Spring Break -North Cyprus

Our first spring break in Turkey.  We only get one week off with school, so we thought and thought about where we wanted to go.  We heard from other Americans living abroad about where they wanted to go;  Dubai, Spain, India, and London.  Side note- I have probably mentioned this in past posts, but living in Europe does have its perks.  We wanted a little trip with a big bang, so we decided on Cyprus in the Mediterranean.  In the end, we were very happy with our decision. 

We read about Cyprus and learned the following about the island; the island of Cyprus has been fought over for centuries, because rulers believed that the ruler of the island could control the Middle East.  The island is 40 miles from Turkey, 60 miles from Syria and 108 Miles from Lebanon;  thus the constant battles and wars to control the island. Past rulers of the island; Romans, Byzantines, French, Venetians, Ottomans, and British.  Therefore; many ruins throughout the island are filled with a variety of incredible archaeological remains and sites.  The last bit of unrest took place in 1974  when the Turkish military forces came to Cyprus.  This ultimately led the the North and South being divided, because the Greeks living on the North fled to the south and Turks living in the South fled to the North.  AND -So it has been this way since that time with the country living under a cease fire referendum.

Our packing was light, because the weather was more shorts and T shirts.  We got to the airport and it was a short flight to North Cyprus.  When we landed, the wind was blowing hard and steady.  It was cold and that ruled out swimming or the beach (temps in the 60s with 40MPH winds).  Brrr.

At the airport waiting to fly to North Cyprus

So we went to town to explore.  One of the closest towns was Girne.  We walked the fortified castle wall which extended around the harbor area.  On the wall we watched the wave's crash into the rocks below us and felt the wind trying to blow us over the edge.  A head count confirmed that we were all safe and sound.  In the end, Sam was frozen, it was cold, and we were hungry -so back to the hotel to warm up and eat.

The wind and waves

Our hotel was an all-inclusive resort hotel with buffet food.  They had a variety of Turkish / British food selections.  Unfortunately Sam, the picky eater, did not like much of anything provided in the buffet.  So for a week he lived off of; eggs and pancakes for breakfast, noodles cucumbers and pickles for lunch and PIDE (Turkish equivalent to pizza) and cucumbers for dinner.  Other than that not much of anything else.  The rest of us enjoyed the variety of food provided and usually found something different to eat every day.

After that first windy cold day, the weather warmed up.  We spent our vacation; in the sun, in the ocean,  in the sand and site seeing.  Reed took the older boys everyday out for exploration by the rocks.  Sometimes they swam out by the large rocks to snorkel and see the fish and other times they were walking/climbing on the rocks.   One time they were out there so long...that when they finally surfaced, Reed said he was frozen from the cold ocean.  I think it was about dinner time when he regained the feeling in his hands.

The rock formation where they snorkeled and climbed

The other rock formation 

The boys swimming

Side note- the ocean water was cold.  The very first swimming day, Sam put his foot in the ocean water and then said, "All I can say is...that is cold.  AND enough said about that!"  He then asked me to take him to the warm indoor pool to swim.  He later came back outside to swim...a little... and to build sand castles.  So the only swimmers on this vacation were mainly Reed, Nate and Connor.  Mom (Joan) did go in, but did not stay in the water.

Building castles

Laying out in the sun

Having dinner at the hotel

We saw the Kyrenia Castle and Bellapais Abbey on our own. They were half day visits to the sites and were very close to our hotel.  We had booked a full day tour of Salamis' ruins, Saint Barnabas, Famagusta, and the "ghost city".  Our day tour was incredible and all the kids had a great time.  Future posts will describe and show photos of each site.

The inside courtyard of the Kyrenia castle

Bellapais Abbey

St Barnabas

Salamis Ruins

The week went by fast.  We had a great family vacation!