Kantara Castle....

It's been an amazing day......

Equipped with passports, our new friends took us to to the north east of the island today, to Famagusta and Kantara. We couldn't cross the border in our hire car and even our friends needed insurance to do this journey. The difference between the Turkish and Greek side of Cyprus is quite noticeable and I learnt A LOT about the history of the country today. Vast areas of land remain abandoned and ghost like behind fences since the 1974 war and were in stark contrast to the luxury hotels and beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear water. 

Then onwards and upwards on very steep windy and narrow roads to Kantara where our friends left us to climb the heights of the castle. The castle is planted on a group of steep cliffs and goes back to the 10th century and the time when Richard the Lionheart captured Cyprus. It provided a natural defence of the Kyrenia range and the views from the top are magnificent, although of course that was minor to its original task as a lookout post. 

There were some tricky rocks to negotiate and steep steps to climb but it was so worth it.

We took a less windy way down and had a delicious lunch of very fresh sea bass before driving back across the border and home The guards gave us little trouble. Think we looked pretty harmless...

So very grateful for the introduction to these new friends and for the very happy day we have had with them.