2020-01-31 Day 445 Fri



We took the inland route back to Tepebasi. The route up to the white road on the ridge top was a little out of our way.
Saw a triangular hill which we think was natural, in fact the road deviated around it.
Next we stopped to have a look at this old church and monastery.

Half way up we perched on a switchback looking out at the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Here we had some internet with our Cypriot SIM.

I chatted to Ngaire and got some of our Tahiti photos up on the shared album.









The drive along the top of the hill had wonderful views and was not well used. Although white on our map it was sealed but very narrow. 



 




 We stopped at some information boards and learnt the Turkish side of the conflict.




There is also a tank which was damaged with a land mine and shunted off the road to allow others to pass. It has been made into a monument.


At the end of this fantastic little road we noticed a castle.
The Blue Med and the ferry we would travel on bak to mainland turkey that night
 We stopped and although late in the day we still had 1.5 hours to explore. 


 












 



What a wonderfully preserved place St Hilarion castle was.


Prince John's Tower




























The views were stunning











It was in 3 sections with 2 royal apartments. The Royal apartment on the West side would have been amazing. It was two storied and although some of its west wall was missing one could still envisage it. 
A huge room with arched ceiling .
Upstairs many and varied windows looking out over the valley and the NW tip of western Cyprus. I assume upstairs was divided into rooms but internal walls and roof was missing.



Very much worth the visit.












Next down into Kyrenia/ Girme where we picked up our ferry tickets. I even got a refund for the cabin I could not book.
The castle sadly was closed so missed out on that.
We drove to a restaurant and sat there for the rest of our time drinking wine and eating some nibbles.
At 21:00 we lined up about 4 from the gate but realized we needed to get out and line up at the passport control. Got our passports stamped and at the customs they did not like that our “visa” was out of date. We were told to go over to the other building and talk to the boss. We did this a young English speaking customs official helped to tell boss lady what had happened. The young lady said oh maybe the other Customs officials were new and didn’t know. She did mention twice that it was not our fault. Boss lady after a phone call wrote a few sentenceson the bottom of the form and we were gone from there. Back at Police control John drove through as I showed our PP stamp then I returned to customs window, the lady was not too pleased with the writing but I did get a smile from her in the end. All good. I was given a form to hand to the loading guys at the ship. Now where? There were cars and trucks parked everywhere. We did realize that some were here already before the gates opened so we drove down the wharf passed all the trucks to the ship Via Mare. Here we stopped at the ramp but were told to park. We did so. I made tea to fill our bottles for the night ahead. It was already 23:00 so I lay on the bed and got a couple hours sleep before we were told to load. 
 
Again we went up a deck on the lift with two other small vehicles. Such a slow process. We were parked out under the stars end the aft of the ship.
We cracked the windows and with the lid down, lay under the quilt in clothes for the night. She did roll once or twice but a good crossing.


 76km Camp site  4m alt.

2020-01-30 Day 444 Thu

We decided that we’d give this Western border crossing a go. Would save us some mileage. A new road and new buildings. We were the only car there. The guys were friendly, Looking through our passports the guy noticed that we had recently flown into Larnaca. I then explained where we had been, showed him our insurance for the occupied side and showed the parking receipt at customs. All was good. He did not stamp our passport and customs had a quick look. Onto the occupied territories “control point”. 
He also wanted to see our insurance and rego. All went very well but we did not get the feeling it was right. I then went back to ask how long we had and he checked the computer and said 30 days. We shrugged and kept going. Something is not right as we do not have a transit visa just the expired 10 day tourist visa. Will sort later. 

We drove on out to the NW point on sealed roads, just the last few kms on dirt (rocks). We stopped at one large town to buy a sim card but the system was down. We stopped or at least drove through every name on the map trying to buy a SIM, but they were not available. 



The path starts here to the NE tip of Kibris. See blog on the 22 Dec 2019 for corresponding photo of NE tip
Very barren on this exposed NW tip of Kibris

The sun shone for a short time while I made lunch then the clouds closed in.

Went for a short walk over the rough rocks. These must be very hardy flowers to survive here.






The sea was still a bit angry and looked great rolling up on the jagged rocks. We parked close to the water on a very exposed “beach”

A little rain now and then but not much.  The wind and waves increased through the night.

78km Camp site  5m alt.




2020-01-29 Day 443 Wed


 A rainbow of Agios Georgios an old church. The rains finally stopped and we headed inland towards the border to the occupied area.












We drove through little villages and up and over the hills again.There can’t have been much of interest to see as we took no photos.
We found a camp on top of a rise looking towards the border to the occupied area.

111km Camp site  524m alt.

2020-01-28 Day 442 Tue


 
















 
Walked around the Sanctuary of Apollo. 

Quiet a large area with one small piece remodeled to show the size and grandeur of these buildings.




Most buildings in this area were dismantled by a large earthquake in 4th century AD.
 















 











A rather unusual shaped urn.













Back to Paphos and the Agora.

We had a quck sandwich in EC then in wet weather gear trode out to investigate. 

We visited the fort of Paphos Which now is part of the modern breakwater.




 Then into the Agora.


 
 



Here we were met with some of the most magnificent Mosaics found in the ancient world.
One house had about 10 in it. large intricate ones some still in very good condition. Amazing that they are still here 1700 years later. I guess the destruction of the house in the earthquake preserved them.

They are now housed in a complete building to preserve them and to display then safely.





















 






 Some of the geometric patterns were quite astonishing.
All made with small squared colored tiles and over 2000 years ago.
















 As seen these are still outside in the weather but have been preserved.







































Thye Saranta Kolones Castle on site had been an impressive building as well.





Next out to Agios Georgios and cape Drepanuni for the night.
Camped just above the water looking out at the island which in the olden days was part of the headland and has the remains of a town on it (Yeronissos)It has been well preserved as it is remote and hard to get to.

75km Camp site  5m alt.