Last morning with Heidi and Kalle..for now.

Actually I should have added this photo to the previous email…we ended our long day of travel with some of Kalle wine.

Sitting around telling tales of our travels washed down with wine.

Bright and early the next morning…

in Heidi’s lovely kitchen.

Making breakfast.

All is ready…

After breakfast Kalle showed us his newly created “motorized” bicycle that he made using his bicycle and a motor. Now he can motor up hills!

Randal takes it for a spin.

All too soon it was time for farewell.

Thank you Heidi and Kalle for your friendship which we will keep in our hearts and continue with our emails and reading each other’s adventures.

Love Ru

Shalom Y’All,

  So I do remember a few Hebrew words and phrases, but that didn’t help me in the grocery store looking for yogurt.  There is very little English on anything and many of the store workers speak Hebrew, Russian, or some third language other than English. And there are about a hundred containers that look like they could be yogurt. Buffalo yogurt, sheep yogurt, cow yogurt, other containers that look like yogurt but aren’t and that’s before you get to the cottage cheese or sour cream containers! Boy, do I wish I’d paid attention all those years ago in Hebrew School though I don’t remember coming across the words yogurt or egg noodles.  Maybe they didn’t have Kugel in the time of Moses.  Learning to repeat phrases like "good morning" is nice but one needs to read Hebrew in the markets or even along the boardwalk in the marina.  Pretty much nothing is in English.  It’s almost like being back in China except we look like everyone else so they just sort of expect us to speak Hebrew.  I was really lucky in Cyprus to have had Denise to teach me Turkish!  I need an Israeli Denise!

   This email is about our second day in the Girne area which started out with a leisurely visit to St. Hilarion Castle and ended with a forced march back from the reservoir near Koruçam and a stop in town for a cold drink (tea wasn’t available?) and a quick look into the church before the drive back to Girne.

Cheese in Kozanköy

We left St Hilarion and following Heidi and Kalle’s suggestion, we followed the ridge road traveling west towards Kozanköy. Kozanköy was known for its cheese, bread and carob syrup making. When we arrived the bakery was already closed for the day, I forgot about the carob syrup option and we didn’t actually find the “cheese factory.” We did, however, find cheese. And we met a lovely mom and daughter from the village.

Sukran Zor welcomes us to her mom’s home and “cheese factory.”

We drove around town past the closed bakery looking for the cheese factory. The road we picked to drive took us up a hill past where a group of women were sitting ending at a dead end. We drove back down the hill past the group of ladies again but this time we stopped to ask. They didn’t know anything about a cheese factory but Sukran told us her mom made and sold cheese and invited us in to see. Amazingly Sukran now lives in Canada not at all far from Charmaine and Linda in Ontario! She comes home each year to visit her mom.

Zühre with a 2 kg round of very fresh, just made Hellim cheese.

We paid the “North Cypriot” discount rate and it was well worth it.

And of course, we were invited for coffee.

Mom didn’t speak English so I used my limited Turkish and my “cheat booklet” to tell her about us.

The view from her back yard.

A visit to her sheep just behind the house where she stays to look after the sheep.

Baaaaa

Sukran and Zühre

Linda, Sukran, and Linda

We were invited for lunch but felt we needed to be on our way. We had lots more to see and do. Our next stop was Çamlibel for lunch and then on to visit to the ancient olive grove in the Kalkanli Valley.

We were referred to this restaurant by a man helping his friend fix a truck. Turns out the man who referred us owned the restaurant. But the food was good and provided both lunch and dinner.

This is where we met Tuğberk Emirzade, one of our “save the environment” friends.

From Çamlibel we drove to the Ancient Olive Grove where some of the trees were 800 years old.

How can you not protect and respect something as ancient as these trees. They remind me of the knarled hands of elderly people.

Our next stop was Koruçam, a Maronite village and the nearby reservoir which might be a nice walk and birding area. It was a “too long walk” that late in the day and all the birds had gone someplace else. By the time we got to Koruçam we were too tired for too much but peeked into the church just because we were there. Then it was time to head on to our second home on North Cyprus, Heidi and Kalle’s house.

Where are those birds?

It was lovely, but hot and we were too tired to really enjoy it.

Maronite Church in Koruçam.

“For centuries the cape has been inhabited by Maronites, a Christian sect that originated in Syria and Lebanon in the 7^th century. This Eastern Christian sect, whose members proclaim themselves to be Catholic and to recognize the supremacy of the Pope, arose from a dispute between Momophysites (who postulate a single, divine nature of Jesus) and Christians (who believe Jesus to be both divine and human.) The Maronites took their name from the 4^th or 5^th century Syrian hermit, St. Maron. They arrived on Cyprus in the 12^th century together with the Crusaders, whom they served during their campaigns in the Holy Land.” EYEWITNESS TRAVEL CYPRUS

Dinner at the Ilgaz Church

We had lots of left over lunch food so decided on a picnic dinner. The tiny hill town of Ilgaz provided a perfect setting on the stone wall just front of the church. And since it was just a 3 minute drive down the road to Villa Manzara, wine with dinner was ok for all.

Food for us and some “emergency dog food” for some strays who were happy to share.

Next email, our last morning in Girne, saying "Good-bye to good friends."

  So yesterday we took the bus to Tel Aviv and then walked the promenade to Jaffa to visit the old and new parts of the city.  Today we went into Herzliya for "made in Israel" Naot sandals for Randal and me.  Linda and Charmaine got a part for their stove that was lots cheaper here, but we were out of luck looking for propane for our cooking stove.  Israel only sells butane so we’ll have to see how that will work.  Tomorrow we’ll take a walk to the Apollonia Park with findings back to 5000 B.C.  I am taking photos everywhere we go and eventually you’ll see them..probably when we get to some other country and I have time.  So for now we’re back in North Cyprus.

Ru

Morning photo from Heidi’s Kitchen

We arrived Wednesday in Heidi and Kalle’s house.  Thursday morning was Heidi’s life drawing group so everyone was up early,  we to go off adventuring and Heidi to prepare for her group.  I so wish I could have been both place!

Our first stop was St. Hilarion Castle.

“Just west of the main Girne Lofkosa road, in the Besparmak mountains, you will find the most westerly of the three Crusader castles of Kantara, Buffevento and St Hilarion. At 732 meters, St Hilarion is at the middle height of the three. It is, however by far the best preserved. The walls and towers appear to sprout off the rocks almost at random, giving the castle a fairy tale look. Indeed it is said to have inspired Walt Disney to use it as a design for the castle in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The Gatehouse

The castle is named after a little known hermit who fled Palestine during the 7th century to live and die up here, purging the mountain of pagan demons. It is said that the hermit was stone deaf, so was able to resist the tempting cries of the demons who stalked the mountains with ease. The demons finally admitted defeat, and left Hilarion and the mountain in peace. A Byzantine monastery, and later a fort sprang up around his tomb

Owing to its near impregnability, St Hilarion was one of the last castles taken by the crusaders in 1191. The fortifications were improved by the Lusignans during the early 13th century, and the castle was the focus of a four year struggle with the Holy roman Emperor Frederick II for control of the island till he was defeated in 1232. Over the next 140 years, sumptuous royal apartments were added so that the castle became a summer residence. It also served as a place of escape in 1349 when the Black Death swept the island, and estimated numbers of the dead range from one quarter to one half of the entire population.

The castle’s Byzantine church

In 1373, during the Genoese invasion, the castle again became militarily important as the retreat of the under-age King Peter II. His uncle and regent, John of Antioch, mislead by his hostile sister-in-law into believing his bodyguard of Bulgarian mercenaries were treasonous, had them thrown one at a time from the highest tower of the castle. Without his protection, John, who had been implicated in the murder of Eleanor’s husband, was lured to supper with Eleanor in Nicosia where he was, in turn, promptly dispatched.

When the Venetians took over in 1489, they relied on Kyrenia, Nicosia and Famagusta for the defense of the island, and they abandoned St Hilarion and her two sister castles.

Although the Venetians considered the castle obsolete, it came to prominence again in 1964, when the beleaguered Turkish Cypriots used it as the headquarters of their main enclave which included several Turkish Cypriot communities straddling the main Kyrenia Nicosia road. A small garrison of teenage activists was able to fend off EOKA attacks on the castle, and the Turkish Cypriots remained in control thereafter. The castle again played its part in 1974 when it was at the centre of a battle for control of this important pass between north and south Cyprus.

Although St Hilarion is now very much open to the public, the approach road passes through a military area, so is very occasionally closed for access.

The Queen’s Window

The first part of the castle you will come across is the main gate and outer walls, built by the Byzantines in the 11th century. As the path climbs, it passes a still usable cistern and the stables. The first dramatic structure you come across will be the main gatehouse with its arch, which originally closed with a drawbridge. Along the passage you will come across the sizable castle chapel. It is built of bricks and stone blocks, and in danger of collapse, was restored in 1959. Traces of ancient religious paintings are visible, their style pointing to around 1150. However the church is considered far too large for a castle garrison, and it is thought that the Byzantine building is a restoration of a monastery, founded around 800. The area round the castle was originally part of this monastery, and the rooms to the north and east of it were the cellars, kitchen and refectory. Below this is a further series of rooms thought to be barracks for the crusader knights of the 14th century.

Passing through the crusader archway, you will find yourself in the main courtyard. To your right are what remains of the royal kitchens and waiting rooms. At the furthest end are the royal apartments, reached by following the small path through the undergrowth.

The courtyard of the upper castle rests under the natural protection of twin summits. The Lusignans called it the "Dieu d’Amor". Romantics see the name as a reference to the legend of the ancient Greek goddess Aphrodite, who has strong links with the island. However it is more likely to be a French corruption of the original Byzantine name for the fort, Didymus, the Greek word for "twin".

The richest and most popular part of the castle is the elegant gallery with its two fantastic gothic windows, one with stone window seats intact. This is where queen Eleanor surveyed her kingdom, and is known as the Queen’s Window. If you can manage a further climb up the uneven steps to the southern peak, you will be further rewarded with more superb views. Off the main courtyard, you will find the 14th century Prince John’s tower standing on a rocky promontory. It was here that Prince John’s bodyguard are reputed to have met their end.

http://www.whatson-northcyprus.com/interest/kyrenia/st_hilarion.htm

We arrived bright and early…but there was no one to let us in!

A guard at the gate…who eventually licked my fingers.

Time to open and time for food!

And time for play!

But the real boss of the place.

A pile of rock with a castle on top.

The views were worth the walking up.

Thankfully St Hilarion is not Disney Cyprus, but rather a place you can still use your imagination.

Almost 1,000 years separates them: our clothing has changed a great deal even if our behaviors haven’t.

Kitchens, workshops, apartments, latrines were all located within the castle high up the mountain.

So, where’re we going?

Up was always the answer, but the views were spectacular from the tallest tower.

The open green spaces at the foot of the mountain is the military base.

We all made it and have the photos to prove it.

Then it was back down for a drive along the ridge back down into the valley and a quest to Kozankôy for cheese.