We got up early this morning to photograph Ancient Salamis, a 3,000 year old ruins on the East coast of Cyprus, in the Turkish-occupied portion of the island. The site does not officially open until 9AM, but we arrived at 8AM and were allowed in. Being that early, we were the only visitors, giving us access to all parts of the ruins without other tourists in our viewfinders.

This area was excavated from 1952 until 1974, when Turkey invaded Cyprus.  At that point, all restoration work stopped, as the international embargo prevented international groups from continuing their work. Unfortunately, all further excavation and maintenance apparently stopped at that time too. There were bushes and trees growing in the rocks in various places, and the entire site is quickly deteriorating. Visitors are even allowed to walk onto the delicate tile work.

Our next stop was to the historic city center of Famagusta, surrounded by walled fortifications, which was a real delight for us. It is a city dating back to 274BC, when a major earthquake leveled Salamis, and some of the stones from Salamis were used to build Famagusta.  It is also known as “the city of 365 churches” owing to the legend that it had one church for every day of the year, at its peak.  Today, many of the churches still stand, including the elaborate Gothic Cathedral of St Nicholas (center image), which was converted in 1573 to a mosque.  It is the only Gothic mosque we have seen in our travels thus far.

At the end of the day we drove to Teko’s Place Golden Beach, a funky little set of bungalows on the far North-East corner of Cyprus, where electricity only runs from 7PM until midnight each day.  Stepping out of our bungalow to head to the beach, we were faced with the ominous warning sign (left).  We ventured forward in the overcast weather, only to discover the only nude sunbather being the little guy who followed us (right). ☺