Larnaca, Cyprus

So, when I said Shannon and I were going to the beach....I actually meant we were going to Cyprus (60 miles away from Syria...yes almost the Middle East.) All the European tour books say that Cyprus has the best beaches so we were game. Not to worry though, Shannon and I researched the trip thoroughly and had it all planned out so we wouldn't be 2 American girls wondering around a strange country. Ok, we wondered a bit but Shannon's saying is "not all who wonder are lost."

Just a little background on Cyprus: it entered into the European Union in 2004, the southern part of the country is owned by Greece and the northern part is owned by Turkey. (We stayed on the southern part.)

On our first day there we had "beach day" and just hung out on the beach all day. The weather was HOT! Luckily, the water was cool so we kept hopping in there. The water was crystal clear and beautiful. We took a water tubing excursion which was the highlight of our entire trip. Ask me about it sometime...it's pretty funny. The next day we taxied into the city of Larnaca and visited the church of Lazarus. (Remember him from the Bible- he was the one who rose from the dead.) Anyway, we were able to see his tomb in the crypts of the church. The weather was even HOTTER this day but we kept trucking...into a TJIFridays that had air conditioning. We eventually cooled off long enough to see a museum, a castle, and a few souvie shops.

All in all we had a great 2 days in Cyprus. We like to describe Cyprus as Mexico Mediterranean with the Caribbean Ocean. We felt very safe there. They are trying to build up their tourism and welcome visitors!

On the rocks outside our hotel

Beach Day
Church of St. Lazarus in Larnaca
Pretty Sunset