We wake up early today as the plane with our relatives arrives around 9 AM. Before leaving for the airport we enjoy the views in the sunlight as previously we have seen the area only at night. We also look in all bedrooms to ensure everything is in order before the relatives arrive so there are no complaints.
We also eat a fast breakfast and then it is time to drive the 15 minutes to the airport.
At the airport we find out that the plane already arrived but our relatives aren’t out yet. We wait a bit and soon we see them coming through a different door, luckily we were checking both of them. Then we have to find where to pay for the parking and then it is time to run for the car as we have just 10 minutes to exit and there is quite a distance. Definitely not handicapped friendly. Then it is back to return to the AirBnB watching ibises pass by in beautiful Vs above us.
After a period of accomodation with the lodging our relatives, and us for that matter, decide it is time to get some provisions. So we drive to a nearby supermarket, AlphaMega where with some luck we find also a parking spot relatively nearby.
After lunch we decide to explore the downtown area on foot as it is relatively nearby and on we go on the impressive promenade. Here there is a large sidewalk to walk on with some great views of the ocean and not a lot of people as the majority of hotels are on the other side of the downtown.
The houses here are a mix of renovated ones that are restaurants and shops and ones that are not renovated which are lived in as far as we can tell.
The unofficial center of the promenade is the Larnaca Castle, quite impressive and renovated. The sidewalk goes around it so we follow it and then decide to explore inland a bit as we see a mosque tour further inland.
The mosque is relatively close and as we walk around it we notice that it is maintained by the State of Libya, quite interesting. It was also quite clearly a power play placing the mosque in the middle of the city during the Ottoman times.
On the other side of the castle continuing on the promenade we pass many hotels and condominiums and it is quite busy. Here we also pass the Venetian lion sent by Venice to Cyprus which was under Venetian rule for some time.
Our turnaround point are the old warehouses which are now the Municipal Art Gallery, from here we are going to return on an inland road to explore a different area of the downtown.
There are some interesting details in the area, we especially like all the different Easter decorations in the city and also to find the signs of Ottoman occupation on the buildings.
On the way we stop at roadside kiosk to buy some crepes and coffee. The crepes are quite impressive they are huge and really filling and the coffee is quite good also so it was a very worthwhile stop on the way.
As we pass through the downtown area some parts are renovated and some parts are not which looks quite rustic and we enjoy the walk through this bipolar area.
The major attraction in the downtown area is the famous Church of St Lazarus, where Lazarus of Bible fame retreated and spend his life till his (second) death. WE do not enter today as it is quite late and decide we will be back some other day.
From here we return via narrow streets to the AirBnB and some of them are really really narrow. Like no sidewalk and one lane only which makes meeting cars quite a problem but we survive and arrive at the accomodation where we spend the rest of the evening talking with our relatives before going to sleep.
