Timeless

Today we drove through the Kyrenia/Five Finger Mountains on the new road and across the Mesarya Ovasi (the Mesaoria Plain) where stubble fields and large round bales stretched way into the distance. This is the bread basket of the island.

We eventually reached Gazimagusa (Famagusta) and spent time in the old walled city visiting the Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque, formerly the Gothic St Nicholas Cathedral. Its foundation stone was laid in 1298 and it became a mosque in 1571.
A and I donated a few Turkish Lire, removed our shoes and donned shawls over our bare arms and went inside. Except for the prayer mat carpet facing southwards towards Mecca and a few Islamic items, the bare interior still remained as an early cathedral with pillars and aisles and a vaulted roof. The windows, instead of stained glass, were filled with fine tracery. Afterwards we drank Turkish coffee (ugh!) and chai in a very smart patisserie near the square and were deafened by the midday call to prayer as it came thundering out of a nearby loud speaker.

The University of the Eastern Mediterranean is situated in Famagusta. A large area of the city along the beach is still designated as no man's land and there are many hotels and large buildings comletely derelict and rapidly decaying.

We then took the coast road northwards and stopped at Salamis for a swim in the Syrian Sea before lunch. Unbelievable to think of the troubles across the short stretch of water in Syria. Later we toured the Roman ruins. Excavations have found that the original inhabitants were there in the 11 C BC, long before the Romans. The site was devoid of tourist hype and after paying a few TL and looking at a basic map we walked through the long grass and through bushes to the amphitheatre, the baths, admired tall marble pillars and headless statues in solitude except for the darting of the occasional lizard.

I chose this photograph for a blip because there were so many others of statues and pillars and this has an air of timelessness about it. A weather pitted limestone resting in the sun. I love its shape.