Limassol, Cyprus

Tea Towel

Happy Thanksgiving! There are 214 Canadians on board so they can’t ignore us and are putting on a turkey dinner in the grand dining room. In case you are wondering there are about 1200 total passengers. There even was a “Happy Thanksgiving” message on our daily newspaper.

Last evening the ship set sail from Haifa to Cyprus, 161 nautical miles. The lights of Haifa and the surrounding area were beautiful. We stood on our veranda watching for quite some time. Calm seas so again we don’t even feel we are traveling. It continues to amaze us how they can maneuver this huge ship into a tight space without any aid from the tugs. They just glide right on in.

Limassol is the second largest city in Cyprus (after Nicosia) and the major port in the country. We took the shuttle bus into the “Old City” (about a 10 minute ride) and spent some time in the Medieval Museum of Cyprus housed in the Lemesos Castle. According to the literature it is not supposed to be open on Mondays  (perhaps they opened it for the ship?). This low ceilinged, steep staired structure displays artifacts from 324 AD to the end of the Ottoman rule in the 1800s. The castle has been subjected to many conquests, earthquakes and destructions. At one point it was destroyed by the owners to prevent it following into enemy hands.

Room in the Lemesos Castle

Dionysus

We then took a walk to the beach promenade, a tree lined boulevard along the seafront. They are in the process of extending and improving the walk and should be very nice indeed when it is finished.

Beach Promenade

The Old Town is quite tourist oriented but with reasonable prices compared to Israel, so another chance to do some more Christmas shopping. Family will be getting a wide variety of items we are finding along the way. It has been fun for us thinking of each of them as we carefully pick up something we think they might like. It wasn't nearly as hot today so much more pleasant for walking around. Maybe we are getting acclimatized. Cyprus is famous for hand made lace and leather goods among other things. They even have a Cyprus delight, which is supposed to be close to Turkish delight but to us was a bit more sugary. They had some spice and nut markets as well but not as fragrant or big as what we saw in Israel. 

Spice and Nut Market