now I’m just about ready for bed!  I will write when I have time but our days are very busy as our time winds down here in wonderful North Cyprus. 

Happy Passover and Happy Easter to all of you.

Ru

ps Tomorrow our friends American friends Bill and Judy are cooking dinner for us and Friday our Israeli friend Ev has invited us for a Passover dinner of Chinese food!  What a world.

Sunday we were off to Büyükkonuk for the Outdoor Festival and Sunday Market. We’d been to the Sunday Market earlier in the year with our friend Sharman when we’d had the use of Rob and Julia’s car. That had been one of the few Sundays when nothing much was happening. But we’d met Lois Cemal and learned a bit about Büyükkonuk so wanted to return with Charmaine and Linda. Thanks to Rob and Julia we knew that April 1^st was to be the first Büyükkonuk Outdoor Festival so chose this past Sunday to return to there. We weren’t disappointed and had a wonderful time. We combined a walk from my North Cyprus Walks book so it was a perfect day

http://www.mydoramac.com/wordpress/?p=9640 is the link to our earlier visit to Büyükkonuk.

Panayia Kyra Church:

On the way to Büyükkonuk we stopped in Sazlıköy to make the short walk to the Panayia Kyra Church.

“Located close to the neighboring village of Sazlıköy/Leivadya, this early Byzantine church dates to the 6th Century. Little remains of the original mosaics that decorated the apse as villagers believed that swallowing a piece of mosaic would cure ailments. Some 13th century candle smoke stained paintings can be seen high in the copula. Both a narthex and porch were added to this domed structure that is built in the shape of a cross. There is a well right in the middle of the little church.” http://www.ecotourismcyprus.org/aboutbuyukkonuk.php

We parked across from the Sazlıköy Muslim Cemetery.

After the walk we visited the cemetery which is always very interesting.

The path up the dirt road to the church.

Lots of lovely spring flowers.

The path to the church: perfectly lovely.

The tall grass around the church seemed to indicate there are not so many visitors.

The back of the church

Bushwhacking our way into the church through brush.

And startling the flock of pigeons nesting inside.

The well.

Exploring

Once there had been wall paintings.

“Some 13th century candle smoke stained paintings can be seen high in the copula.”

I was positive Charmaine had a photo that showed the images so I hunted for them on the Internet while she was busy, found none, so looked at her photos and they looked like this too. Not sure what I had thought I had seen. But even without paintings the small church was very “church-like.”

Group photo

Very carefully interacting with a thistle plant.

I told Randal the thistle would sting, but the purple color was just too tempting.

Walking back to the car from the church though trails leading the other direction were very tempting.

Then a quick visit to the cemetery..

Then back into the car and off to Büyükkonuk