Cyprus the island of Apphrodite

Cyprus, the island of Aphrodite is a hidden gem of the Mediterranean Sea. With golden sand and clear water, it’s impossible to not fall in love with this island country!

Let me tell you some curiosities that I found interesting!

The capital of Cyprus, Nicosia, is the only capital in the World, which is divided into North and South, being the North controlled by Turkey and the South by Greece. It is possible to visit both parts but you need to cross a pedestrian border, in which you need to show your passport or Identity card. In North Cyprus is now possible to visit the Gosh town of Varosha, which was one of the most developed and touristic areas before the Turkish invasion of 1974. Finally, the island has more cats than people!

Visit North of Cyprus

Visiting Cyprus is like visiting two different countries: Turkey and Greece. I must say I was really curious to visit the North part since I have never been to Turkey. Let me start to talk about Famagusta, wich is located in the neighbourhood of Varosha. Here we visited the St. Nicholas Cathedral (Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque) and we walked around the city before heading to Varosha.

In Varosha, we rented a bicycle to explore the neighbourhood since it is quite big and it was the best thing we did! We also took some time to be at the beach with golden sand and clear water.

Riding a bicycle in Varosha (as you can see the buildings look abandoned)

After Varosha we headed to Nicosia and visited the Büyük Han, which is a caravanserai (place for travellers to rest). Nowadays you can find a lot of shops there and art galleries.

Another place I really liked was Kyrenia, a coastal city in the North of Cyprus. It is perfect to see the sunset and have dinner.

While walking around Kyrenia we passed near a Mosque and I saw this man outside and I couldn’t resist asking If I could take a picture. I asked his name and took this picture. It turned out pretty well.

South of Cyprus

Paphos

We landed in Larnaca but it was in Pafos that we started discovering the island. What I most enjoyed was swimming in the blue lagoon and the path we did to get there.

Omodos

What if I tell you we prayed with a priest in a very very old church? We entered the church to see (pictures were not allowed) and then when I was leaving I said thank you in greek, which is Efkharistó and then he asked me how was it in my language. We then started translating some words into greek and Portuguese. After the priest said he wanted to pray with us. So he prayed in greek and we sang some greek church songs with him. I am not a religious person but I have to say it was a pleasant moment.

Larnaca

On the last day of our trip, we were discovering Larnaca.

My flight was at the end of the day, so before my flight I took one last dive in this amazing warm water. I took a shower at the beach and headed to the airport. I ended up not arriving in Lisbon on Sunday as planned because my flight to Athens got delayed, which made me lose my flight to Lisbon. The airline booked me a flight to Istambul at 4 am in the morning and my flight to Lisbon was at 7 am. I arrived to Lisbon and still had 3 hours and a half by bus until reaching my hometown (Mangualde).

Lessons learned on this trip:

Be grateful for what you have and for all the countries that you visited and for the opportunities you already had. Be patient, success doesn’t happen overnight.

Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it and that you learned something new! That’s my goal!