Larnaca & Landa Beach

May 25 - 26 2024

May 25, 2024
We plan to take it easy in Cyprus - seeing less sights day-to-day - and recover a bit from our Turkey month and pace ourselves since it's gonna be a long Summer of traveling.

Today our only quarry is seeing Larnaca.

"Larnaca is known for its palm-tree seafront as well as the Church of Saint Lazarus, Hala Sultan Tekke, Kamares Aqueduct, and Larnaca Castle. It is built on the ruins of ancient Citium, which was the birthplace of Stoic philosopher Zeno. Larnaca is home to the country's primary airport, Larnaca International Airport. It also has a seaport and a marina."

​This rally happened here 10 days ago - maybe next time.

Lunch is happening now...

We found a nice laid back restaurant on the beach - we call it the "Shrimp Basket" of Cyprus - it reminded us of a small chain back in Florida, although a smidgeon more upscale.

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The sand here is pretty compact and gritty, it's no Florida Emerald Coast, but, hey, it's sand versus rocks.

Anchored just off shore - it's a curious place for a cruise ship, not your typical port-of-call for such ships...

"The Church of Saint Lazarus is a late-9th century Greek Orthodox church.  It is named for New Testament figure Lazarus of Bethany, the subject of a miracle recounted in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus raises him from the dead. According to Eastern Orthodox tradition, sometime after the Resurrection of Jesus, Lazarus was forced to flee Judea because of rumored plots on his life and came to Cyprus. There he was appointed by Paul the Apostle and Barnabas as the first Bishop of Kition (now Larnaca).  He is said to have lived for thirty more years and on his death was buried there for the second and last time.  The Church of Agios Lazaros was built over the reputed second tomb of Lazarus."

They provide wraps so tourists like us may cover up our bare legs, while we visit the church.

"A fire in 1970 damaged much of the interior, including extensive damage to a section of the iconostasis together with the corresponding icons. The iconostasis has been partially restored and was re-plated with gold between 1972 and 1974. During the subsequent 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 Lazurus's relics (not all having been removed to Constantinople in 898 A.D., apparently)."

Back outside the church we find this relief carving - Tim thinks it's a cat, Gerri a horse, what do you think?

​Dami Kebir Mosque

There's that cruise ship again - Gerri's cruise ship tracker app says it's the "Brilliant Lady".

"Virgin Voyages, Sept 7 2023, announced its fourth ship of the class, the Brilliant Lady, will face a delayed introduction.  “Despite careful planning, we are facing unexpected construction, supply chain and staffing challenges that have delayed the introduction of Brilliant Lady,” the company said in a statement.

Originally set to launch later this year, the ship’s launch date will be determined soon, the company said."

​Apparently it's being "stashed" here for this year, with no sailings scheduled until sometime next year.

​May 26, 2024

Today we finally do a beach, a half hour west of Larnaca - and the sand is fairly pleasant.  This is Landa Beach, one of the nicer beaches in Cyprus.  We were supposed to go to Nissi Beach, but there parking lot was full, so we continued down to the next beach.

The amenities are city run - and the prices are very nice.

Yeah, even Tim is enjoying the beach today.

Now at the supermarket to get some stuff that will have us avoid eating out tonight - shrimp pita's.