LARNACA

04 – 05 April 2024

It was a bumpy start to the holiday with heavily backed-up traffic en route to the airport (fortunately we had left early so this was little more than a minor inconvenience) and a power failure at OR Tambo shortly after our arrival.

Besides sitting in the near-darkness in the lounge, it meant that the check-in computers weren’t working. The manual process took considerably longer and with our seats being upfront and the embarkation being managed in blocks from the back seats first, we finally got to our seats about an hour behind schedule.

To top it off, the pilot shared the disconcerting news that 81 pieces of luggage were unaccounted for. It took another couple of hours to locate and load those… and then we were finally off.

The delay in take-off required a very hasty flit between terminals in Dubai to catch our connecting flight. The planned 3-hour stop worked in our favour and we arrived at the gate almost in synchronicity with the start of boarding.

We both managed to get some shut-eye on the second flight and felt almost human when we landed and collected our rental car to start our holiday.

The airport was really close to the city of Larnaca so barely 10 minutes later we arrived in our new neighbourhood.

Our hotel, White 11, was one road in from the beach and by stroke of good fortune, had the unmissable Medieval Fort at the end of said road as landmark to help us find our way back from our adventures.

We were soon to find that the Medieval Fort was the meeting point of the Finikoudes promenade that stretched out to the left (toward the town centre) and Piale Pasa promenade to the right (lined with restaurants). We decided that first order of business was to stroll each, to get our bearings.

A short distance along Piale Pashia revealed that we were in for a culinary treat this trip with an amazing selection of seafood platters and set menu meals for a very reasonable (relatively speaking, compared to our previous European trips) €30 for 2 people.

Comforted that we would be spoilt for choice for dinner, we did a U-turn to hit Finikoudes Promenade to start ticking off some of the sights and cultural drawcards of Larnaca. This would require a Tourist Office to get a map; both easily achieved, although by now it was well after 15h00 so we’d have to motor to see some things with most already closed or closing soon for the day.

The Archeological Museum was still open so we poked a nose in.

Larnaca, which was originally known as Kition, is the oldest city in Cyprus, having been founded by the Greeks in the 14th century BC and continuously inhabited for some 6000 years ago. It was known as Salines in Medieval times because of the salt lakes on the edge of the city, and only became Larnaca in the 18th century. This name was from the Greek word ‘larnax’ meaning ‘sarcophagus’ because of the numerous excavations.

Larnaca was an important commerce centre of copper before being used as a fort by the Phoenicians. Besides the archeological treasures, monuments and churches, Larnaca is now known for its beaches and accessibility via its international airport.

After our whirlwind ‘7000 years in 15 minutes’ tour, we made our way to the Archeological Site of Kition. Although only 15h45, the 16h00 closing time was already being observed. A shame really, since 15 minutes would have no doubt been more than enough time for us.

Still, it was very pleasant to retrace our steps along the commercial beachfront, with the hotels and restaurant chains (a combination of local and all the major American fast food chains) on the right and snack bar and curio pop-up shops on the left, on the edge of the beach.

Being Spring in Cyprus, it was warm (maybe 22 degrees) with a light cool breeze coming off the sea. This accounted for an amusing mix of some people in bathing suits and others in long pants and jumpers. We were in shorts and slops and doing well until after we stopped for our sundowner (at a Rock bar called Savino to log a €6 pint on our Guinness Index) whereafter we could have used closed shoes.

It wasn’t serious enough a situation to warrant a return to the hotel. But we did change our dinner choice.

The mission to find the rock bar had revealed a lively area one block in from the seafront. The vibe and the shelter from the sea breeze made for a far more sustainable evening.

We picked a kebab restaurant called Takis based on a cursory scan of the customers who, to us, looked like locals. The hostess offered us a cosy table for 2 inside and our fate was sealed.

We were served menus with a tableful of complementary small meze plates and warm toasted pita strips. We nibbled on the feta, cured bacon, tzatziki, spicy beans and a local delicacy called kolokasi (Taro root), while avoiding the very salty olives.

We ordered kebabs in pita for mains, to be washed down with a shared quart of KEO local lager. My sheftalia (herby pork sausage) and marinated pork mix was sublime! Chris had the chicken wrapped in bacon, which was also a guaranteed win. The pitas were enormous and not an easy ‘pick up and eat’, so we stole glances at how others were managing them and lent from their experience. My favoured method was tearing bits from the top of the pita to fill and make mini bitesize pockets of goodness.

We were surprised and delighted with complementary dessert pastries as well. Crunchy syrupy 2-bite pie with an unrecognisable and delicious spongy centre.

Exhausted from our trip and Day One exploring, we made our way back to the hotel. As tired as we were, we wished we had a little further to walk off the massive dinner!

FRIDAY

Using our Strava sports app as our guide, Chris mapped a 6km running route to start the day off right.

In no particular hurry, we stopped a few times to take snaps of interesting things and to admire the blue ocean and Larnaca’s shoreline.

We also spotted a small church square a couple of blocks from our hotel, which had a selection of bakeries. We decided that we’d need to return at the end of our run to reward ourselves with breakfast pastries. We did so and drooled over the choices in Artemis bakery! Having so enjoyed our dinner the previous night, we banked on sheftalia and feta pie being a sure-fire hit. And it was!

With just enough fuel in our tanks to see us through to lunch, we showered and hit the road for Ayia Napa, 41km down the coast.

Our neighbouring town had become famed as a Brits Abroad party and holiday destination. From the very arrival it was chalk-and-cheese with our homebase. New, slick and glossy, we could have been anywhere in the world. Wide golden sidewalks with shiny silver bollards preserving the walkways for the pedestrians that must stream to and from the beaches in the summer months.

Our tourist map (from the Larnaca tourist office the day before) had revealed that our places of interest were concentrated in the town centre, around Seferis Square. We located a parking lot and stowed the car so we could start our self-guided walking tour.

First photo was at the huge ‘Love Ayia Napa’ sculpture, which most certainly would make it into the holiday album. It was outside the Medieval Monastery, so an easy ‘two-fer’ on the To See list. We were unable to enter the 14th century monastery as it was being transformed (slowly by the looks of things) into a museum.

Then it was up the short hill (which in itself could have been marked on the map since this neck of the woods was so flat!) to what was marked as ‘Local Delicacies’ so we were expecting a market of sorts. Not so, it was 2 locally-legendary tavernas, the older of which was established in 1976 so got itself a photo anyway since we could both relate to the auspicious year.

The next stop, the Ayia Napa Aquaduct, was a little more tricky since it was not on a road marked on the map and very few of the roads had any signage so there was high risk of taking a wrong turn. We persevered and found the walking path to the historic construction.

Having seen several aqueducts around the world on our travels, we were no less amazed at the simple but effective technology that these civilisations were using over a thousand years ago… meanwhile back home the current-day government was struggling to literally keep water flowing through our taps!

Then it was back the way we came, down to the Liminaki port and Fishing Shelter where we’d initially planned on lunching. Being on a bit of a roll with sightseeing, we decided instead to drive to the nearby Sea Cave and Love Bridge that we’d planned as an after-lunch walk. We would then eat at either Nissi Beach (listed as one of the Top 25 most beautiful beaches in the world) or Makronissos Beach which paired with a necropolis archeological site of underground tombs.

It was not to be. Once again, our tyre curse struck. When we returned to the car, we discovered we had a flattish front right. This was a fully-flat tyre by the time we got to the nearest petrol station. Pumping with air didn’t help, so Chris set to work changing the tyre.