Our plan today is to start with a loop around Larnaca Salt Lake, viewing multiple attractions along the way. But the first stop is at a bakery along the way to look for some mini-cakes. We have to buy some cakes to celebrate multiple birthdays, luckily the bakery has a lot of good looking goods and we buy some for the evening.
Next stop is the Ottoman aqueduct built in 1750 and considered the most important monument constructed during the Ottoman period in Cyprus. It is quite impressive and it is great to see that it survived and wasn’t broken down for construction material for houses and other buildings.
Next it is time to walk a bit around the Salt Lake on a nice trail. Given that our relatives are not up for hiking we decide to stop at the first cache which is near a cool looking creek. It is an easy find and then we decide to look around a bit to see if we can spot any birds.
And there are some interesting birds, we like the ducklings but the most exciting one is the kingfisher. We have seen a few in the Danube Delta but none were as calm as the one here, we can admire it for quite some time before it finally decides to fly away.
Next we are following a road inland towards the Hala Sultan Tekke. This area is famous for flamingoes and at the first stop we noticing them far on the lake and then after a bit of waiting a pair even flies close to us – really cool!
There are also other birds around including a lifer for us, the Spur-Winged Lapwing. The lapwing especially is quite happy to show himself around near our car and we take a few photos before having to move on.
It is great that the lake still exists and hasn’t been drained and can be used as a sanctuary by birds and also as we notice when we reach the shore by flies, lots of flies. Hopefully it will stay this way in the future and the flamingoes and other birds will continue to be able to use this as a sanctuary and stopover.
The last stop for the day is Hala Sultan Tekke, described as the third holiest place for Muslims in the world as it holds the tomb of Umm Haram, the maternal aunt of Mohammed and one of his followers.
The mosque can be visited for free and was restored with funds from the US government. It is quite quiet and peaceful as we enter through the main gate into the gardens.
We explore the gardens for a while finding some hidden ruins below the foundation but not the famous tomb.
At the mosque as it is custom we leave the shoes outside and then we enter. There is no one else inside and we explore the nooks and crannies before exiting to continue to search for the tomb.
And then we find the pretty obvious sign pointing towards the tomb which is at the back of the mosque. For a pilgrimage place it is surprisingly deserted, maybe not so surprisingly if we consider that it is on the Greek side of an island still technically at war with the Turkish side. And then it is time to return to the AirBnB to relax for a while as we have a visit to the Larnaca Museum planned for the afternoon.
