The south and east coast of Cyprus

This morning we get up early, for our first drive through this beautiful country. Our plan is to drive to the coast near Limassol and then go east to Ayia Napa. The weather is very nice, it is warm and a relief compared to the weather in Holland.

At Governor's Beach we make a stroll on the beach and admire the blueness of the Mediterranean Sea and the tropical vegetation, so near to the salty sea. Cyprus is closer to the Middle East than to Europe and has a very pleasant climate.

We try to avoid the main roads and take as much as possible the minor tracks. That is always a perfect way to get a better impression from a country. Although the island isn't very large, it takes quite much time to get from one side of the island to the other side. We only use the dual carriageway when we think we were in a hurry (almost never, and there is only 1 such way: between Nicosia, Larnaka, Limassol and they are busy expanding it towards Paphos).
We look around and enjoy the scenery, the sea and the weather and forget to take any pictures. Well, we will make up for that in the next few days.

The southeast part of Cyprus, especially the area near Ayia Napa, seems to have evolved from an area with characteristic, small villages into an extensive touristic center, just in a couple of years. Usually, the heart of the old village has been conserved, with a church or monastery as central point. But now hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops surround it and make the villages twice or sometimes 5 times bigger than they were. The beaches at Ayia Napa are the finest on Cyprus with fine sand.
Before the Turkish occupation, in 1974, Famagusta was the famous holiday spot in the area; nowadays the city lies in a military zone and is desolate. We take a break at a bar but after some time we have to flee inside since there is too much wind.

It has been a long, but fascinating day, without many pictures, unfortunately. After a short rest in our room, we move to the bar of the hotel with our maps and travel books to plan the next day. We want to see everything, but with only one week to spend, we knew this plan is doomed to fail.