[Thursday 24 November 2016]
Cyprus — Round trip, including Nicosia and Larnaca
The Annabelle, Λεωφόρος Ποσειδώνoς, Paphos, Cyprus
07:45 Round Trip, Cyprus
Logged on to the internet, with user-name and password. Checked e-mail accounts (06:05). Transferred 130 photos from my camera to the
WD Elements HDD (06:09–06:14). Janet called me into the bathroom, where she pointed out the mosquito. I tried to swat it, but it flew off. On the second attempt, I despatched it, decorating the top of the mirror with its disembowelled smear. Looked at the photos with
Windows Photo Viewer and rotated five of them that needed it (06:20–06:23). I shaved and showered when
Janet vacated the bathroom. We went for breakfast, ca.7am; then after going back to the room to pick up what we needed, we left the Annabelle Hotel
ca.7.40am, crossing the road and turning right to walk up it a short way, to outside the Tourist Information Centre. There was another couple, German, already waiting there. A dolmuş-style vehicle approached and stopped, and we boarded. We picked up more people at a couple of other hotels before proceeding east along the coast road. The guide introduced herself, but I can’t remember her name. After ½-hour we stopped at a viewpoint, where we got out and looked back west at Aphrodite’s Rock. It was hard to determine which one was being pointed out as
the rock. According to one tradition the goddess Aphrodite came ashore there on a shell wafted by the soft breezes of the Zephyrs, after her birth in the sea-foam (aphros) that was generated when Uranus was cut in two (or castrated) by Cronus his son and his lower part (or testes) fell into the sea. Supposedly if you swim around it three times you’ll be blessed with eternal beauty (or, find true love; or, become fertile). There were stories attached to some of the other rocks also.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 08:24:58
One of these is Aphrodite’s Rock.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 08:24:58 (detail)
Aphrodite’s Rock (the largest one, according to many of the photos that I’ve seen; but if so, how would one swim
around it?)
Friday 25 November 2016 — 08:25:36
The sea below the cliff, on which I was standing
We resumed our journey, and after a while, turned left and headed up northwards into the hills, stopping for some free time at a village called Omodos. We got out of the vehicle on the outskirts, and were escorted as far as the village centre; and
Janet and I walked down the cobbled main street, lined with “touristy” shops, cafés and restaurants, as far as the Monastery of the Holy Cross at its southern end.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 09:10:24
Monastery of the Holy Cross, Omodos
Friday 25 November 2016 — 09:10:44
Monument to Abbot Dositheos, decapitated with others by the Turks on 10 July 1921
Friday 25 November 2016 — 09:10:44 (detail 1)
Bust of Abbot Dositheos
Friday 25 November 2016 — 09:10:44 (detail 2)
“Dositheos, Abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Cross, Omodos, slaughtered on 10 July 1921 by the Turks’ ‘Greek War of Independence’”
Friday 25 November 2016 — 09:11:00
“The Monastery of the Holy Cross, 210 A.D.”
Friday 25 November 2016 — 09:11:30
Monastery of the Holy Cross: entrance arch and the church beyond it
Friday 25 November 2016 — 09:11:30 (detail)
Monastery of the Holy Cross: holy cross icon and church door
There was a sign forbidding photography, which I respected in the church itself; but I risked a photo of the cloister.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 09:12:26
Monastery of the Holy Cross: cloister
Church of the Holy Cross: photo from Wikipedia
We then went to a nearby café, where Janet had a 7 Up Free. I had a Cyprus coffee, medium-sweet (“μέτριο”), served with a glass of water. We were also given little glasses of dark-amber coloured, local, fortified sweet wine, “κουμανδαρία” (“Commanderia”), named after the region in the southern slopes of the Troödos mountains that we were in. Because
Janet doesn’t drink alcohol, I had hers as well as mine. Janet bought some confectionery at one of the shops nearby, before we went back to the vehicle.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 09:24:54
Omodos: drinks in a café
Friday 25 November 2016 — 09:32:24
Omodos: in a café
Friday 25 November 2016 — 09:45:58
Omodos: making our way back to the vehicle
We resumed our journey, eastwards then winding northwards through the Troödos Mountains.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 10:11:18
Views from the vehicle: Troödos Mountains
Friday 25 November 2016 — 10:14:54
Views from the vehicle: Troödos Mountains
Just beyond the village of Galata, still in the mountains, we stopped to visit a little church. The sign said “ΠΑΝΑΓΙΑ[i] ΠΟΔΙΘΟΥ”. but I later found that that referred to the slightly larger church down the lane; we went to a smaller one close by, the Chapel of the Archangel Michael (with a dedication also to the Virgin Mary), just off to the left as we entered the lane.
- [i] “Παναγία”, “all-holy”, is a Greek title of the Virgin Mary.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 10:36:18
Signpost to “ΠΑΝΑΓΙΑ ΠΟΔΙΘΟΥ”
Friday 25 November 2016 — 10:37:22
Chapel of the Archangel Michael
Friday 25 November 2016 — 10:37:22 (edited detail)
Chapel of the Archangel Michael
We had to stoop to get through the low door. There were three doors: a bit prodigal, I thought, for such a small building! Frustratingly, photography was not allowed inside. There were many frescoes in two rows, one above the other, around the walls. The guide introduced a man, who spoke to us about various features of the place. I noticed again the letters ΟΩΝ in the halo of Christ.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 11:01:54
Chapel of the Archangel Michael
Friday 25 November 2016 — 11:02:10
Chapel of the Archangel Michael
Friday 25 November 2016 — 11:02:10 (detail)
Chapel of the Archangel Michael
Friday 25 November 2016 — 11:02:30
Chapel of the Archangel Michael
Friday 25 November 2016 — 11:02:42
Olive trees, behind me in “11:02:30”
Friday 25 November 2016 — 11:04:10
The Church of Our Lady of Podithou, the one indicated by the signpost, farther down in the valley
We descended northwards out of the Troödos Mountains, then gradually turned eastwards, going through a plain, more or less parallel to the United Nations Buffer Zone. The guide issued to each of us a map of the southern part of Nicosia (in Greek, Λευκωσία (Lefkosía), the part not in Turkish hands.
The old town is encircled by a 16th century Venetian wall, with bastions at intervals, making it the shape of an eleven-pointed star. We were deposited behind Constanza, the eastern one of the two southern bastions, near the Bayraktar Mosque. The guide had circled this in blue on the map, as a landmark indicating where we were to rejoin the vehicle after our free time. She led us as far as the
Xefoto tavern/restaurant behind D’Avila, the western one of the two bastions.
Xefoto had in fact produced the map as a promotion; and that, in fact, was where
Janet and I decided to have lunch. Or I did; Janet just had a drink. She had a diet soft drink, and I a pint of beer, perhaps
Keo. (Not for the first or last time, we encountered the British-like phenomenon of serving beer in pints.) I ordered grilled halloumi in a pita. Strange stuff, halloumi: raw or grilled, it squeaks when you bite or chew it! — not audibly to those around, perhaps; but from the sound that’s transmitted through the skull to one’s ears.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 12:21:36
Xefoto tavern/restaurant
I saw the guide in there, and asked her about the letters ΟΩΝ in the halo of Christ. She said it was an abbreviation: Ο [ΥΠΑΡΧ]ΩΗ, “The
Present”,[ii] and she wrote it down.
- [ii] Ό ὑπάρχων “the present”: I think she meant it in the sense of “existing now” — not “the one nearby” (or even “the gift”!). The word used in Philippians 2:6 — “Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped…” — for “existing” is the same “ὑπάρχων”. It seemed strange to abbreviate the word by just retaining the last two letters, though. In other abbreviations, e.g. “IC XC”, “MP ΘΥ”, it’s the first and last letters which are retained.
I find more plausible the explanation, which I found afterwards, that it’s an abbreviation of the
LXX of Exodus 3:13: “Έγώ είμι Ό ΏΝ”, “I am THE ONE WHO IS” or “I am THE EXISTING ONE”.
Either way, the root meaning is the same.
She’d also marked on the map the main shopping street, Οδός Λήδρας (Odos Lidras, Ledra Street), which led to the checkpoint into the part of Lefkosía in the
de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus; so Janet and I found and walked along this as far as the checkpoint.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:01:06
Ledra Street
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:06:36
Sign on the wall, with the seal of Lefkosía at the top
“ΛΕΥΚΩΣΙΑ
“THE LAST DIVIDED CAPITAL
“LA DERNIERE CAPITALE DIVISEE
“DIE LETZTE GETEILTE HAUPSTADT”
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:08:34
Ledra Street: checkpoint
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:09:02
Ledra Street: checkpoint signpost in Greek, Turkish and English
Then we went off to the right, and looked in Panagia Phaneromeni (“the all-holy, the one who appeared”) Church.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:12:32
Panagia Phaneromeni Church
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:13:14
“Panagia Phaneromeni Church”
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:14:30
Mosaic icon at the entrance of Panagia Phaneromeni Church
“Ο Ευαγγελισμός“, ”The Annunciation”…
“Ο Αρ[χάγγελος] Γαβριήλ”, “The Archangel Gabriel”
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:14:02
Mosaic icon at the entrance of Panagia Phaneromeni Church
…“της Θεοτόκου”, “to the God-Bearer”
“Μ[ήτη]ρ [του] Θ[εο]ύ”, “Mother of God”
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:16:00
Panagia Phaneromeni Church
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:16:24
Panagia Phaneromeni Church
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:16:38
Panagia Phaneromeni Church
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:17:32
Panagia Phaneromeni Church
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:18:24
Panagia Phaneromeni Church
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:18:52
Panagia Phaneromeni Church: God the Father, with a triangular halo (=Trinity)
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:19:40
Panagia Phaneromeni Church: (left:) “Αγία Αικατερίνα” “Saint Catherine” with the wheel
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:22:54
Panagia Phaneromeni Church
I had in mind also to visit the Church of Trypiotis, south of the church we’d just visited; but I lost my bearings. And time was running too short to risk losing our way. We got back to near D’Avila Bastion, though, with some 25 minutes to spare.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 13:33:40
D’Avila Bastion
So we went back to Xefoto for a drink. I just had a ½-pint of beer this time (because I didn’t want to need to pee after we’d resumed our journey) and
Janet a diet soft drink. Then we went back to join the vehicle behind the Constanza Bastion. The next stage of the trip took us south-east to Larnaca, where we were led to the Church of Saint Lazarus, before being given free time. There’s no Biblical information about Lazarus after the death and resurrection of the Lord, but Orthodox tradition has it that he fled for his life from Judea and came to Cyprus. When Paul and Barnabas (himself from Cyprus) visited the island they appointed Lazarus the first Bishop of what’s now Larnaca, where he lived for thirty more years. The Church of Saint Lazarus was built over his second tomb (his first only having been occupied temporarily!).
Friday 25 November 2016 — 14:55:46
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 14:57:16
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 14:57:58
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 14:58:48
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:00:04
Church of Saint Lazarus: entrance
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:01:28
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:01:46
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:02:04
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:03:04
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:03:26
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:04:02
Church of Saint Lazarus: (rear:) iconostasis; (near right:) reliquary (see “15:14:20”)
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:05:32
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:06:00
Church of Saint Lazarus: the way down to the tomb of Lazarus
I went down into the crypt. There was a niche, in front of which was an icon depicting the resurrection of Lazarus; and I wondered whether that was the supposed place where his body
lay.[iii]
- [iii] His remains were later transferred to Constantinople, and thence to Marseilles, from where they disappeared.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:06:30
Church of Saint Lazarus: crypt
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:07:00
Church of Saint Lazarus: crypt — niche (Lazarus’ burial place?)
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:09:52
Church of Saint Lazarus: crypt — icon: the resurrection of Lazarus
Elsewhere down there, there were two or three opened sarcophagi, none identified as that of Lazarus.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:07:40
Church of Saint Lazarus: crypt
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:07:48
Church of Saint Lazarus: crypt
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:09:08
Church of Saint Lazarus: crypt — opened sarcophagi
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:10:46
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:10:58
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:11:14
Church of Saint Lazarus
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:11:58
Church of Saint Lazarus
In the main part of the church, not far back from the iconostasis, there was a silver reliquary containing what looked like leg and other
bones.[iv]
- [iv] I wonder whether these were the same relics as those mentioned in
Wikipedia:
-
- During… renovations of the church, on November 2, 1972, human remains were discovered in a marble sarcophagus under the altar, and were identified as part of the saint's relics (not all having been removed to Constantinople, apparently).
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:14:20
Church of Saint Lazarus: reliquary
“Η κοίμησις του Αγίου Λαζάρου”, “The assumption of Saint Lazarus”
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:14:20 (edited detail)
Church of Saint Lazarus: reliquary
“Η κοίμησις του Αγίου Λαζάρου”, “The assumption of Saint Lazarus”
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:15:34
Church of Saint Lazarus: reliquary
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:17:22
Church of Saint Lazarus
Janet and I went for drinks to a bar just across the square from there,
Da Vinci Café-Bar. Above the bar it had reproductions of details from Da Vinci paintings, including, as one would expect, “Mona Lisa”, but also something I only came across recently
(21
September 2016): a “Madonna Lactans” or “Γαλακτοτροφούσα”.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:26:38
Da Vinci Café-Bar
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:27:10
Da Vinci Café-Bar: detail from “Madonna Litta”, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci,
ca.1490
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:36:04
Da Vinci Café-Bar: one of the Christmas decorations, more “Saint Nicholas”-like than “Father Christmas”-like
After setting out to go back to Kato Paphos we skirted by Larnaca Salt Lake, where formerly salt used to be harvested after the summer evaporation. It is the habitat of many species of water birds, we were told, and flamingos winter there. Indeed, we saw some of the latter, and stopped briefly for photos.
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:53:08
Flamingo on Larnaca Salt Lake
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:53:52
Adult flamingo and two juveniles on Larnaca Salt Lake
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:53:52 (detail 1)
Adult flamingo on Larnaca Salt Lake
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:53:52 (detail 2)
Two juvenile flamingos on Larnaca Salt Lake
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:54:46
Seen from the vehicle: mosque on the far side of Larnaca Salt Lake, the shrine of Umm Haram, Muhammad’s wet nurse
Friday 25 November 2016 — 15:54:46 (detail)
Seen from the vehicle: mosque on the far side of Larnaca Salt Lake, the shrine of Umm Haram, Muhammad’s wet nurse
Our journey back took us through Limassol, or Lemesos / Λεμεσός, as the road signs say. We got back to the hotel
ca.5.45pm. Janet had found the seating in the dolmuş–style vehicle a little cramped and back at the hotel had sciatica-pain in her left leg. Back in the room, I transferred 69 photos from my camera to the
WD Elements HDD (17:56–17:59). Looked at them with Windows Photo Viewer and rotated 26 photos that needed it (18:01–18:05). We went down for dinner at 6.30pm. We were in bed,
ca.8.15pm.
[Saturday 26 November 2016]
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