Our second day in northern Cyprus started off early with the Mediterranean version of a continental breakfast (not Danish and bagels), then we hit the road for the peninsula, the end of the island. On the way to the Apostolos Andreas Monastery, we noticed how fertile and green the land was, noting that the Turks probably got the best part of the island. There were many army bases along the way. We chose to take the road towards Farmagusto, and were a bit challenged by the names of the towns we drove through. So we started calling them by the first letter of the town. Y, Z, D town. George has a remarkable sense of direction. I couldn’t have done it without a GPS, but he’s like a bloodhound. Anytime we took a minor turn, he’d find the road we were meant to be on.

On the drive, we saw mosques, mostly with one or two minarets. In one town,there was a Greek Orthodox Church right next to a Mosque.

While driving on the peninsula there were about 3 turtle beaches, but we weren’t there at the right time to see any babies making their way to the water. We did see a lot of sheep and goats and a few female shepherds. It was still a little hazy from the dust, but a beautiful day to drive along the coast.

The closer we got the monastery the more construction we saw. The restoration of the roads is a combined effort from the EU and UN. The monastery was quite old. There were some icons and a section with wax and metal body parts for healing. There was a priest selling icons, but wouldn’t sell George the St. George icon he saw, but I took a photo. We all agreed that we’ve never seen so many St George’s.

On the way out, we saw a few wild donkeys on the road. There was a donkey preservation section, and wa la…donkeys. I was happy. Next we found a place to eat on the water, next to a church.

Next stop St Barnabas Monastery. St Barnabas was one of the founders of the independent Greek Orthodox church, and is the patron saint of Cyprus. He, was born in Salamis to a Jewish family who had emigrated from Syria to Cyprus. He was originally called Sosis. While undertaking a religious education in Jerusalem, Barnabas witnessed some of the miracles of Jesus, and in 33AD, he took up the faith of Jesus, and gave the family properties that he had inherited to the early church and the poor of Jerusalem. During a second visit to the island in 75AD, Barnabas was arrested and imprisoned in a Salamis synagogue. The same night, a mob of Syrians stoned him to death. His remains were wrapped in a sheet and hidden in some marshland, prior to being disposed at sea.

About 100 yards from the monastery, there is a small mausoleum built on the spot where the saint’s remains were discovered. There are 14 steps which take you down to the cave under the building where the body of St Barnabas was hidden by his friends. The monastery of St Barnabas is very important to the Orthodox Church, and is considered a place of pilgrimage.

After leaving the monastery, we headed to Lefkosa/Nicosia to Anne and George’s house. Crossing the border back into the Greek side of Cyprus was much easier this time. We were concerned about a line, but there was none. We breezed through the Turkish agate and the first Greek Cypriot gate, but they stopped us at the second gate. We all had to get out of the car with our bags. The lady asked If we were staying in Cyprus or leaving. We have a feeling if we said leaving they would have let us pass. They wanted to see all bags. She did a casual look through them, and spent more time looking at Wendy’s pill bottle than anything else. So we guessed they were looking for drugs.

Bloodhound George found Annie’s house, and we got to meet their grandson George (Gaston’s son). Well meet his wife and twin daughters tomorrow. Gaston is a lawyer, and stopped by the house, but was unable to go out to dinner with us. We went to dinner with George, Anne, Vasillias, Maria and their daughter Anna (3 years old). We went to a traditional Cypriot restaurant and there was so much food we had to tell the waitress to stop bringing it. OMG…there were 21 plates at this dinner. We are so full it’s not funny.

Wendy and I are spending the night with Vassillis and Maria. They are renting a lovely home about 20 minutes from Anne and George. The hospitality, generosity and wonderfulness of Carol’s family is amazing.