Beautiful Day!

 05-28-21 Friday

It's a beautiful day here in Larnaca!  Clear blue skies and the promise of new adventures! I have time in the morning for yoga and adding photos to yesterday's blog before I wake Ammar for breakfast, up on the sixth floor.  We're the only guests up there for most of our meal.  It is a buffet (like in the good old days!) with everything I've come to expect in this part of the world.  Several kinds of meats and cheeses, cucumbers and tomatoes, mushrooms, beans, cooked tomatoes, pork sausage, scrambled eggs, bacon, lots of pastries, including pain au chocolat, other breads, fresh orange juice, a magic coffee machine and fresh fruit!!  The young lady tells us we can also have fried eggs or an omelet!!  Afterwards Ammar asks if she has espresso and the tiny cup of  instant wake-up juice appears.

Back in our room we gather our things and head out for the morning.  We're going exploring!

First we head to the beach to see the ships in the marina and walk along the promenade lined with palm trees.  Our driver last night told us that the Avenue is named Athena but that everyone calls it by the Greek work for palm tree!  I want to see the medieval castle and Ammar heads out, knowing that it must be strategically located on the water and, sure enough, we walk right to it.

                                    Zeno of Kition, the ancient seaport on which Larnaca is built.

At times in its history it has been a fort and a prison.  We even see the place where the gallows were.  Shudder!  And from the top we can see the the gorgeous water and feel the breeze. And there's a small museum, too.

Next to the castle is the Grand Mosque (Larnaca).  It isn't open, but there is a small graveyard beside it.

And there is so much to see as we walk along!

Just down the road is the church of St. Lazarus, built in the late 9th century. It's considered one of the most remarkable examples of Byzantine architecture in all of Cyprus.   

We wander the narrow streets and take in all the local sites before heading back to our hotel to cool off.  I have no idea where the hotel is, other than a vague direction, which doesn't help after the first couple of twists and turns!  Luckily for me, I'm with a professional!  

                                                                Everyone feeds the cats!

Back in our room, the charming housekeepers straighten our bed and bring us fresh coffee cups and Nescafe.  Ammar has brought Jordanian coffee with cardamon!  Yum!

Cold water from our baby fridge!  Yes, it's quite warm in Cyprus in May!  Not quite as hot as home;  but darn near!

It is so pleasant to sit out on our balcony with coffee or water and watch the world go by for a while! Here's what we see directly across the street and looking toward the water.

Ammar has to keep up with his business, so that gives me time to keep up with my blog!  Luckily he can work from anywhere!

I succumbed to the Trip Advisor lure and selected tonight's restaurant.  Let's see if I do as good a job as Ammar did yesterday by soliciting advice from our cab driver!  Best laid plans and all that!  We change our minds while we're walking and decide it's a steak night!  

                                                     Poor baby is quit concerned about this toy!

About that time we come to a steakhouse right on the Promenade and choose an outdoor table.  Truth too tell, they're all outdoor tables!  But the menu contains not one steak!  I'm pretty taken by the chicken kabobs, but Ammar wants a steak for real and asks the waitress why we can't find them!  Turns out the steakhouse is upstairs, so up we go!  

The outdoor seating gives a great view of the water and the beach.  And there is a little amusement area in the adjacent Castle Square.  It even has a carousel!

There's a lovely view of the water and an earnest and charming young thing explains the differences among the various offerings.  After our orders are placed the tasty little rolls appear, accompanied by two spreads, a sun-dried tomato one and an olive paste that it so marvelous we have to ask the ingredients.  Ammar wants to make some when he gets home and so do I!  Olives and mayonnaise are what our server remembers;  but I suspect there must be something more. 

At any rate, our steaks appear and they are perfect!  We had promised to vacate our table by eight o'clock and we're ready to move out by seven thirty.  I'm hoping that sunset might do something wonderful to the castle, so we head that way.  Well, there's a lot of stuff between us and the sun, so nothing spectacular happens.  And the church isn't any better.  Oh well, we really needed the walk!

Maybe we didn't quite need this much of a walk.  Someone has moved our hotel!  A lot of sightseeing and two helpful strangers later and we're finally home, and feeling much less guilty about the sauces on our steaks!  Tomorrow we might get Thai massages!