Long time, no blog!

Well, we're just back from a few days away exploring the North of Cyprus.  Got there on Friday afternoon after driving all the way from Paphos, through Limassol and up through Nicosia, through the border at Ledra and right onto our hotel in Kyrenia.  We sampled all the delicacies offered in the hotel buffer, which were all delicious, a multitude of dips including Hummus, tzatziki, taramasalata, russian salad, red chilli cous cous, aubergine dips etc, then the main was locally caught fish on one evening,  Chicken in a tomato based sauce the next and then a Meatloaf style dish on the last day, everything was beautifully presented and was scrummy.

The hotel itself was right on the beach just past the village of Lapta, and on an evening the crashing of the waves was all you could hear, which was a novelty for us. (Did get pretty loud though)

Saturday was a day of serious exploration, we sought out St Hilarion Castle which was fantastic, truly a spectacular fete of architecture, the castle itself is built into the mountain, remarkable.

We were like 2 kids running up and down the stairs, getting into every nook and cranny seeing everything.  The views were also breath takingly awe inspiring, the mountain and sea views went on for miles and miles.

The only other place (building wise) we've been to that was impressive was Carcassonne, but that's more a medieval city as opposed to a complete castle structure in the mountains!

We then ventured out to Bellapais Abbey to see the monastery and grab some late afternoon lunch.  Both St Hilarion and Bellapais were easy to find although the sign posting is pretty random and there is a bit of guess work involved, but we got there in the end and both are well worth a visit.

The sun was shining, which always makes for a splendid day out and we spent a lovely hour or 2 savouring the food whilst looking out over the mountains. I was going to go and buy some Turkish Delight from the gorgeous looking shop next to the car park, Bella Delight, however in the end I forgot until I was halfway home, typical!

On Sunday we took a long drive out to Famagusta to have a look at the "no man's land", it's an eerie place, life goes on around this entire area which is just fenced off and has been unused since 1974!

We continued our drive up the coast to Salamis and visited the ruins (pictured).  Not sure if it happens every Sunday, but the picnic area leading up to the ruins was jam packed with locals having a massive BBQ, the smells were fantastic and by that time I was starving.

We stopped at a little seaside village and had a quick lunch. I sampled the local Menemen which I've cooked before, but this was slightly different, more a dip than a meal, but just as tasty!

Monday was travelling home, so we took the coastal road and headed west through all the lovely little coastal villages all the way onto Pomos and Polis and finally back home for lunch and a nap!

Needed a holiday after the holiday, there was so much to see and do!