The flight to Dubai was uneventful & we had a massive range of films & Tv to watch although it was hard to sleep. We were only in Dubai for 2hrs between flights so we just had time to get to the new terminal on the train before sitting again in the departure lounge for the 4 hour flight to Larnaca in Cyprus.

Luckily the Immigration procedures were short & sweet, so we took a taxi into our hotel & were there by midday local time. It was nice that the locals drive on the left side as we do in Australia & the roads seemed well made & not too crowded.

The Hotel sits on one side of a cobbled triangular square with the ancient church of St Lazarus on one face & shops, café & hotels on the other sides. We were welcomed but told that our room wasn't ready so we went across to a café & had a satisfactory beer before returning to settle in to our clean & neat hotel room.

After a few hours dozing we walked down to the sea front to a promenade with bars & cafes for about 2 km, all of which seem to offer a range of foods at very reasonable prices. The beach faces due East & has an unusual slightly greeny looking compacted sand sloping at a very shallow angle into the sea. At the northern end there is a yacht marina & further north a harbour with container handling cranes etc.

Larnaca apparently has a very long history as a seaport but today is largely dependent on tourism. Most of these seem to be of our vintage mainly from the UK but others we think are Russian & other east Europeans. The pace of life seems quite gentle & many of the people speak excellent English & are polite & helpful.

Wednesday 2nd May

After a quiet but odd sort of a night we were up & out by 7.30 & after a short walk had breakfast at a café across the road. d*** had a full English for €5 & Jane settled for a croissant, which set us up for the day. Both were served with very freshly squeezed, tangy, orange juice which was excellent.

We then visited the Church of St Lazarus, opposite. This is a wonderful Orthodox church of Romanesque & Byzantine styles with an incredible interior including an east wall of large iconic pictures & most unusual high backed individual seating for the congregation.

Leaving the church we followed the back streets north & eventually came to the sea at the end of the yacht marina.

We had read about using the local buses from its station near the marina so we set out to find it. After back tracking we found it more by accident than design & bought our €5 day passes & caught a bus which took us to Kiti via the airport. Near the airport we passed a flock of flamingos wading in a large salt lake The other surprise to us was the neatness & modernity of the houses in the area. The driver thought we were mad but we just enjoyed the ride. On our return we had a drink & caught another bus which unfortunately also went via the airport.

Back home we had a rest & at about 5pm went across the road for a pizza & a beer before walking down to the sea & inspecting the small but impressive castle museum. We returned once more after a lovely day of exploring.

Friday 4th May

After a very impressive breakfast across the square we had to return some faulty sandals d*** had bought.

We walked down to the fort again to go on a walking tour of what turned out to be the former Turkish quarter of the town. Helena, the guide, took us through the narrow winding streets south of the fort & the Grand Mosque & tried to explain to us the complexities of property ownership & occupation of the housing. Although most are owned by Turkish Cypriots they have been occupied by Greek Cypriots who moved in since the partition of the island in the 1970s. At that stage some 150,000 left the Turkish held north & about 70,000 moved from the south which has created some problems for the place. We visited a couple of pottery workshops but were not very tempted by the wares.

After a 2 hour walk on a hot & humid morning we retired for a 'Frappe', a form of iced coffee & spoke to the lady owner of the café who told us of her life in Cyprus, England & the US.

Leaving the café we visited the Grand Mosque where the Mullah was chanting the call to prayer to about 5 men in a large carpeted room. His voice was beautiful & it was quite moving to hear it. On our way back we passed a jewellers shop which also sold modern icons in a range of sizes with a pantheon of saints to choose from. He told us he had 60,000 & we bought a small St George for ourselves.

We sat out on the balcony in front of the hotel & read before having a snooze & then visiting the Byzantine Museum next to the church. The collection of Icons & regalia was mainly from the 19th century but some icons dated to the 16th century. Th weather seemed quite threatening & close but we walked to the sea front to find where we need to catch the intercity bus tomorrow to Nicosia.

Later we had dinner at a kebab house but the amount of food was too much for us & we retreated back to the hotel for an early night.