We hired a car again to explore more of the island!

Walking Konnos Bay to Ayia Napa

We walked over the peninsula to Sea Caves and walked further on along the coastline to Ayia Napa.

Not far after Sea Caves they have made a promenade.

It was very nice, but it is also very hard to walk on stones for a long time, so some parts of the promenade we walked along on a gravel road.

Some places they could have walked around with a hedge shears!

So many nice flower at this time of the year!

The view back to Sea Caves and Cape Greco.

And the view the other direction.

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Nearer to the sculpture park it was also sculptures along the sea.

An old bridge with colours and a fence covered with locks.

And a heart in the fence.

Bridge of lovers, close to Ayia Napa.

After the Bridge of Lovers you can walk along the beach, or you can walk up to the main road to the city center. In Ayia Napa we hired a car. It was not easy to find an open car rental, so we walked 11 km before we found an available car.

Nicosia

The next day we drove to Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus. And the only capital in the world which is divided in two by a fence. The history of Cyprus is pritty complicated, and it is very interesting listen to different storys, both from Greek-Cypriotic side and Turkish-Cypriotic side.

I am really not sure what this is, it looks very strange, but it is outside a art gallery, so it makes sence…

We found an archaeological site on the Greek side of the city. It is not very big, and it is not very old, it is from the 11th century.

What came first? The bus or the building??

One part of the fence on the Greek side.

Some old buildings on the Greek side.

Until 2004 it was not possible to cross the border between north and south, but today thousands of people does it, most of them turists. You need to bring your passport to cross the border, you will be checked both out of the Greek side and in to the Turkish side, and back again. They can also ask you if you bring alcohol or tobacco.

On the Turkish side it is typically Turkish shops and restaurants.

We sat down for a lunch before we explored the market.

And I found what I was looking for!! In Türkiye they have the best pear ever!! The name is Deveci Armutu (armutu is pear I think). We bought this in Marmaris after tasting it on the market. It is the best fruit I can get! The season is from October through the winter and the biggest one can be up to two kilo! They don`t have it on the Greek side, so I was so happy when I found it here. After this we went here three times to buy more!

Dyo Mouttes – Pavliades Trail

It was time to do some more exploring and hiking and we asked Hilde`s parents, Sigrun and Alf to join us for the next day. I found a nice trail at alltrails, about one hour from Ayia Napa.

We had to stop close to the town of Lefkara to take a photo from above.

Along the road there was some viewpoint so we had to stop up for a second!

This is the beginning of the Trodos-mountains, where you also can find the highest mountain on the island, Olympos. Unfortunately it is cold in the mountains at the moment and also snow, so we didn`t go there. But one day!!!

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Here you can see the firegate which stops the fire if it start to burn. The firegate can also be used as a trail.

The trail was amazing from the start.

The first kilometer it was flat, but then we had to climb up the hill

And it was better and better view!

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There were some viewpoints and benches so it was possible to sit down and enjoy the view!

It was really nice to have some company!

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Some uphill!

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It is time for a lunchbreak!

On the top of this mountain there is two peaks and we had our lunchstop on the first one and just a stop for the view on the other one. Both very beautiful. It was a little bit of wind this day, but up here it was perfect temperature for a hike!

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On the way down again

This is a nature trail with lots of information about what we see around. This tree had a natural death…

Amazing landscape to walk through!

Flowers everywhere!

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You can see Nicosia in the distance

It was possible to park where the trail started, but not place for many cars. We thought we were alone, but when we came back to the car there was an extra car there.

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Lefkara

After the hike we drove down to Lefkara where we stopped at the way to the hike. Sigrun and Alf had been there before so they had some information about the place. I will really recommend you to park the car at the first parking place you can find. Don`t try to drive through the town center… we tried..

Lefkara is known for all of its embroidery shops. Some ladies sat outside in the street, and one of them was making “hardangersøm”, which comes from Norway!!

So idyllic place!

It was time for an icecream! And since my mother sent me a snap with a photo of my father shoveling snow back home in Norway, I had to send her a photo from our day with sun and nice temperature!

A lot of narrow streets!

The church were it was a funeral that day, so we didn`t go inside the church.

A cat outside the church

Really beautiful place to walk around.

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Lefkara view from the main road

Almond tree

Thanks to Sigrun and Alf who wanted to come with us on this hike! You know, when you are alone, just the two of us, most of the days, in the boat… it is so nice to be together with other people sometimes!